Time Sensitive

The Slowdown

Candid, revealing long-form conversations with leading minds about their life and work through the lens of time. Host Spencer Bailey interviews each guest about how they think about time broadly and how specific moments in time have shaped who they are today. Explore more at timesensitive.fm

  1. Sara Imari Walker on Making Sense of Life, the Universe, and Ourselves

    27 AGO

    Sara Imari Walker on Making Sense of Life, the Universe, and Ourselves

    As the physicist and astrobiologist Sara Imari Walker—the author of the mind-expanding book Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life’s Emergence—sees it, every single thing on Earth can be traced to life’s beginnings. Walker studies the origins of life on this planet—one of science’s greatest unsolved puzzles—and, beyond that, whether alien life exists on other planets. As part of her research, she’s advancing a physics known as “assembly theory,” a new way of thinking and talking about life’s origins and, in turn, time. She displays that rare gift for demystifying deeply layered concepts—and for reminding us of how profound it is to be alive, in this moment, in the first place.  On this special episode—produced in partnership with the Aspen Art Museum and recorded in Aspen, Colorado, during the inaugural AIR festival earlier this month—Walker makes a compelling case for why understanding life’s origins is crucial to understanding ourselves. Special thanks to our episode sponsor, the Aspen Art Museum.  Show Notes: Sara Imari Walker [6:59] Assembly theory [10:00] Thomas Moynihan [11:13] “Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life's Emergence” (2024) [13:36] Michael Lachmann [18:38] Lee Cronin [18:48] Bertrand Russell  [21:04] “A.I. Is Life” [24:10] Paley’s watch argument [25:36] Steve Jobs [25:54] “Reflecting on the iPhone's cultural impacts as it turns 18” [29:14] “It’s Time to Retire the Word ‘Technology’” [32:46] Copernican Revolution [36:14] “Hundert Autoren gegen Einstein” or “One Hundred Authors Against Einstein” (1931) [40:54] Arizona State University: School of Earth and Space Exploration [45:03] AIR Aspen [46:20] Carlo Rovelli [47:44] Thaddeus Mosley [47:54] Constantin Brâncuși [47:55] Isamu Noguchi

    56 min
  2. James Frey on Designing Your Life to Bring Joy

    25 JUN

    James Frey on Designing Your Life to Bring Joy

    In 2003, when the author James Frey published his first book, A Million Little Pieces—a gut-punch account of his experience with addiction and rehab—nobody could have expected what would come next. Thanks to an Oprah Book Club endorsement, A Million Little Pieces was instantly catapulted to bestseller status, but soon blew up in scandal after Frey admitted to having falsified certain portions of the book, which had been marketed as a memoir. The drama that ensued sparked a media controversy—one that now, around 20 years later, feels petty and misplaced, especially in the context of today’s cancel-culture climate. More than 10 million copies of A Million Little Pieces have sold since, and Frey is still at it, writing, publishing, and pushing the boundaries of his art. His latest novel, Next to Heaven, is a rollicking, raunchy, absurd-yet-not satire about money, murder, and the all-too-human desires for power, pleasure, and greed.  On the episode—our Season 11 finale, in which Frey sat lotus for the entire duration—he reflects on the A Million Little Pieces saga; his long-term study of Taoism; writing as a gateway to vulnerability; and why love, for him, is the greatest drug there is. Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels. Show notes: James Frey [5:08] “Tao Te Ching” [5:08] Lao Tzu [5:08] Stephen Mitchell [5:08] Taoism [8:51] Cubism [13:11] “A Million Little Pieces” (2003) [14:16] “Next To Heaven” (2025) [14:16] New Canaan, Connecticut [17:14] Jackie Collins [17:14] “Hollywood Wives” (1983) [17:14] Danielle Steel [21:35] Honoré de Balzac [29:37] “Katerina” (2018)  [29:37] “Full Fathom Five” (1947) by Jackson Pollock [37:14] “Larry King Live” (2006) [39:09] “Tropic of Cancer” (1971) [42:24] “Up to Me” (1985) [44:20] “Kissing a Fool” (1998) [52:22] “My Friend Leonard” (2005) [52:22] “Bright Shiny Morning” (2008) [52:22] “The Final Testament” (2011) [58:56] “Author Is Kicked Out of Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club” [58:56] “James Frey: ‘I Always Wanted to Be the Outlaw’” [01:03:18] Bret Easton Ellis [01:03:18] Jay McInerney [01:03:18] Norman Mailer [01:10:54] Rashid Johnson [01:10:54] HBO’s “Native Son” (2019)

