Share
Talk Art
Skinder Hundal MBE
It's the Season 14 finale! We meet Skinder Hundal MBE who is the British Council's Director of Arts!!!! We discuss his extraordinary career in Visual Arts including recently working with Sonya Boyce, for the 2022 British Pavilion, who won the Golden Lion prize for her exhibition 'Feeling Her Way', which runs until 27th November.
Before joining British Council, Hundal was CEO/Director of New Art Exchange, a contemporary arts space in Nottingham where he worked for 12 years to create connections between the UK and overseas through arts and cultural projects. Working across art forms, his international experience includes projects for La Biennale di Venezia, TED Global, Google Cultural Institute and for the UK’s official arts programme for the First World War Centenary, 14-18 Now.
Major projects under his tenure at New Art Exchange includes Here, There & Everywhere, an ambitious international programme of artistic development, cultural exchange and artist residencies between the UK and Africa, South Asia, South Korea, Middle East, North America and Europe.
Skinder Hundal is Executive Producer and co-Artistic Director of the UK’s original South Asian outdoor festival, Nottingham Arts Mela, and a Board member at Artist News (a-n) and Tom Dale Dance Company. In 2019, he was awarded an MBE for his contribution to visual arts.
As Director of Arts, British Council, Hundal oversees multiple art forms, including: Architecture, Design and Fashion; Film; Literature; Music; Theatre and Dance; and Visual Arts. The British Council’s major arts activity includes cultural programmes for annual bilateral seasons such as UK/Italy 2020 and UK/Australia 2021-22; the British Pavilion exhibitions at La Biennale Arte and La Biennale Architettura, Venice; and the Market Focus Cultural Programme at the London Book Fair.
"Connecting, engaging and sharing knowledge through arts and culture is now more important than ever. I believe artists and cultural professionals help challenge, provoke and make sense of the world, so I’m looking to connect the unique and diverse UK’s arts scene with many brilliant artists and organisations around the world in my role at British Council.' Skinder Hundal MBE
Follow @SkinderHundal and @BritishArts on Instagram, or @SkinsBC on Twitter. Learn more: https://www.britishcouncil.org/arts and explore the British Council Visual Arts Collection here: http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/collection
Thanks for listening to Season 14!! We will be back next week with a whole new series 15!!! Plus we will be announcing some very exciting news next week. WATCH THIS SPACE!!! Enjoying the podcast? Follow us and say hello via our Instagram: @TalkArt
More episodes
View all episodes
1. Introducing Talk Art
39:25Welcome to Talk Art! Actor Russell Tovey and gallerist Robert Diament discuss how they first became friends a decade ago, plus more recent adventures at Frieze Art Fair, the Turner Prize, South London Gallery and other exhibition highlights in London, as well as Robert's gallery relocating to the seaside town of Margate, Kent.2. Sir Michael Craig-Martin CBE
01:05:51Russell & Robert talk with leading artist Sir Michael Craig-Martin CBE exploring 50 years of art-making. From his early 1960s work as a conceptual artist culminating in the seminal ‘An Oak Tree’ (1973) through to more recent decades as an internationally-renowned painter, sculptor and printmaker as well as his influential role as a teacher to two generations of Young British Artists at Goldsmiths.3. Pedro Pascal
01:00:02Russell & Robert talk with leading actor Pedro Pascal, star of Narcos, Game of Thrones and forthcoming Star Wars 'The Mandalorian'. They discuss his favourite artist, a classic painting on display at Museum of Modern Art that offered Pedro comfort when he moved to New York in the mid 1990s, as well as his more recent art experiences at Tate Modern and Frieze Art Fair whilst filming in London for his latest movie Wonder Woman 1984.4. Sarah Hadland and Laura Aikman
53:37We celebrate the holidays with two dear friends, the actresses Sarah Hadland and Laura Aikman (both stars of The Job Lot comedy sitcom with Russell). Topics include Olafur Eliasson’s melting ice installation highlighting climate change, Yayoi Kusama’s infinity mirrored room, the paintings of LS Lowry, Beryl Cook, Picasso and Ed Ruscha. Plus we discover which guest once pole danced for Madonna! Happy Christmas everyone. We will return in Spring 2019 with a weekly season. Love Russell and Robert X5. Louisa Buck
50:02Robert & Russell chat with leading British art critic and author Louisa Buck, columnist for the Art Newspaper and a judge of the Turner Prize in 2005. They explore how the art world has evolved since the 1980s and 90s, discover which artwork Grayson Perry made as a commission to commemorate the birth of Louisa's daughter as well as revealing the best, and very worst, interviews she's conducted. Happy International Women's Day!6. Martin Creed
01:00:57Robert & Russell meet legendary artist and ‘poet of the everyday’ Martin Creed (and his dog Jimmy). Find out why this Turner Prize winner doesn’t read reviews of his own work, who his favourite comedians are and how music has informed his art. We delve deep into Creed’s creative output spanning more than 30 years. From a giant kinetic sculpture with the word MOTHERS lit up in neon, a live performance where athletes run through the Tate as fast as they can, to a more recent handmade textile work: a multicoloured neck-warmer (worn by the artist during this very interview).7. Sadie Coles
46:12Robert & Russell meet gallerist Sadie Coles, one of the world’s most respected and successful art dealers. Discover why she set up her gallery in London after managing Jeff Koons’ studio in New York in the mid 1990s; how she first discovered the work of Sarah Lucas and John Currin; the skill of representing new artists on the primary market and the importance of taking a longterm view. We discuss feminism and equality in the workplace and why it's good to be collegiate. Finally we explore childhood trips to visit Tutankhamun at the British Museum, a memorable performance by mime artist/choreographer Lindsay Kemp and a pivotal Nancy Grossman exhibition.
8. Tracey Emin CBE
01:07:57Robert & Russell meet Tracey Emin CBE, one of the world’s most respected, successful and controversial artists. During an hour-long private tour of her current solo exhibition ‘A Fortnight of Tears’, we explore her mother’s recent death, grief, everlasting love, the supernatural, insomnia and abortion. Tracey reveals that nature is one of her biggest influences and how working in a small South of France studio enabled the artist to wholeheartedly and triumphantly return to painting. Learn more about her longterm connection to the work of Edvard Munch, her return to her childhood hometown of Margate and why, surprisingly, she doesn’t keep a diary. For images of all works discussed in this episode, visit our Instagram @TalkArt Please leave us a review and rating if you’ve enjoyed this episode!9. Ryan Gander OBE
56:50Russell & Robert chat to leading conceptual artist Ryan Gander OBE. We explore artist persona, designing a kitchen sink, family ties, the soul of objects and why his art has been so commercially successful in Japan. Ryan reveals how a limited edition Rolex watch transformed into an artwork, why he worked with glow-in-the-dark concrete, the importance of empathy and why we should all ‘let the world take a turn'. For images of works discussed in this episode, visit our Instagram @TalkArt. Ryan’s new BBC Four documentary ‘Me, My Selfie and I’ is available to view on iPlayer until mid April 2019. Please leave us a review and rating if you’ve enjoyed this episode!