Artsnight Season 2

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Andrew Marr Jun 19, 2015 Andrew Marr champions some great Renaissance dramatists who aren't Shakespeare.

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Lily Cole Jul 3, 2015 Model and actress Lily Cole explores whether children inhibit or enhance an artistic life.

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Lynn Barber Jul 10, 2015 Journalist Lynn Barber takes over editorial control to explore the world of artist Doug Aitken.

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Samira Ahmed Jul 17, 2015 Broadcaster Samira Ahmed takes a look at photography, both historically and in the present day.

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Martha Lane Fox Jul 24, 2015 Martha Lane Fox explores how the west's two cultures - science and arts - work together.

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Richard Wilson Jul 31, 2015 Richard Wilson looks at Samuel Beckett, speaking to Ian McKellen and Hugo Weaving.

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Irvine Welsh Aug 14, 2015 Irvine Welsh goes to Edinburgh to see what effect the Scottish referendum had on the arts.

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Hofesh Shechter Aug 21, 2015 Hofesh Shechter explores how embarrassment can be rich territory for artistic exploration.

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Ben Okri Aug 28, 2015 Ben Okri explores the transformative effect of the prize on the career of its recipients.

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Will Gompertz Sep 25, 2015 BBC arts editor Will Gompertz investigates the thriving art market.

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Lynn Barber Oct 2, 2015 Lynn Barber considers the idea of taking risks in art.

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George the Poet Oct 9, 2015 Spoken word artist George the Poet explores the heritage and future of black culture.

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Josie Rourke Oct 16, 2015 Josie Rourke looks at the changing idea of the hero in contemporary culture.

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Clara Amfo Oct 23, 2015 Clara Amfo, one of BBC Radio 1's rising stars, looks at how the fame industry works.

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Edmund de Waal Oct 30, 2015 Artist Edmund de Waal looks at the theme of memory and art.

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Kwasi Kwarteng Nov 6, 2015 Kwasi Kwarteng looks at how the British Empire impacted on art and literature.

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Ana Matronic Nov 13, 2015 Ana Matronic explores how robots are taking over mainstream culture.

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Juergen Teller - Fame, Fashion and Photography Nov 20, 2015 Chris Dercon talks to world-famous celebrity photographer Juergen Teller.

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Kwasi Kwarteng - The British Empire Nov 27, 2015 Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng is the guest curator of this episode of Artsnight. The author of the book Ghosts of Empire, Kwasi looks at how the British Empire impacted on art, architecture and literature.He meets one of Australia's greatest living novelists - Peter Carey - to discuss the writer's obsession with early colonial life, as well as exploring Tate Britain's Artist and Empire exhibition. And comedian Shazia Mirza discusses why fabric and clothing is so vital to the story of the Indian sub-continent.

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Ana Matronic - Robots Dec 4, 2015 Scissor Sisters' front-woman and DJ Ana Matronic is a lifelong robot fanatic. For her episode of Artsnight, she explores how robots are taking over mainstream arts and culture - co-presenting the episode with a real robot. She finds out how robots are flexing their creative muscles - having her portrait done in a life-drawing class of sketching robots created by French artist Patrick Tresset, and talking to the electro-acoustic musician Squarepusher about his recent collaboration with a robot band. She meets New York-based cyborg artist Neil Harbisson to discover why he has become part-machine all in the name of art. And scientist and broadcaster Adam Rutherford will be sorting fact from fiction, visiting a house populated by real robots to ask just how close we are to creating the clever synths portrayed in recent science fiction films.And on the eve of the release of the latest film from the Star Wars franchise, Ana discovers how the Star Wars robots have been brought to life for the big screen.

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Juergen Teller - Fame Fashion and Photography Dec 4, 2015 In his second edition of Artsnight, the director of Tate Modern Chris Dercon talks to the world-famous photographer Juergen Teller. Teller's CV could not be more star-studded, as he has photographed the likes of Charlotte Rampling, Vivienne Westwood, Victoria Beckham, Lily Cole, Nirvana - an incredible body of work over nearly three decades, which has turned the celebrity photograph into a work of art.He came to prominence in the 90s with a radically sparse approach to his work - not that it put off the many famous people desperate for a touch of Teller magic. And most recently, he hit the headlines with his astonishing photos of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.In this revealing and soul-bearing interview, Juergen talks about his work and how he has drawn on his personal life to create a unique form of photography.

