Intersections: The Art Basel Podcast

Rapper, songwriter, and record producer Kim Nam-joon – better known as RM and a founding member of BTS – joins Art Basel’s Marc Spiegler to talk about everything from meeting Eminem to the formation and rise of BTS to the first artwork he ever bought. Collecting, he says, 'really gives me the standard to live as a better man, as a better adult, and [as] an artist.'

Can tech change social structures? What role can NFTs play in activism?In episode 2, host Anny Shaw takes a close look with three pioneers in the NFT and Web 3 worlds: the artist Olive Allen, the NFT studio founder Melissa Gilmour and the head of Pace Verso Christiana Ine-Kimba Boyle.

Moses Sumney opened for acts like Sufjan Stevens, James Blake, and Solange before even releasing his own album, but he’s more than a musician. In this conversation, it becomes clear that the California native is a talented storyteller who has mastered a variety of media 'to push art forward,' as he says, 'and to make inquiries into the state of the soul.'

The podcast Talk Art is all about breaking down barriers in the arts. Its guests have ranged from Jeff Koons to Radiohead to Lena Dunham, and its cofounders and cohosts Russell Tovey and Robert Diament firmly believe that “art is for everyone.” Here, they speak about dismantling elitist structures, the importance of living with images, and how it is never too late to learn.

Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron have designed some of today’s best-known museums, including London’s Tate Modern and Hong Kong’s M+. In this episode, Herzog weighs in on the development of architecture over the last 30 years, what it was like to collaborate with Ai Weiwei and Miuccia Prada, and if the era of the starchitect has come to a close.

Video- and performance-art pioneer Joan Jonas and jazz pianist Jason Moran first collaborated almost 20 years ago to create the now-iconic performance The Shape, The Scent, The Feel of Things. Here, they reminisce on their six weeks of intense preparation, what they’ve learned from each other since, and the importance of performance not just for an art audience but for civilization at large.

JW Anderson is one of fashion’s most visionary minds. In this episode, he talks about coming to design via theater – ‘I’ve always been fascinated by character building,’ he notes – his love of ceramics, and the importance of artistic production today.

Author, podcaster, and curator Katy Hessel joins Marc Spiegler to discuss all things women and art, especially in relation to her newly published book, The Story of Art without Men. Who was Sofonisba Anguissola? Did Duchamp really make the Urinal or was it his contemporary Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven? ‘What I’m trying to do’ Hessel says, ‘is turn upside-down what we’ve known as art history.’

Fresh from the mud-spattered, Santiago Sierra designed catwalk of the Balenciaga Spring 2023 collection, Artistic Director Demna talks to Marc Spiegler about cutting his teeth at Martin Margiela and Louis Vuitton to the lasting effects of having been a refugee of the Former Soviet Union. He also warns of a brand becoming more powerful than a product—’popularity is always very dangerous’ - and reflects on his relationship to artists and his need for silence. Ultimately, he says, ‘I no longer think about making the fashion industry understand what I do,’ he says, ‘I just do it.’

In this special episode, journalist Anny Shaw investigates findings from A Survey of Global Collecting in 2022. She speaks with Chief Economist of UBS Global Wealth Management Paul Donovan and collector Amitha Raman about the impacts of the current economic crises and Brexit on the art market and collecting habits. Plus, how have buzzwords like ‘sustainability’ and ‘diversity’ been practically applied in the market sector? And what’s in store for 2023?