    1 h y 20 min
  3. Molly Jong-Fast on the Fleeting Nature of Fame

    18 JUN

    Molly Jong-Fast on the Fleeting Nature of Fame

    Through her sharp and biting political commentary—whether as host of the podcast Fast Politics, as a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, or as a political analyst on MSNBC—Molly Jong-Fast has, over the past decade, become something of a household name. But, as the daughter of the once-famous author and second-wave feminist Erica Jong—whose 1973 novel Fear of Flying catapulted her into the literary limelight—she has actually been in the public eye for much longer, decades before this more recent notoriety of her own making. Jong-Fast’s latest book, the searing, heartbreaking (but also, at times, hilarious) memoir How to Lose Your Mother, is in some sense an effort to take her story back after being in the shadow of her narcissistic, too often out-of-reach mother for so long. It’s also a book about aging and frailty, and an extremely difficult, gut-wrenching year: In 2023, Erica was diagnosed with dementia, right around the same time that Molly’s husband learned he had a rare cancer. On the episode, Jong-Fast talks about her own actual fear of flying, in addition to her mother’s book of the same name; 27 years of sobriety and how her time in A.A. has transformed her life; and the importance of confronting the vicissitudes of aging and one’s passage through time. Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels. Show notes: Molly Jong-Fast [4:28] “Fear of Flying” (1973) [4:28] Erica Jong [4:49] “How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir” [7:53] “Spartacus” (1951) [7:53] “April Morning” (1961) [7:53] “The Immigrants” (1977) [9:15] Lee Krasner [10:04] Susan Faludi [10:04] “Backlash” (1991) [12:09] “Fear and Flying Erica & Erotica in Connecticut” (1980) [12:09] “Fanny” (1980) [14:57] Marty Seif [18:26] Special Guest: Erica Jong (2023) [19:39] Pan Am Flight 001 [21:11] “The Year of Magical Thinking” (2005) [21:11] “Notes to John” (2025) [26:54] “The Sex Doctors in the Basement” (2005) [36:46] “Normal Girl” (2000) [38:52] Jacob Bernstein [38:52] Carl Bernstein [38:52] Stalin Peace Prize [46:05] Michael Tomasky [48:55] Hazelden [49:57] “How Molly Jong-Fast Tweeted Her Way to Liberal Media Stardom”

    1 h y 1 min
  4. Alicja Kwade on the Absurdity of Being Alive

    4 JUN

    Alicja Kwade on the Absurdity of Being Alive

    Few artists aim to make sense of the subjectivity and complexity of time and space quite like the Polish-born, Berlin-based artist Alicja Kwade. In each of her works, ranging from sculptures and large-scale public installations to films, photographs, and works on paper, Kwade displays an astute sense of temporality and the ticking hands of the clock. Her practice, in a literal and figurative sense, is a quest to understand time as a ruler and shaper of our lives and of our world. For her latest exhibition, “Telos Tales,” on view at Pace Gallery in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood through August 15, Kwade has created three monumental steel-frame sculptures with treelike limbs alongside new mixed-media works in an effort to engage the intangible nature of time. As with all her work, “Telos Tales” is philosophical, illusionistic, and inspires wonder: Long after a viewer has seen it, it will leave them questioning. On the episode, Kwade considers the unfathomability of all things, finds humor in being human, and explains what a relief it is to know that some questions have no clear answers—and never will.  Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels. Show notes: Alicja Kwade [13:19] “Alicja Kwade: Telos Tales” at Pace Gallery [16:56] “Hiroshi Sugimoto on Photography as a Form of Timekeeping” [18:41] “Alicja Kwade: Pretopia” (2025) [24:42] On Kawara’s Date Paintings [25:04] “Alicja Kwade & Agnes Martin: Rhythm, Equilibrium, and Time” (2024) [25:04] “Gegen den Lauf” (2012-2014) [29:48] “Stellar Day” (2013) [31:44] “Against the Run” (2015) [31:44] “Against the Run” (2019) [31:44] Pinacoteca Agnelli Art Center [35:04] “88 Seconds”  (2017) [35:04] Eadweard Muybridge [39:24] Hiroshi Sugimoto [49:00] Salvador Dalí [49:00] Harry Houdini [49:00] Kazimir Malevich [59:27] “iPhone” (2017) [59:27] “Computer (PowerMac)” (2017) [01:04:47] “LinienLand” (2018) [01:04:47] “Alicja Kwade: Parapivot” (2019) [01:04:47] “Alicja Kwade: Viva Arte Viva” (2017) [01:08:30] “L’ordre des Mondes (Totem)” (2024) [01:13:50] Jason Farago [01:13:50] “Celestial Visions on the Met Roof”

