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The Creative Process
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Exploring the fascinating minds of creative people. Conversations with writers, artists and creative thinkers across the Arts and STEM. We discuss their life, work and artistic practice. Winners of Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Pulitzer, Nobel Prize, leaders and public figures share real experiences and offer valuable insights. Notable guests and participating museums and organizations include: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Neil Patrick Harris, Smithsonian, Roxane Gay, Musée Picasso, EARTHDAY-ORG, Neil Gaiman, UNESCO, Joyce Carol Oates, Mark Seliger, Acropolis Museum, Hilary Mantel, Songwriters Hall of Fame, George Saunders, The New Museum, Lemony Snicket, Pritzker Architecture Prize, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Galleries, Joe Mantegna, PETA, Greenpeace, EPA, Morgan Library and Museum, and many others. The interviews are hosted by founder and creative educator Mia Funk with the participation of students, universities, and collaborators from around the world. These conversations are also part of our traveling exhibition.

  1. Exile, Empire & Resistance: YURI HERRERA on Benito Juarez & Today's Political Crises

    2D AGO

    Exile, Empire & Resistance: YURI HERRERA on Benito Juarez & Today's Political Crises

    What happens when Mexico's future president lands in New Orleans, a city of operas, slave markets, and radical musical invention? A man who spoke a variant of Zapotec and read the French philosophers of the Enlightenment finds himself adrift in the hallucinatory swamps of New Orleans. In this episode of Speaking Out of Place podcast, Professor David Palumbo-Liu speaks with novelist, essayist, and scholar Yuri Herrera about his new novel, Season of the Swamp, which is a deeply researched and dazzlingly imagined account of Benito Juarez’s time spent in exile in New Orleans. We learn about what that time and place offered to Juarez’s understanding of a world coming into being—one of créolité and carnival, of mixedness and multiplicity, and what these sometimes hallucinatory moments offered his political vision. They talk about what kinds of new visions of freedom are discovered in the midst of forms of slavery that horrify Juarez. We hear how all of this relates to the present day—to the genocide in Gaza, the violent ICE attacks in the United States, and the descent into unbridled, and unmasked fascism. Yuri Herrera's first three novels have been translated into several languages: Kingdom Cons, Signs Preceding the End of the World, and Transmigration of Bodies. In 2016 he shared with translator Lisa Dillman the Best translated Book Award for the translation of Signs Preceding the End of the World. That same year he received the Anna Seghers Prize at the Academy of Arts of Berlin, for the body of his work. His latest books are A Silent Fury: The El Bordo Mine Fire, Ten Planets, and Season of the Swamp. He is a professor of creative writing and literature at Tulane University, in New Orleans. (0:00) The Season of the Swamp (3:55) Benito Juarez’s Life, his indigenous roots and his conflict with dictator Santana. (7:00) Yuri Herrera's relationship with New Orleans and the theme of extreme migration. (11:00) An Accidental Avant-Garde How the clash of European classical music and African drumming in Congo Square created a new space for imagination. (15:30) Individual Freedom vs. Slavery (19:30) Ocampo the Socialist Vampire Slayer Symbolic dreams in the novel and the rebellious resilience of New Orleans. (24:10) The Art of Translation (27:25) Reading from the novel (33:30) Democratizing the Gaze Why the author chose not to use Juarez's name in order to strip away the monument and reveal the tender, perceptive migrant. (39:30) Modern Fascism and Cruelty Connecting history to the ICE attacks and global resistance. (45:00) The Last Gringo Reflecting on a short story about language, power and the changing face of America. www.palumbo-liu.com https://speakingoutofplace.com Bluesky @palumboliu.bsky.social @speaking_out_of_place

    49 min
  2. On Agency and the Female Gaze: Writers, Artists, Filmmakers & Activists Share Their Stories

    2D AGO

    On Agency and the Female Gaze: Writers, Artists, Filmmakers & Activists Share Their Stories

    Today, on International Women's Day, we hear from writers, artists, filmmakers and activists who have used their work to question old hierarchies and give expression to the fullness of women’s experiences. (0:00) Manuela Lucà-Dazio  (Exec. Director, Pritzker Architecture Prize · Fmr. Exec. Director, Dept. of Visual Arts & Architecture · Venice Biennale) on Analyzing and Acting (2:01) Siri Hustvedt (Novelist, Scholar, Memoirist · Author of ‘Ghost Stories’ and ‘What I Loved’) on Listening and the Essence of Dialogue (3:35) Hala Alyan (Psychologist, Author of I'll Tell You When I'm Home) (5:11) Ana Castillo (Novelist & Poet) On Xicanisma and Indigenous History (6:55) Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Academy Award-winning Filmmaker) Film As A Tool For Change (8:37) Sara Ahmed (Scholar) On The Feminist Killjoy (10:40) Marilyn Minter (Artist) on Owning Sexual Agency (11:23) Ellen Rapoport (Showrunner, Writer, HBO’s Minx) on Feminism and Sexual Expression (12:07) Intan Paramaditha (Author) on Tiger Mothers, Monsters and So-called Bad Women (15:07) Ada Limón (24th U.S. Poet Laureate) Motherhood, Grief And Poetry (18:11) Ami Vitale (Photographer & Filmmaker) How Being a Woman Gave Her Access to Different Stories To hear more from each guest, listen to their full interviews. Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod @creativeprocesspodcast

