Frieze Masters Podcast
Frieze
The Frieze Masters Podcast is back for 2025, bringing you seven conversations across art history curated by Arturo Galansino (Director General of Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence).
Entitled 'Woven Histories' and recorded live at Frieze Masters 2025, this year's series features artists, curators and thinkers, whose conversations weave together geographies and chronologies, and challenge us to look at history in new and unexpected ways.
Topics range from the evolving relationship between fashion and art to the role of the archive in Black history, the last Mughals and their cultural influence in India and the enduring inspiration of the old masters and renaissance art on contemporary making. Speakers include artists Tracey Emin, Glenn Brown and Antony Gormley, museum directors and curators Nicholas Cullinan, Émilie Hammen, Elizabeth Way and Carl Strehlke, and writers Edward George, Matthew Harle, Christopher Rothko and William Dalrymple.
The Frieze Masters Talks programme and the Frieze Masters Podcast are brought to you by Frieze in collaboration with dunhill.
About Frieze
Frieze is a leading global contemporary art organization, recognized for its art fairs, publications and digital presence. Founded in 1991 with the launch of frieze magazine, the brand has grown to encompass seven of the most significant art fairs worldwide in cities including Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York and Seoul. These events attract leading artists, galleries and collectors, fostering innovative dialogues and practices within the art community. frieze magazine continues to set the benchmark for insightful art criticism and commentary, while frieze.com serves as a vital online resource. Committed to expanding the reach and understanding of contemporary art, Frieze also hosts year-round curated programs and associated initiatives, such as No.9 Cork Street, Frieze House Seoul and Frieze Connect, that enrich the cultural landscape. With a dedicated team passionate about the arts, Frieze remains at the forefront of artistic exploration and cultural discourse, connecting diverse audiences with groundbreaking artists and their work. Frieze is part of the MARI network.
www.frieze.com
instagram.com/friezeofficial
Main image credit: Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights (detail), c. 1490 - 1500. ©Photographic Archive Museo Nacional del Prado
Entitled 'Woven Histories' and recorded live at Frieze Masters 2025, this year's series features artists, curators and thinkers, whose conversations weave together geographies and chronologies, and challenge us to look at history in new and unexpected ways.
Topics range from the evolving relationship between fashion and art to the role of the archive in Black history, the last Mughals and their cultural influence in India and the enduring inspiration of the old masters and renaissance art on contemporary making. Speakers include artists Tracey Emin, Glenn Brown and Antony Gormley, museum directors and curators Nicholas Cullinan, Émilie Hammen, Elizabeth Way and Carl Strehlke, and writers Edward George, Matthew Harle, Christopher Rothko and William Dalrymple.
The Frieze Masters Talks programme and the Frieze Masters Podcast are brought to you by Frieze in collaboration with dunhill.
About Frieze
Frieze is a leading global contemporary art organization, recognized for its art fairs, publications and digital presence. Founded in 1991 with the launch of frieze magazine, the brand has grown to encompass seven of the most significant art fairs worldwide in cities including Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York and Seoul. These events attract leading artists, galleries and collectors, fostering innovative dialogues and practices within the art community. frieze magazine continues to set the benchmark for insightful art criticism and commentary, while frieze.com serves as a vital online resource. Committed to expanding the reach and understanding of contemporary art, Frieze also hosts year-round curated programs and associated initiatives, such as No.9 Cork Street, Frieze House Seoul and Frieze Connect, that enrich the cultural landscape. With a dedicated team passionate about the arts, Frieze remains at the forefront of artistic exploration and cultural discourse, connecting diverse audiences with groundbreaking artists and their work. Frieze is part of the MARI network.
www.frieze.com
instagram.com/friezeofficial
Main image credit: Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights (detail), c. 1490 - 1500. ©Photographic Archive Museo Nacional del Prado
Episodes
Mentioned books
Dec 7, 2023 • 34min
Episode Two: On Display | Shirin Neshat, Jamie Fobert, Dr Nicholas Cullinan
Artist Shirin Neshat, architect Jamie Fobert, and National Portrait Gallery director Dr. Nicholas Cullinan discuss the history and contemporary meaning of the gallery. They reflect on Neshat's portrait of Malala Yousafzai and the paradoxical qualities captured. The conversation also explores the transformation project for the building, creating seamless harmony between art and architecture, and the ideal presentation of artwork in a gallery space. Efforts to humanize the museum space and enhance visitor experience are also discussed.