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Nina Conti - Masks Feb 5, 2016 Masks have been part of our global culture for centuries. For her episode of Artsnight, ventriloquist, comedian and documentary film-maker Nina Conti explores how masks allow us to step out of our psychological skins and be someone else - with a little help from her cheeky puppet, Monkey. Nina joins a masked theatre workshop at Trestle Theatre Company, and explores the visual and political art world with masked feminist artists Guerrilla Girls and V For Vendetta co-creator David Lloyd, who tells how the Guy Fawkes mask has become an internationally understood symbol of protest. She also looks at how musicians have used masks, including the metal band Slipknot, and meets the artist Mark Wardel, who had made a series of beautiful masks of the late, great David Bowie.

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Maria Balshaw - Equality for Women Feb 12, 2016 Maria Balshaw is director of The Whitworth, University of Manchester, which is Museum of the Year 2015, and Manchester City Galleries. For her episode of Artsnight, Maria Balshaw asks why, over a century since the Suffragette movement, are women still not equal? To help her answer the question, she talks to artist Sarah Lucas, who emerged onto the British art scene in the late 1980s as one of the YBAs, or young British artists, who gives an extremely rare TV interview to Artsnight. Maria also talks to Glenda Jackson, undoubtedly one of our key public figures with two highly successful careers - one in acting and one in politics. And in a quest to understand how to redress the imbalance, she profiles collector Valeria Napoleone, a major collector who only collects art made by women artists, and looks at the women-only art Max Mara Art Prize.

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Andrew Graham-Dixon goes Public Feb 19, 2016 Andrew Graham-Dixon has been a professional art critic for nearly three decades. But for his edition of Artsnight he wants to explore what people outside the ‘art bubble’ make of the kinds of sculptures and paintings he writes about. In a unique experiment with the Tate, a cross-section of British society reveals exactly what they think of some of our most famous public art works. Using concealed cameras, we eavesdrop on their often frank conversations as they come face to face with a range of works that deal with love, family and friendship.

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Lynn Barber - Mental Health and Mindfulness Feb 26, 2016 For her fourth episode of Artsnight, Lynn Barber meets two American comedians who have both found success in the UK - Rob Delaney and Ruby Wax. Both performers have been open about the demons in their personal lives. Rob talks to Lynn about his battle with alcoholism and clinical depression, while Ruby discusses the role mindfulness has played in her own mental health, her shows and now in her campaigns.

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When Henry Met Karl Mar 4, 2016 Karl Ove Knausgaard is one of the most important authors writing today. His obsessively autobiographical books have been compared to Proust and James Joyce, but he has also attracted controversy as he made his private life into public property. Henry Marsh is a leading neurosurgeon whose best-selling book Do No Harm opened up the world of brain surgery to readers, to rapturous reviews. In this Artsnight special, Henry interviews the Norwegian author, in what should be an entertaining and cerebral encounter.

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Thurston Moore - British Punk Mar 11, 2016 Magazine arts show. In 2016, punk rock celebrated its 40th anniversary with a series of events across some of Britain's major cultural institutions. Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth was in New York in 1976 - but he had a passionate interest in British punk. Now a London resident himself, Moore explores the music that changed his life, meeting Buzzcocks' Pete Shelley, Chrissie Hynde, director Julien Temple and celebrating one of his favourite bands, X-Ray Spex.

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Ryan Gander - The Art of Everyday Life Mar 18, 2016 Magazine arts show. Artist Ryan Gander believes that there is too much of a 'fear factor' around the idea of art. Ryan proposes that everyday life can be a deeply creative act. He explores an artistic colony, encounters a couple who have made their house into an aesthetic experience and travels to Berlin to meet the award-winning artist Olafur Eliasson, who is fascinated by cookery.