

ABC RN Arts
ABC Radio
Each week day RN Arts programs zoom in on a specific area of art and culture, brought to you by a specialist presenter. Subscribe to their podcasts separately by searching by name in your podcasting app.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 1, 2022 • 54min
A history of Venus in Art, the artist who lives on a boat and Yul Scarf
The goddess of love has reigned supreme through Western art, but her roots are darker, more ancient and shape-shifting than you'd expect.
Historian and TV presenter Prof Bettany Hughes joins Daniel to tell the surprising history of Venus/Aphrodite.
Plus, a seascape painter who lives on a yacht, and step into the studio of Yul Scarf, who uses ceramics, old bricks and the revived tech of QR codes, to explore questions of colonialism.

Feb 28, 2022 • 54min
A gay hate crime that became a watershed moment for reform revisited in song
In 1972, a lecturer at the University of Adelaide was attacked at a gay beat, thrown into the River Torrens and drowned. 50 years on, Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan shines a light into this appalling story and how his death changed Australia.
Also, voice and dialect coach Leith McPherson shares more insights into the power of voice and we attend the rehearsal of a reimagined version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland presented by the Australian Contemporary Opera Company.

Feb 28, 2022 • 16min
Know My Name S2 ep 4: Laurel Nannup
Laurel Nannup is a Noongar artist and elder who grew up near Pinjara in Western Australia. As part of the Stolen Generation she was taken from her mother at the age of 8 and sent to the Wanderling Mission.

Feb 27, 2022 • 54min
Isabel Allende writes about her mother, Markus Zusak gets your fanmail
Isabel Allende says her latest novel, Violeta, was inspired by her mother but also by Allende's own life. Also, readers who send fan mail and the writers who reply with Markus Zusak, Anita Heiss, John Marsden and Krissy Kneen, and disability in fiction with Joseph Elliott and Kit Kavanagh-Ryan.

Feb 24, 2022 • 54min
We are all uncah jahmz
This week BL + BW take on the big questions:
Is Julia Fox Ye’s muse, and why is everyone around you suddenly saying ‘uncah jahmz’ with comical levels of vocal fry?
Will we survive the coming vibe shift? And is it cheugy to be worrying about this?
What’s behind Kirsty Webeck, comedian, Cool Change Ambassador ‘getting a tit out?’ [her words] on twitter?
Why does second season of Starstruck torture its devoted fans?
How much do we love Ali Wong’s delightfully horny new comedy special Don Wong?
And … what the heck are these ‘show notes’ we speak of?
Show notes:
Call her Daddy: Julia Fox on Being Ye’s Muse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m82xA2y7iE8
TikTok’s uncah jahmz
https://www.tiktok.com/@dumbmackenzie/video/7064087406340902190
https://www.tiktok.com/@joeydardano/video/7064707986937335087
https://www.tiktok.com/@twingirlpeeks/video/7065068279412477231
A Vibe Shift is Coming, Will Any of Us Survive it? https://www.thecut.com/2022/02/a-vibe-shift-is-coming.html
Kirsty Webeck: https://www.kirstywebeck.com/
Kirsty Webeck twitter: https://twitter.com/KirstyWebeck
Starstruck: https://iview.abc.net.au/show/starstruck
Ali Wong: Don Wong: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81140667

Feb 23, 2022 • 54min
Kosovan Sundance winner Hive + a stunning exploration of Uni life in India
Filmmaker Blerta Basholli on her Albanian-Kosovan drama Hive, which became the first film in Sundance history to win all three main awards in its World Cinema category – the Grand Jury Prize, the Audience Award and the Directing Award. It's based on the true story of a widow who becomes an entrepreneur after losing her husband in the Kosovo War. Plus, A Night of Knowing Nothing, a stunning exploration of university life in India as a student writes letters to her estranged lover. These letters grant insight into the drastic changes taking place around her and the life of her and her fellow students. Director Payal Kapadia joins us from her home in Mumbai.

Feb 22, 2022 • 54min
The new 'canon', Renaissance woman Lavinia Fontana and Atong Atem's collage vision
Who makes up “the canon” in Art today? A new book picks 50 artists from around the world, and across centuries, to take a meaningful snapshot of art masters.
Plus, a curator on 16th C. artist Lavinia Fontana, Europe's first female professional painter.
And Atong Atem's panoramic collage that charts 10 years of life, family and art.

Feb 21, 2022 • 54min
Girl from the North Country — How 'pure ignorance' of musical theatre led to a hit
Bob Dylan's music feels inseparable from the man himself, so how could it be adapted for musical theatre? Playwright Conor McPherson explains how his dark and dreamy Girl from the North Country convinced Bob that he was the man for the job.
Also, Dean Bryant, the director of Fun Home, shares the Best Advice he was ever given and Judith Lucy and Denise Scott are Still Here and heading out on the road.

Feb 21, 2022 • 15min
Know My Name S2 ep 3: Julie Gough
Julie Gough is a Trawlwoolway artist whose practice often refers to her family's experiences as Tasmanian Aboriginal people and is held in many private collections and major galleries in Australia.

Feb 20, 2022 • 54min
Immigrant stories of the Big Apple with Gary Shteyngart and Xochitl Gonzalez
Our Country Friends is a funny book set in upstate New York during the pandemic by US writer Gary Shteyngart and Xochitl Gonzalez looks at the city through a Puerto Rican lens in Olga Dies Dreaming.