Nov 30, 2023 • 34min
Episode One: On Rebellion | Maggi Hambling & Sarah Lucas
In 2005, British artists Maggi Hambling and Sarah Lucas met at the historic Colony Room Club in London's Soho. There, they discovered that they shared the same irreverent and unapologetic attitude – and even the same birthday. In On Rebellion, chaired by Louisa Buck, these two British artists discuss their influences, their reactions to rules and expectations, facing up to mortality and being each other's muse. 'I think great art creates somewhere where life and death cohabit, where life and death come together' – Maggi Hambling Maggi Hambling is a British painter and sculptor. Hambling's latest series of paintings, Maelstrom, is on show at Frankie Rossi Art Projects, London, 5 October – 24 November 2023. Sarah Lucas is a British artist whose practice spans sculpture, photography and installation. Tate Britain, London, hosts the major exhibition Sarah Lucas: Happy Gas, 28 September 2023 – 14 January 2024. Louisa Buck is a writer and broadcaster on contemporary art. Find images of the artwork discussed here. About Frieze Masters Podcast Series two of the Frieze Masters Podcast is now available, bringing you our annual programme of live talks – the Frieze Masters Talks programme – curated by the Director of the National Portrait Gallery, Dr Nicholas Cullinan. These eight conversations between leading artists, writers, museum directors and curators all reflect the ethos of the Frieze Masters fair: looking at the past with a contemporary gaze. The Frieze Masters Talks programme and the Frieze Masters Podcast are brought to you by Frieze in collaboration with dunhill, the foremost British luxury menswear house. About Frieze Frieze is the world's leading platform for modern and contemporary art, dedicated to artists, galleries, collectors and art lovers alike. Frieze comprises three magazines – 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘻𝘦, Frieze Masters Magazine and Frieze Week; five international art fairs – Frieze London, Frieze Masters, Frieze New York, Frieze Los Angeles and Frieze Seoul; and No.9 Cork Street, a permanent gallery space in the heart of London. www.frieze.com @friezeofficial
Jan 24, 2023 • 52min
Anthea Hamilton & Nicholas Cullinan
Frieze Masters presents this conversation with Anthea Hamilton & Nicholas Cullinan in partnership with Studio Voltaire @studiovoltairelondon. Their conversation explores the trajectory of Hamilton's work, the geopolitical basis of her identity as a 'Londoner' and how elements from the 'fourth dimension' shape her work. "We're actually functioning in a four-dimensional space, and I tried to think about what might be in the fourth dimension, if it's not just depth. And for me, those fourth dimensional things are emotions, power, wealth, and those are the kinds of things I think, which are shaping the practice as it kind of goes forward." – Anthea Hamilton Anthea Hamilton @hamiltonanthea was born in London in 1978, where she lives and works. Her approach has often focused on extended study into archives, scientific research and popular culture combining these with resonant images and objects in unusual and surreal ways. Nicholas Cullinan @nicholascullinan is an art historian, curator and Director of the National Portrait Gallery in London. About the Frieze Masters Podcast Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today's most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world's leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity. www.frieze.com @friezeofficial
Jan 16, 2023 • 58min
Love Lucian: The letters and early life of Lucian Freud
Frieze Masters presents Love Lucian: The Letters and Early Life of Lucian Freud in partnership with the Freud Museum (@freudmuseum) . This episode features Hannah Rothschild in conversation with Martin Gayford and David Dawson, speaking on their new publication and the first exhibition of Lucian Freud's works at the Freud Museum London. Exploring the overlapping themes present in both Love Lucian and the exhibition, the discussion draws out some interesting and lesser-known facets of Lucian's early life. Having uncovered illustrated letters to friends, love letters, and even telegrams, Dawson and Gayford's latest research will offer an intimate glimpse of the artist's personality and creative practice in the early part of his career. "[We] wanted to show the humour in him, the quick-wittedness in him, and how that sort of shapes his painting...just so that you get a real feel of what Lucian was like, as a young boy, young man, and what comes after." – David Dawson David Dawson is Director of the Lucian Freud Archive and was Freud's longstanding assistant, Martin Gayford is an author and the exhibition's curator, and Hannah Rothschild CBE is a British writer, documentary filmmaker, businesswoman and philanthropist. About the Frieze Masters Podcast Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today's most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world's leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity. www.frieze.com @friezeofficial