    1 h y 20 min
  5. Thomas Keller on Cooking as a Pathway to Happiness

    21 MAY

    Thomas Keller on Cooking as a Pathway to Happiness

    With one small, clever—and now-trademark—idea in 1990, the chef Thomas Keller turned not only the notion of the ice-cream cone on its head, but the fine-dining world, too. Now, 35 years later, his hospitality group comprises 10 restaurants, including The French Laundry in Yountville, California, and Per Se in New York City—both of them three-Michelin-starred—as well as Bouchon Bistro and Bouchon Bakery in Las Vegas and The Surf Club Restaurant in Miami. Across his entire hospitality operation, a highly refined, expertly tuned set of standards feeds his “one-guest-at-a-time” philosophy and culture. In many respects, Keller was at the forefront of a local-focused cooking movement. He was also a pioneer in making fine dining more relaxed and approachable—and decidedly less fussy. The food world today would not be the same were it not for his wide-spanning influence. On the episode, Keller reflects on how it took two decades of failing and learning from mistakes before at last, in 1994, he opened The French Laundry, which instantly received rave reviews and remains one of the most celebrated restaurants in the world. He also discusses his recent Chef’s Table episode on Netflix and his cameo on the FX show The Bear, memory-making as a key part of his operation, and why persistence is the greatest form of pleasure. Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels. Show notes: Thomas Keller [4:57] “Chef’s Table: Legends” (2025) [4:57] The French Laundry [4:57] Per Se [7:24] Grant Achatz [7:24] Bobby Flay [7:24] Tom Colicchio [7:24] Emeril Lagasse [7:24] Le Pavillon [10:13] “The Bear”: Season 3, Episode 10 (2024) [10:13] Christopher Storer [10:13] “Sense of Urgency” (2013) [10:13] Hans Zimmer [10:13] Bouchon Bistro [10:13] “Thomas Keller’s Roasted Chicken” (2020) [17:26] “Chef Thomas Keller on Finding Professional Success After 40” (2022) [23:55] “The French Laundry Cookbook” (1999) [25:57] Daniel Boulud [28:24] Graham Kerr [28:24] “The Galloping Gourmet” (1968) [32:27] Roland Henin [33:47] Florence Fabricant [33:47] “Food; Flights of Fancy” (1988) [33:47] “Checkers Has Lost Its Chef” (1992) [38:08] “Sally Schmitt, Trend-Setting Restaurateur, Is Dead at 90” [40:12] The French Laundry Kitchen [40:12] Snøhetta [40:12] “Thomas Keller, an Exacting Chef at a Crossroads” [48:47] “The Reach of a Restaurant” TED Talk [48:47] “The French Laundry, Per Se” (2020)

