In the Studio

Another chance to hear how the artist Joana Vasconcelos creates her impressive Mirror mask.

The Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos is renowned for her large scale sculptural pieces which have featured in galleries across the world. She’s used materials such as fabric, plastic and even tampons to construct her works.

In June 2018 her new exhibition, called I’m Your Mirror, opened at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. For this Joana made a series of new sculptures, including an enormous Venetian-style mask, made of overlapping mirrors. After being shown in Bilbao, the mask is now on display at the Museu de Serralves in Porto, Portugal with another version of it also on show in Venice at the Kempinski on San Clemente Island.

The construction of the huge mask was a process full of challenges as the enormous structure took shape in Joana’s Lisbon studio. Anna McNamee follows Joana through the process of working with the mirrors and explores how the piece is designed, shaped and packed up ready to begin its journey to Bilbao.

With the announcement of the world’s first A.I. robot artist, In the Studio also announces a ‘first’ as we follow non-human artist, Ai-Da - a humanoid A.I. robot named after Ada Lovelace, the first female computer programmer in the world.

Karl Bos gains exclusive access to the design and making of what is hoped will be the first robot capable of drawing people from real life. Using A.I. processes and algorithms, cameras in her eyes and a pen in her robotic hand, Ai-Da’s ability as a robot to draw from sight has never been achieved before, and could make Ai-Da an artist in her own right.

The project is the brainchild of Gallery Director Aidan Meller who talks Karl through her creation, along with the young engineers making her drawing arm and the team producing her head, face and body. And in the final moments, once she’s assembled, will Karl hear from the artist herself?

(Image: The world’s first robot artist, Ai-Da. Credit to Nicky Johnston)

This May the musical superstar Björk has been performing a series of concerts in New York, entitled Cornucopia. One of the costumes she appears in is a dress specially created for her by the pioneering Dutch designer Iris van Herpen. Iris is renowned for her fluid designs and pioneering use of techniques such as 3D printing and has dressed many international celebrities. This new dress for Björk will be made of many different parts, blending design, art and science to create something truly unique.

Anik See visits Iris in her Amsterdam studio to observe the garment being created and worked on. We also hear from Björk herself in a special interview for this episode.

Iris has worked with Björk several times before, but with this project, the pressure is on as there’s a tight timescale and logistics to sort out of getting the dress fitted and shipped in time. Anik watches as the different components are made separately and sees the team at work assembling and fitting. As well as being striking, the dress must be able to move in the way Björk requires for the show - and be durable enough to withstand many nights of wear.

Ibrahim Mahama’s architectural installations have already been seen in cities such as New York, Athens and London - but now the 31 year old's work is being shown in Ghana’s first ever National Pavilion, at one of the most prestigious contemporary art exhibitions in the world, the Venice Biennale.

Ibrahim’s grand-scale installations can be years in the making because he often collaborates with local workers and uses salvaged materials which he carefully sources from Ghana, where he lives and works – materials like the jute sacks found in food markets, and which he’s become synonymous with.

Frenny Jowi travels to Ghana and Venice to meet Ibrahim and follow him as he prepares for one of the highest profile shows of his career.

Danielle de Niese, “opera’s coolest soprano”, opens the door of her rehearsal room to Edwina Pitman, as she prepares to make her London West End stage debut. Swapping the world of baroque opera for musical theatre, Danielle will be starring opposite Kelsey Grammar in the award-winning classic musical Man of La Mancha.

The daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants in Australia, who began her career aged nine winning a TV pop talent contest, Danielle de Niese has a ferocious work ethic which she applies to every role she takes on, whilst also maintaining the gruelling schedule of one of the most sought-after opera singers on the planet. From her rigorous technique and intense training to careful scrutiny of all her rehearsal footage, de Niese reveals her process of perfecting the emotional heart of a role, which to her is the most important aspect of her performance.

We also catch a glimpse of her home life at Glyndebourne, in her off-stage role as one half of the husband-and-wife team behind one of opera's oldest festivals, where de Niese herself became an overnight sensation when she made her debut there as Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in 2005.

In April 2019 a new opera with music by the composer Tarik O’Regan had its premiere at Houston Grand Opera. Called “The Phoenix”, it’s based on the life of Lorenzo Da Ponte, best known as Mozart’s librettist.

The opera has been years in the making, from Tarik’s first idea to the final rewrites. We follow Tarik through months of creating the music, the orchestrations and the workshop processes with his collaborator, the librettist and director John Caird.

From Tarik’s original base in the former Swaziland, now known as eSwatini, to meetings in London and rehearsals in Houston, we hear how the process of working on an opera is a global business and how the music evolves over a long period from first sketches to opening night.

This is an updated version of the podcast. We changed the ending because the next podcast will be with the opera star Danielle de Niese, rather than Iris Van Herpen. We’ll get to Iris soon.

The fashion label Opening Ceremony is led by its Asian-American creative directors Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, who are also the co-creative directors at fashion house Kenzo. Since it began in 2002, the pair have developed Opening Ceremony into a brand known for its bold clothing design, social activism and for artistic partnerships with film-maker Spike Jonze and the New York City Ballet amongst others. In an exclusive programme, In The Studio follows Humberto and Carol through the entire process of creating their Pre-Spring 2019 collection. Simon Pitts joins the pair at their NYC Chinatown offices, learning about the cycle from initial design through to the final show. We hear how Carol and Humberto’s background as children of immigrants inspires their work and Simon meets the wider OC team who shape the designs, source materials and work out the crucial price points for each garment.

Tamara Kvesitadze, a kinetic artist from Georgia, is best known for Man and Woman, a 26-feet tall moving sculpture located in the coastal city of Batumi. Each evening, along the seafront, the two huge steel figures move closer together, and momentarily merge, before passing through one another.

Tamara’s large-scale kinetic sculptures often combine elaborate moving mechanisms with evocative imagery, and her latest project, Sigh, is no exception. Due for installation at a Buddhist resort in the Chinese city of Wuxi, Sigh has been commissioned to be a reflection on the country’s traditional philosophy, as well as the more progressive thinking of modern day China. Natalia Golysheva follows the story of Sigh by joining Tamara as she works on the project across several months, taking her from London to Georgia and back, and searches for the perfect way to balance the modern and the traditional.

Russian synchronised swimming champion Aleksandr Maltsev is a two-time World Champion, a four-time European champion and the first man to represent Russia in mixed-gender synchronised swimming at the highest level - as men only became allowed to compete in 2015. However, Aleksandr is unfazed, and remains a vocal advocate of gender-equality in the sport - his aim being to get men to compete at the next Olympics as a part of the mixed duet. Alina Isachenka meets Aleksandr in Moscow on one of his days off, which he decides to spend looking at paintings by one of his favourite artists, Frida Kahlo. She then travels with him to the closed sports base on the outskirts of the city, where Aleksandr lives and trains from dawn until dusk with his mixed duet partner Maya Gurbanberdieva, and their perfectionist coach. It’s here, in and around the pool they practice in, that Alina gains unique insight into the process of creating - what is hoped will be - a gold-winning routine for the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series taking place in Kazan in April.

Walk the rugged wilderness of the United States’ Pacific North West with golf course designer David McLay Kidd and presenter Ashley Ahearn. David is a revolutionary in the field: an artist who dared to shun the manicured parkland and neatly-trimmed grass of the typical American golf course to bring the sport right back to its roots. It’s all about the thrill of adventure – a visceral experience that plunges the player deep into the essence of a place - involving them in a challenge that walks a tightrope between intoxicating…and maddening.