    21 min
  3. Trust, Education & Writing as Resistance w/ AL KENNEDY - Highlights

    FEB 28

    Trust, Education & Writing as Resistance w/ AL KENNEDY - Highlights

    "The thing that puzzled him was why people don't agree to be fully expressed while they're alive. Why does it only happen in their last moment? Why wouldn't you live being fully expressed?" My guest today is AL Kennedy. She is one of Britain’s most acclaimed and versatile literary voices, a writer who can inhabit the internal life of a soldier in a POW camp, as she did in her Costa Book Award-winning novel Day, as easily as she can navigate the "professional lying" of a modern civil servant. Her latest novel, Alive in the Merciful Country, takes place during the 2020 lockdown. It tells the story of a primary school teacher who receives a confession from an undercover police officer who infiltrated her life decades earlier. It’s a provocative investigation into state power, the "Spy Cops" scandal and the search for mercy in an age of surveillance. It’s a book about the breakdown of trust. We talk about her life, her activism, and why she believes fiction is the only way to tell the truth when the facts are forbidden and how she balances the truth of her novels with the relief of stand-up comedy. (0:00) Finding Your Voice On the Alfred Wolfsohn voice method and the power of being fully expressed (2:30) Reading from Alive in the Merciful Country Kennedy shares a passage from her latest novel, exploring hope and resilience in dark times. (4:43) The Myth of Shrinking Attention Spans Challenging the narrative that modern audiences cannot focus, and the importance of engaging storytelling. (6:22) Education and the Foundation of Democracy The dangers of dismantling education and how critical thinking protects us from fascism. (10:26) The Spy Cop Scandal and State Surveillance Unpacking the reality of undercover police infiltrating peaceful protests and intimate lives. (13:59) Lockdown: A Global Pause and the Inrush of Empathy The fleeting moment of unified humanity during the pandemic and how it was ultimately betrayed. (17:34) Writing Without Theft: The Ethics of Character Creation Kennedy explains her imaginative process and why she refuses to steal details from real people's lives. (28:16) AI, Digital Slop, and the Loss of Trust Reflections on artificial intelligence as an unstable plagiarism machine and its impact on truth. (30:03) Nature, Spirituality, and the Merciful Country Finding healing in the natural world and navigating the future with love and awareness. Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    34 min
  4. The Art of Fiction, Democracy & Truth with AL KENNEDY

    FEB 27

    The Art of Fiction, Democracy & Truth with AL KENNEDY

    What happens when the state infiltrates your most intimate relationships? How do we protect the innocence and imagination of children in an increasingly authoritarian world? "If you have love, eventually you're going to win. It's not that people aren't going to die. It's not terrible things aren't going to happen. But if you stay with that and you stay centered in that, you'll get through and you will not have turned into a monster in order to overcome monsters.” My guest today is AL Kennedy. She is one of Britain’s most acclaimed and versatile literary voices, a writer who can inhabit the internal life of a soldier in a POW camp, as she did in her Costa Book Award-winning novel Day, as easily as she can navigate the "professional lying" of a modern civil servant. Her latest novel, Alive in the Merciful Country, takes place during the 2020 lockdown. It tells the story of a primary school teacher who receives a confession from an undercover police officer who infiltrated her life decades earlier. It’s a provocative investigation into state power, the "Spy Cops" scandal and the search for mercy in an age of surveillance. It’s a book about the breakdown of trust. We talk about her life, her activism, and why she believes fiction is the only way to tell the truth when the facts are forbidden and how she balances the truth of her novels with the relief of stand-up comedy. (0:00) Finding Your Voice On the Alfred Wolfsohn voice method and the power of being fully expressed (2:17) Education and the Foundation of Democracy The dangers of dismantling education and how critical thinking protects us from fascism. (5:14) The Myth of Shrinking Attention Spans Challenging the narrative that modern audiences cannot focus, and the importance of engaging storytelling. (8:23) Reading from Alive in the Merciful Country Kennedy shares a passage from her latest novel, exploring hope and resilience in dark times. (17:45) The Spy Cop Scandal and State Surveillance Unpacking the reality of undercover police infiltrating peaceful protests and intimate lives. (22:07) AI, Digital Slop, and the Loss of Trust Reflections on artificial intelligence as an unstable plagiarism machine and its impact on truth. (28:29) The Power of the Powerless: Radical Whimsy How absurdity, humor, and inflatable costumes can disrupt authoritarian mindsets and potential violence. (33:13) Lockdown: A Global Pause and the Inrush of Empathy The fleeting moment of unified humanity during the pandemic and how it was ultimately betrayed. (42:53) Writing Without Theft: The Ethics of Character Creation Kennedy explains her imaginative process and why she refuses to steal details from real people's lives. (1:29:40) Nature, Spirituality, and the Merciful Country Finding healing in the natural world and navigating the future with love and awareness. Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod IG @creativeprocesspodcast

