The Way I See It: The landmark BBC art series in partnership with MoMA
About this audiobook
30 leading cultural figures choose an artwork from the Museum of Modern Art's collection, and discuss the response it provokes in them
Art critic and broadcaster Alastair Sooke, accompanied by some of the world's leading creative thinkers, takes an in-depth look at the outstanding exhibits in New York's MoMA, exploring how the way we 'see' art is shaped by our experiences and perspectives. His guests include some of the sharpest minds of our time - artists, writers, designers, comedians, musicians and scientists, among them Steve Martin, Margaret Cho, John Waters, Roxane Gay, Fiona Shaw, Orhan Pamuk and Stanley Tucci.
Each guest selects a piece of art that speaks to them - one that's inspiring, startling, intriguing or challenging. Some pick familiar works, others ones they've never seen before, and their choices range from paintings and sculptures to photographs, films and even symbols. Drawing on their personal history and expert knowledge, they share their thoughts, insights and observations.
How does a cosmologist view Van Gogh's The Starry Night? What does a jazz pianist see in Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie? What will a top fashion designer decode from the clothes painted by an artist in Harlem in the 1930s? And what will a psychologist make of Picasso's unflinching depictions of man's inhumanity, The Charnel House and Guernica?
These questions, and many more, will be answered in this eye-opening series. Revealing, surprising and perceptive, it deconstructs the gallery experience, bringing us a new way of looking at, and appreciating, art.
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
Produced by Paul Kobrak and Tom Alban
The Way I See It is a co-production of the BBC and the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Tracklist:
1. Starry Night and Janna Levin
2. Steve Martin and the Lonely Synchromists
3. Jason Moran and Piet Mondrian
4. Neri Oxman and the Endless House
5. Steven Pinker and Picasso
6. Steve Reich on Richard Serra's Equal
7. Margaret Cho and Lady Vengeance
8. Duro Olowu on William H Johnson's 'Children'
9. Michael Bierut on Ed Ruscha's OOF
10. John Waters on Lee Lozano's Untitled 1963
11. Roxane Gay and Christ's Entry into Journalism
12. Es Devlin on Felix Gonzalez-Torres's Perfect Lovers
13. Hisham Matar with Man Sleeping Along the Seine
14. Renee Fleming chooses Colors for a Large Wall
15. The Director's Choice
16. Fiona Shaw on Georgia O'Keeffe's Lake George, Coat and Red
17. Bryan Stevenson on Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series
18. Richard Serra on Jackson Pollock
19. Madeleine Thien on Vija Celmins' Bikini
20. Zac Posen on Constantin Brancusi's Bird in Space
21. Mark Morris on Florine Stettheimer's Costume Design for Orphée
22. Sarah Sze and Siddhartha Mukherjee on Louise Bourgeois's Quarantania, I
23. Orhan Pamuk on Taglioni's Jewel Casket by Joseph Cornell
24. Liz Diller on Marcel Duchamp's Network of Stoppages
25. Isabella Boylston on Maya Deren and Talley Beatty
26. Stanley Tucci and Giacometti's Head of a Man on a Rod
27. Lady Ruth Rogers on Henri Rousseau's The Dream
28. Yves Behar and the IEC's Power Symbol
29. David Henry Hwang on Martin Wong's Stanton near Forsyth Street
30. Alastair Sooke
About the author
Steven Pinker is an experimental cognitive scientist. Currently Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard, he has also taught at Stanford and MIT. He has won many prizes for his research, teaching, and his eleven books, including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of Our Nature, and Enlightenment Now. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, a Humanist of the Year, a recipient of nine honorary doctorates, one of Foreign Policy's 'World's Top 100 Public Intellectuals' and Time's '100 Most Influential People in the World Today'.
Stanley Tucci is an actor, writer, director, and producer. He has directed five films and appeared in over seventy films, countless television shows, and a dozen plays on and off Broadway. He has been nominated for an Academy Award, a Tony, and a spoken word Grammy; is a winner of two Golden Globes and five Emmys; and has received numerous other critical and professional awards and accolades. His memoir Taste: My Life Through Food is published by Fig Tree. He is also author of two cookbooks, The Tucci Table and The Tucci Cookbook.
