Episodes
| Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Artists | 20210311 | Art historian James Fox talks to celebrated artists Anish Kapoor, Cai Guo-Qiang, Random International and Stephanie Dinkins as he asks how technology is transforming the art world. The deepfake algorithms generating today's art world novelties will soon seem as rudimentary as the spinning jenny. As new ways of making, selling and experiencing art gather speed, James sets out to capture the start of this new era in a series of three programmes. James begins with the artists as he explores both the opportunities offered by new technology and its limitations. From Cai Guo-Qiang's virtual fireworks to Anish and Ishan Kapoor's journey into the self, James asks how skills, creativity, the nature of art and the role of the artist are being re-made and re-imagined in the digital age. Producer: Julia Johnson A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4 Image: Into Yourself, Fall © Acute Art James Fox steps into the future to ask how technology is transforming the art world. [R4 BD=20220606 Art historian James Fox talks to celebrated artists Anish Kapoor, Cai Guo-Qiang, Random International and Stephanie Dinkins as he asks how technology is transforming the art world. The deepfake algorithms generating today's art world novelties will soon seem as rudimentary as the spinning jenny. As new ways of making, selling and experiencing art gather speed, James sets out to capture the start of this new era in a series of three programmes. James begins with the artists as he explores both the opportunities offered by new technology and its limitations. From Cai Guo-Qiang's virtual fireworks to Anish and Ishan Kapoor's journey into the self, James asks how skills, creativity, the nature of art and the role of the artist are being re-made and re-imagined in the digital age. Producer: Julia Johnson A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4 Image: Into Yourself, Fall © Acute Art James Fox steps into the future to ask how technology is transforming the art world |
| 02 | Audiences | 20210318 | Art historian James Fox asks how technology is creating new ways of seeing, from immersive art installations to augmented reality. To explore these new visual worlds, James steps into an iconic painting, takes a virtual trip to teamLab Borderless in Tokyo, stays dry in Random International's Rain Room and looks up to see Nina Chanel Abney's Imaginary Friend hovering in mid-air. And, just beneath the high-tech surface, James uncovers some old aesthetic ideals as he discovers how the sublime is being re-made and re-imagined in the digital age. Producer: Julia Johnson Image: Valley of Flowers and People Lost, Immersed and Reborn © teamLab James Fox steps into the future to ask how technology is transforming the art world. [R4 BD=20220613 Art historian James Fox asks how technology is creating new ways of seeing, from immersive art installations to augmented reality. To explore these new visual worlds, James steps into an iconic painting, takes a virtual trip to teamLab Borderless in Tokyo, stays dry in Random International's Rain Room and looks up to see Nina Chanel Abney's Imaginary Friend hovering in mid-air. And, just beneath the high-tech surface, James uncovers some old aesthetic ideals as he discovers how the sublime is being re-made and re-imagined in the digital age. Producer: Julia Johnson Image: Valley of Flowers and People Lost, Immersed and Reborn © teamLab James Fox steps into the future to ask how technology is transforming the art world |
| 03 | Art Market | 20210325 | When the digital artwork Everydays: The First 5000 Days sold for a multi-million dollar sum, the buyer purchased not the art but a digital token called an NFT. The artist, Beeple, was paid in the crypto currency Ether and the art market suddenly seemed on the cusp of a revolution. In this final episode, art historian James Fox asks how technology is transforming the art market, through online art fairs, virtual reality exhibitions, blockchain verification and the sale of new kinds of art. The performance artist Marina Abramovic has long believed that the future of art is an art without objects'. As the digital revolution gathers pace, Abramovic is one artist turning to new technologies to realise her vision. In conversation with contributors from Christie's, Hiscox and Hauser and Wirth, James asks whether there is a market for these new kinds of artwork. Katharine Arnold describes Abramovic's mixed-reality work The Life, which sees the artist materialise as a hologram, and James hears the inside story of the estimate-smashing sale of AI-generated artwork the Portrait of Edmond Belamy, an 18th century aristocrat who never existed. And, beyond the online auction rooms, James asks how tech companies are taking on the role of patrons, as the boundaries between art and commerce blur. Producer : Julia Johnson Image: The Life - Mixed Reality installation with artist's box, by Marina Abramovi? © Christie's Images Ltd 2021 The Louise Bourgeois audio is courtesy of The Easton Foundation. James Fox steps into the future to ask how technology is transforming the art world. [R4 BD=20220620 When the digital artwork Everydays: The First 5000 Days sold for a multi-million dollar sum, the buyer purchased not the art but a digital token called an NFT. The artist, Beeple, was paid in the crypto currency Ether and the art market suddenly seemed on the cusp of a revolution. In this final episode, art historian James Fox asks how technology is transforming the art market, through online art fairs, virtual reality exhibitions, blockchain verification and the sale of new kinds of art. The performance artist Marina Abramovic has long believed that the future of art is an art without objects'. As the digital revolution gathers pace, Abramovic is one artist turning to new technologies to realise her vision. In conversation with contributors from Christie's, Hiscox and Hauser and Wirth, James asks whether there is a market for these new kinds of artwork. Katharine Arnold describes Abramovic's mixed-reality work The Life, which sees the artist materialise as a hologram, and James hears the inside story of the estimate-smashing sale of AI-generated artwork the Portrait of Edmond Belamy, an 18th century aristocrat who never existed. And, beyond the online auction rooms, James asks how tech companies are taking on the role of patrons, as the boundaries between art and commerce blur. Producer : Julia Johnson Image: The Life - Mixed Reality installation with artist's box, by Marina Abramovi? © Christie's Images Ltd 2021 The Louise Bourgeois audio is courtesy of The Easton Foundation. James Fox steps into the future to ask how technology is transforming the art world |