art and allusion

Rothko Tate Modern Symposium podcast

I have just discovered that Tate Modern has archived an audio podcast of the Rothko Symposium that I contributed to on teh occasion of Tate Modern's stunning exhibition of Mark Rothko's late paintings including the Seagram Murals. This opens with an introduction by Christopher Rothko, the artist's son. I spoke on Kierkegaard and Nietzsche as influences on Rothko.

There is  a welcome by Marko Daniel, Christopher Rothko's introduction, then longer presentations by Achim Borchardt Hume and Stephanie Rosenthal before my presentation. That is followed by Irving Sandler talking about his memories of Rothko.

You can listen to the podcast here. The whole afternoon session is in one long mp3. My session begins 1hr 12 mins 05 seconds into the mp3. The easiest way to handle this podcast is to download this episode of Tate Modern Events from iTunes here by clicking on the iTunes button 'Get Episode' and then scroll through offline as desired at your leisure. You need to have iTunes installed (but this is on Mac computers anyway and a free download for PC users).

Censorship, Art and Morality - an interview with Matthew Kieran

I interviewed Matthew Kieran, author of Revealing Art, about Censorship and Art for the 'Ethics Bites' series. You can listen to this podcast  or download the mp3 at www.open2.net where there is also a transcript of the interview. The topic of freedom of expression is very much on my mind at the moment as I am writing Free Speech: A Very Short Introduction, which should be out next year...

Podcast interview with Derek Matravers on What is Art?

I recently interviewed Derek Matravers, author of Art and Emotion for the series Philosophy Bites.

Listen to interview with Derek Matravers on the topic What is Art? (12.50)

Frances Morris Meets Louise Bourgeois - Tate Podcast

There is an excellent if very short video podcast on Louise Bourgeois available from Tate Shots. It consists of the curator of the current Tate Modern exhibition discussing Louise Bourgeois's work, and then a clip of an earlier meeting between Morris and Bourgeois in New York.

It's nice to hear Louise Bourgeois talking about transforming hate to love at the end of this...especially as I chose the name 'Transformations' for the course on Louise Bourgeois I begin teaching at Tate Modern on 19th Nov.

Royal Academy of Arts podcast...but only 3 episodes

The RA has a podcast (also available on iTunes)...just 3 episodes so far, and I only just stumbled across it, but one of them is an interview with Georg Baselitz.

Given  how easy (and relatively cheap) it is to create high quality podcasts, it is a shame that there isn't more content here. I could imagine a series of different critical viewpoints on any new exhibition being podcast, and also podcasts which focussed on single images or  works as well as those which put artists or themes in an art historical and historical context. There is also scope for audio-visual podcasts as well as merely audio ones. And why not open this out beyond the exhibitions themselves to broader thematic discussions, the history of the RA, interviews with new Academicians etc. etc.

Major institutions like the RA should be embarrassed about how little podcast material they are producing given the resources at their disposal...This is an important medium, particularly for the younger audiences, and an easy way for museums and art galleries to fulfill some of their broader educational aims and to raise the level of debate about the arts in Britain. It would also allow those travelling to exhibitions to be much better informed before they arrive and so to make more effective use of their visits.

I've been amazed at how many people have been downloading my podcasts Philosophy Bites and Philosophy: The Classics - there is a real hunger for serious audio content out there.

Information about the RA podcast...