Jan 9, 2023 • 1h 4min
Kamala Ibrahim Ishag & Hans Ulrich Obrist
Frieze Masters presents this conversation with Kamala Ibrahim Ishag and Hans Ulrich Obrist in partnership with the Serpentine (@serpentineuk). To celebrate the opening of her solo exhibition at Serpentine, Ishag returns to the RCA where she studied in the 1960s. She discusses her background, her relationship with nature and the influence of the Sudanese Zār cult on her work. "If people are really genuine with their plants and they respect their plants, they should talk to them as human, as a source of creation from God. Humans and plants, we are all the same." – Kamala Ibrahim Ishag Kamala Ibrahim Ishag was amongst the first women artists to graduate from the College of Fine and Applied Art in Khartoum in 1963, which she followed with studies in Mural Painting at the RCA in London between 1964 and 1966 and Lithography, Typography and Illustration from 1968-9. Her work bridges the earthly and spiritual through an understanding of our connections with the natural world. Hans Ulrich Obrist (@hansulrichobrist) is Artistic Director at Serpentine Find images of artwork discussed here. About the Frieze Masters Podcast Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today's most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world's leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity. www.frieze.com @friezeofficial
Dec 16, 2022 • 41min
Doron Langberg & Nicholas Cullinan
Frieze Masters presents this conversation with Doron Langberg & Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery in London. Their conversation explores various aspects of Langberg's work including his portraiture in the context of the resurrection of figurative painting, and the influence of his educational background. "Painting really has always been my language, I feel like I almost think of it as my first language. I have been painting since I was very, very young and it's really kind of my way of experiencing the world... for me, my [artistic] process [involves questions of] how I can use painting in a meaningful way and bring something new." – Doron Langberg Doron Langberg (@doronlangberg) was born in 1985 in Yokneam Moshava, Israel and currently lives and works in New York City. He received his MFA from Yale University School of Art, holds a BFA from the University of Pennsylvania, a Certificate from PAFA, and attended the Yale Summer School of Music and Art, Norfolk. Nicholas Cullinan (@nicholascullinan) is an art historian, curator and Director of the National Portrait Gallery in London. About the Frieze Masters Podcast Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today's most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world's leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity. www.frieze.com @friezeofficial
Dec 5, 2022 • 52min
Zadie Xa & Vivien Zhang
Frieze Masters presents this conversation with Zadie Xa & Vivien Zhang in partnership with Whitechapel Gallery (@whitechapelgallery). Their conversation explores Xa's new exhibition at Whitechapel as they reflect on ideas of cultural identity, the appropriation and gentrification of symbols, and disparities between static and performance art. "[The Yin Yang] feels like a very Korean or Asian thing. This is an authentic image that I can kind of attach meaning to, but then of course, it's something that has been so heavily commodified by the West and in skate and surfboard culture in Vancouver...So I thought, right, it's also devoid of meaning. And it's something that depending on where the symbol sits, has lots of meanings." – Zadie Xa Zadie Xa (@zadiexa) was born in Vancouver, Canada and lives and works in London, UK. Working across textile, painting, installation, live performance, sound, and moving image, Xa's practice is an exploration of familial legacies, histories of migration, and how different species communicate with one another. Vivien Zhang (@vivienzhang_) is a London-based artist and an Associate Lecturer at Camberwell College of Arts. About the Frieze Masters Podcast Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today's most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world's leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity. www.frieze.com @friezeofficial