    1h 36m
  5. SIRI HUSTVEDT on Love, Grief & Her Late Husband PAUL AUSTER - Highlights

    FEB 23

    SIRI HUSTVEDT on Love, Grief & Her Late Husband PAUL AUSTER - Highlights

    “Grief is a particular kind of unrequited love. It wasn't unrequited in the past. Usually, we think of unrequited love as you never got to do it, you never had it for yourself. But, in fact, there can be requited love, which is then unrequited love in the paroxysms of grief.” Today, we are honored to welcome a writer whose work has long explored the intimate landscapes of the mind, memory and the heart. Siri Hustvedt’s writing moves between the personal and the philosophical, the literary and the deeply human. Her work bridges collections of essays, non-fiction, poetry, and seven novels, including the international bestsellers What I Loved and The Summer Without Men. Recipient of the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature and the Gabarron Prize for Thought, her work has been translated into over thirty languages. Her new memoir, Ghost Stories, is a reflection on forty-three years shared with her late husband, the writer and filmmaker Paul Auster. In its pages, we encounter not only love and loss, but the quiet persistence of presence, memory, and language itself. (0:00) “We were hugely important to the drama of becoming in our own lives” (2:04) Grief as Unrequited Love Siri explores the emotional reality of living without Paul Auster, noting that grief occurs because love does not stop when a person dies. (3:19) The Shared Space of a 43-year Marriage (4:36) Reading from Ghost Stories Siri reads the opening passage of her memoir, detailing how the loss of her husband deranged her sense of time and bodily rhythms. (7:02) How Loss Changes Our Sense of Time (11:24)  How Powerful Emotions and a Person's Life Can Play a Role in Illness (13:04) Believing in a Reality that Transcends the Individual (20:06) Physical Love in Marriage On the importance of physical intimacy in long-term marriages, a reality often left out of grief memoirs. Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    26 min
  6. Ghost Stories: A Memoir of Love & Grief with SIRI HUSTVEDT

    FEB 20

    Ghost Stories: A Memoir of Love & Grief with SIRI HUSTVEDT

    “Grief happens because you don't stop loving the person who died. The person doesn't exist in your reality anymore. The everyday is not colored and shaped by this other human being, but you don't stop loving the person. So grief is a particular kind of unrequited love. And probably without that dynamic relationship with this person, I would be someone else. And he would've been someone else. I mean, Paul died before me. But we were, I think, hugely important to the drama of becoming in our own lives.” Today, we are honored to welcome a writer whose work has long explored the intimate landscapes of the mind, memory and the heart. Siri Hustvedt’s writing moves between the personal and the philosophical, the literary and the deeply human. Her work bridges collections of essays, non-fiction, poetry, and seven novels, including the international bestsellers What I Loved and The Summer Without Men. Recipient of the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature and the Gabarron Prize for Thought, her work has been translated into over thirty languages. Her new memoir, Ghost Stories, is a reflection on forty-three years shared with her late husband, the writer and filmmaker Paul Auster. In its pages, we encounter not only love and loss, but the quiet persistence of presence, memory, and language itself. (0:00) Grief as Unrequited Love Siri explores the emotional reality of living without Paul Auster, noting that grief occurs because love does not stop when a person dies. (4:00) Facing Death with Courage The importance of not hiding from mortality and how discussing end-of-life wishes offered a necessary perspective. (12:37) Reading from Ghost Stories Siri reads the opening passage of her memoir, detailing how the loss of her husband deranged her sense of time and bodily rhythms. (18:41) The Phantom Limb: ” The beloved is taken away and it feels as if you're amputated or gutted.” (21:50)  Grandfather, Father and Son: Generational Traumas Behind Paul Auster's Writing (24:11)  How Powerful Emotions and a Person's Life Can Play a Role in Illness (30:09) Feeding the Earth   "Paul very pointedly told me that he wanted to be buried in the Jewish mode. And the phrase he used was, “I want my body to feed the earth.” (44:23) Physical Love in Marriage On the importance of physical intimacy in long-term marriages, a reality often left out of grief memoirs. (54:00) The Philosophy of the Between: How relational existence is foundational to life. (1:00:16) The Hubris of Controlling Nature (1:12:00) The Dark History of Statistics (1:32:12) The Art of Learning vs. AI “I think we have to ask ourselves, what is education? Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod IG @creativeprocesspodcast