    55 min
  6. Billy Martin on Finding Harmony in Rhythm and Life

    14 MAY

    Billy Martin on Finding Harmony in Rhythm and Life

    The drummer and percussionist Billy Martin, whose name many Time Sensitive listeners may recognize—he created the Time Sensitive theme song—defies any boxed-in or limiting definitions of his work. Best known as a member of the band Medeski Martin & Wood (MMW), he’s spent the past three-plus decades making experimental, boundary-pushing, and uncategorizable instrumental jazz-funk-groove music, shaping sounds that feel as expansive as they are definitive and distinctive. Across all his artistic output, Martin continually, meditatively searches for harmony. He is also a composer, a teacher, a visual artist, and a builder and craftsman. His expansive creative practice comes most alive at his home in Englewood, New Jersey, where he has cultivated a bamboo garden, crafted his own Japanese-style teahouse, and constructed a music studio. Martin is someone for whom rhythm is not just something heard, but also seen and felt. On the episode, he talks about his MMW journey at length, his concept of “rhythmic harmony,” and why he views sound creation as a sacred act. Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels. Show notes: Billy Martin [7:31] Medeski Martin & Wood [7:31] John Medeski [7:31] Chris Wood [7:31] “Not Not Jazz” (2024) [10:12] Iggy Pop’s “Avenue B” (1999) [10:12] Don Was [11:27] “The Lover” (1995) [11:27] “Friday Afternoon in the Universe” (1995) [11:27] “Old Angel Midnight” (1973) by Jack Kerouac [13:44] Ra-Kalam Bob Moses [13:44] John Scofield [13:44] David Baker [15:57] “Shuck It Up” (1993) [15:57] “It’s a Jungle in Here” (1993) [18:12] “Latin Shuffle” (1998) [18:12] “Combustication” (1998) [18:12] Frankie Malabe [18:12] Art Blakey [33:25] Thelonious Monk [33:58] “Life on Drums” (2011) [38:32] John Bonham [38:32] Charlie Watts [38:32] Stewart Copeland [38:32] Elvin Jones [38:32] Max Roach [38:32] Danny Richmond [38:32] Charles Mingus [38:32] Jack DeJohnette [38:32] Joe Morello [38:32] Roy Haynes [38:32] Stan Getz [38:32] Airto Moreira [38:32] Naná Vasconcelos [38:32] Babatunde Olatunji [39:58] Gus Johnson [39:58] “Whatever Happened to Gus” (1998) [39:58] Steve Cannon [40:54] “Chubb Sub” (1995) [40:54] ”Uncle Chubb” (1992) [46:41] “Shack-man” (1996) [47:06] “Drumming Birds” (2004) [54:48] “Bamboo Rainsticks” (1999) [54:48] Amulet Records [1:00:23] Creative Music Studio

    1 h y 18 min
  7. John Pawson on Minimalism as a Way of Life

    30 ABR

    John Pawson on Minimalism as a Way of Life

    For the British architect John Pawson, minimalism isn’t just a design philosophy, but a life philosophy—with his 1996 book, Minimum, serving as a defining jumping-off point. Over the course of more than four decades, Pawson has quietly amassed a global following by distilling spaces, objects, and things down to their most essential. With projects ranging from his career-defining Calvin Klein Collection flagship store on Madison Avenue in New York City, completed in 1995, to a remote monastery complex in the Czech Republic he’s been building for Cistercian monks of the Trappist order for more than 25 years; from hotels in Los Angeles, Madrid, and Tel Aviv to London’s Design Museum; from private homes in Colorado, Greece, Japan, Sweden, and beyond, to a chair and cookware; from lamps and linens to doorknobs, bowls, to even a steak knife, Pawson’s tightly focused yet seemingly boundless practice places him in a category all his own. On the episode—our fourth “site-specific” taping of Time Sensitive, recorded at Pawson’s country home in the Cotswolds—he discusses the problems he sees with trying to turn minimalism into a movement; his deep-seated belief in restraint, both in life and in architecture; and his humble, highly refined approach to creating sacred spaces. Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts. Show notes: [08:06] Tetsuka House (2005) [08:06] “John Pawson’s Approach to Making Life Simpler” [08:06] Shiro Kuramata [08:06] Katsura Imperial Villa [08:06] North York Moors [12:41] “Minimum” (1996) [12:41] Sen no Rikyū [17:35] Calvin Klein Collections Store (1995) [17:35] Ian Schrager [17:35] Paul Goldberger [17:35] Cathay Pacific (1998) [20:59] “Elements of Style” (1959) by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White [20:59] “Plain Space” (2010) [20:59] Raymond Carver [23:08] Bruce Chatwin [23:08] “Wabi” [23:08] Chatwin Apartment (1982) [26:26] Deyan Sudjic [28:12] Ryōan-ji [31:11] “John Pawson: Making Life Simpler” (2023) [30:16] Neuendorf House (1989) [30:16] Tilty Barn (1995) [37:19] Claudio Silvestrin [37:51] Philip Johnson [40:49] Home Farm (2019) [40:49] “Home Farm Cooking” (2021) [47:18] Bill Brandt [55:46] Hester van Royen Apartment (1981) [56:36] Casa Malaparte [56:36] Mies van der Rohe [56:36] Barcelona Pavilion [59:356] The Design Museum (2016) [59:356] Farnsworth House [59:356] “Inside the Brick House, Philip Johnson’s Private Playground” [1:02:26] Pawson House (1999) [1:05:53] The Feuerle Collection (2016) [1:10:33] Abbey of Our Lady of Nový Dvůr (2004) [1:21:54] Pieter Jansz. Saenredam