Nov 28, 2022 • 45min
Andra Ursuţa & Jeremy Deller
Frieze Masters presents this conversation with Andra Ursuţa & Jeremy Deller in partnership with David Zwirner Gallery (@davidzwirner). Their conversation explores Ursuţa's new exhibition at David Zwirner as well as her inclination towards using clichés and the 'lowest' regarded forms of artistry, her embrace of spirituality and the influence of the ancient on her work. "I look at a lot of ancient sculpture. I think, at least in my opinion, that if you try to make something that answers too perfectly to the sort of visual demands of today, your work will look very dated, very quickly." – Andra Ursuţa Andra Ursuţa was born in 1979 in Salonta, Romania, moved to New York in 1999 and has gained recognition for her inventive sculptural work that mines the darker undercurrents of contemporary society. Jeremy Deller (@jeremydeller) is an English conceptual, video and installation artist. About the Frieze Masters Podcast Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today's most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world's leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity. www.frieze.com @friezeofficial
Nov 18, 2022 • 52min
Amy Sherald, Ekow Eshun & Jenni Sorkin
Frieze Masters presents this conversation with Amy Sherald, Ekow Eshun and Jenni Sorkin in partnership with Hauser & Wirth (@hauserwirth). The panelists discuss Sherald's practice and the relevance of her work within the canon of historical portraiture. This episode also marks the release of the artist's first substantial monograph by Hauser & Wirth Publishers, providing a unique insight into her work and studio practice, alongside newly-commissioned texts. "When I'm considering my Americanness, and my American story, I think farming and agriculture is essential to that. It's the reason that the US is a superpower. And it's the way that black families were able to sustain themselves. It was legacy, it was the way that we planted our seeds, it was the animals that we raised. It was something that we could not live without. And so to have all of that, taken away, is disappearing, those voices are disappearing." – Amy Sherald Amy Sherald (@asherald) documents contemporary African American experience in the United States through arresting, intimate portraits. Ekow Eshun (@ekoweshun) is a British writer, journalist, broadcaster, and curator. Jenni Sorkin (@jennisorkin) is an American art historian, curator and educator who writes on the intersections between gender, material culture, and contemporary art. About the Frieze Masters Podcast Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today's most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world's leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity. www.frieze.com @friezeofficial
Nov 11, 2022 • 56min
Tyler Mitchell & Zoé Whitley
Frieze Masters presents this conversation with Tyler Mitchell & Zoé Whitley in partnership with Gagosian (@gagosian). Their conversation explores Mitchell's new exhibition, Chrysalis, at Gagosian, and a special commission for this year's edition of Frieze Masters that reflects on his conceptual and editorial photography practices. His work is rooted in reinterpreting the tropes employed in both the Western canon of portraiture and the contemporary fashion magazine. "Sitting at the metaphorical edges of these pictures is this idea of what was socially denied and what was not psychologically available to Black folks; this idea of hypervigilance and the ability to exist freely or not exist freely in public space, specifically in America. These works glean into that tone...Chrysalis is about cocooning away from the world." –Tyler Mitchell Tyler Mitchell (@tylersphotos) is an artist, photographer and filmmaker based in Brooklyn. Zoé Whitley (@zoe.whitley) is Director of the Chisenhale Gallery, London, having previously worked as a curator for the V&A, Tate and Hayward Gallery. Find images of artwork discussed here. About the Frieze Masters Podcast Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today's most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world's leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity. www.frieze.com @friezeofficial