    1h 38m
  7. The Healing Power of the Arts: Longevity, Immunity & Wellbeing w/ DAISY FANCOURT - Highlights

    FEB 11

    The Healing Power of the Arts: Longevity, Immunity & Wellbeing w/ DAISY FANCOURT - Highlights

    "Within society, we seem to have separated the arts out, so they're not so much a part of our daily lives. Often there's something that we feel we should do as a kind of leisure activity or hobby if we have enough time or if we have enough money to engage in them. And this is so fundamentally different to how humans engaged with the arts. When we look back thousands of years, it just was part of the everyday, and I feel like that's a major loss within contemporary societies." Daisy Fancourt is a Professor of Psychology & Epidemiology at UCL and the author of Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health. A pioneer in the field of psychoneuroimmunology, she directs the WHO Collaborating Center on Arts and Health, where her research influences global health policy and the integration of the arts into medical care. (0:00) The Healing Power of the Arts: Longevity, Immunity & Wellbeing (1:17) Singing to Daphne: How Daisy used singing to comfort her premature daughter in the ICU (2:47) The Story of Russell: How a stroke survivor used art classes to reclaim his life, health, and identity (5:23) A Planet of 8 Billion Artists: Tracing the evolutionary origins of creativity back 40,000 years (8:58) Psychoneuroimmunology. Defining the biological mechanisms: how art reduces inflammation and cortisol (12:42) Art & Longevity. How arts engagement can slow biological aging and alter gene expression (18:24) Safeguarding Creativity. Why we should use AI for routine tasks but protect the human joy of the creative process Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    20 min
  8. ART CURE: How the Arts Can Transform Our Health with DAISY FANCOURT

    FEB 11

    ART CURE: How the Arts Can Transform Our Health with DAISY FANCOURT

    Did you know that visiting a museum can lower your cortisol levels? Or that singing can bond a group faster than almost any other activity? We tend to think of the arts as entertainment, but science tells a different story. Today, we explore why creativity is hardwired into our biology and how it can be used to treat everything from postnatal depression to stroke recovery. Daisy Fancourt is a Professor of Psychology & Epidemiology at UCL and the author of Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health. A pioneer in the field of psychoneuroimmunology, she directs the WHO Collaborating Center on Arts and Health, where her research influences global health policy and the integration of the arts into medical care. (0:00) The Healing Power of the Arts: Longevity, Immunity & Wellbeing (4:14) The Story of Russell: How a stroke survivor used art classes to reclaim his life, health, and identity (9:01) A Planet of 8 Billion Artists: Tracing the evolutionary origins of creativity back 40,000 years (15:30) The Chemistry of Connection. Why singing evolved before language and how it accelerates group bonding (20:32) Psychoneuroimmunology. Defining the biological mechanisms: how art reduces inflammation and cortisol (25:57) The Professional Paradox: Balancing the wellbeing benefits of art with the pressures of a creative career (30:03) Predictive Coding & Play: Why the human brain needs improvisation and why we shouldn't outsource creativity to AI (33:26) Singing to Daphne: How Daisy usedsinging to comfort her premature daughter in the ICU (37:55) World Health Organization, Public Policy & Social Prescribing (46:04) Art & Longevity. How arts engagement can slow biological aging and alter gene expression (58:17) Finding Artistic Reverence in Nature Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    1h 3m
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Exploring the fascinating minds of creative people. Conversations with writers, artists and creative thinkers across the Arts and STEM. We discuss their life, work and artistic practice. Winners of Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Pulitzer, Nobel Prize, leaders and public figures share real experiences and offer valuable insights. Notable guests and participating museums and organizations include: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Neil Patrick Harris, Smithsonian, Roxane Gay, Musée Picasso, EARTHDAY-ORG, Neil Gaiman, UNESCO, Joyce Carol Oates, Mark Seliger, Acropolis Museum, Hilary Mantel, Songwriters Hall of Fame, George Saunders, The New Museum, Lemony Snicket, Pritzker Architecture Prize, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Galleries, Joe Mantegna, PETA, Greenpeace, EPA, Morgan Library and Museum, and many others. The interviews are hosted by founder and creative educator Mia Funk with the participation of students, universities, and collaborators from around the world. These conversations are also part of our traveling exhibition.

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