    1 h y 33 min
  8. Lina Ghotmeh on Ruin and Regeneration in Architecture

    16 ABR

    Lina Ghotmeh on Ruin and Regeneration in Architecture

    Through her “archaeology of the future” design approach, the Lebanese-born, Paris-based architect Lina Ghotmeh has firmly established herself as a humanist who brings a profound awareness of past, present, and presence to all that she does. In the two decades since winning her breakthrough commission—the Estonian National Museum in Tartu—her practice has taken off, with Ghotmeh swiftly becoming one today’s fastest-rising architectural stars. Just a week after we recorded this episode of Time Sensitive, she was named the winner of a competition to design the British Museum’s Western Range and, shortly after that, she was announced as the architect of the new Qatar Pavilion in the historic Giardini of Venice; she is also the designer of the Bahrain Pavilion at the just-opened 2025 Osaka Expo. Across her high-touch, high-craft projects, whether a brick-clad Hermès leather-goods workshop in Normandy, France, completed in 2023; the timber-framed 2023 Serpentine Pavilion in London; or the concrete-walled Stone Garden apartment tower (2020) in Beirut, Ghotmeh celebrates the hand. On the episode, Ghotmeh reflects on the long-view, across-time qualities of her work and outlines what she believes is architecture’s role in shaping a better world ahead. Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts. Show notes: Lina Ghotmeh [5:01] “The Shape of Time: Remarks on the History of Things” [5:01] George Kubler [5:01] Trevor Paglen [8:41] “The Long View: Why We Need to Transform How the World Sees Time” [8:41] Tim Ingold [11:15] “Windows of Light” [11:15] “Lecture: Lina Ghotmeh” [12:06] Beatriz Colomina [12:06] “Are We Human?” [19:58] Gaston Bachelard [24:04] Olga de Amaral [24:04] Cartier Foundation [24:04] Juhani Pallasmaa [24:04] “The Eyes of the Skin” [26:39] Luis Barragán [31:09] Stone Garden (2020) [31:09] Hermès Workshops (2023) [36:36] Peter Zumthor [36:36] “Atmospheres” [41:53] Khalil Khouri [44:51] Jean Nouvel [44:51] Norman Foster [44:51] Estonian National Museum (2016) [46:41] Renzo Piano [46:41] Richard Rogers [46:41] Maya Lin [46:41] Dan Dorell [46:41] Tsuyoshi Tane [50:45] “The Poetic, Humanistic Architecture of Lina Ghotmeh” [51:40] Rimbaud Museum [54:48] “Light in Water” (2015) [54:48] The Okura Tokyo [59:22] Les Grands Verres, Palais de Tokyo (2017) [59:44] Zero-Carbon Hotel Concept (2019) [59:42] Serpentine Pavilion (2023) [1:04:11] Osaka Expo Bahrain Pavilion (2025)

    1 h y 8 min
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Candid, revealing long-form conversations with leading minds about their life and work through the lens of time. Host Spencer Bailey interviews each guest about how they think about time broadly and how specific moments in time have shaped who they are today. Explore more at timesensitive.fm

Información

  • Creador
    The Slowdown
  • Años de actividad
    2019 - 2025
  • Episodios
    140
  • Clasificación
    Explícito
  • Copyright
    © 2024 The Slowdown
  • Mostrar sitio web
    Time Sensitive

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