30 leading cultural figures choose an artwork from the Museum of Modern Art's collection, and discuss the response it provokes in them
Art critic and broadcaster Alastair Sooke, accompanied by some of the world's leading creative thinkers, takes an in-depth look at the outstanding exhibits in New York's MoMA, exploring how the way we 'see' art is shaped by our experiences and perspectives. His guests include some of the sharpest minds of our time - artists, writers, designers, comedians, musicians and scientists, among them Steve Martin, Margaret Cho, John Waters, Roxane Gay, Fiona Shaw, Orhan Pamuk and Stanley Tucci.
Each guest selects a piece of art that speaks to them - one that's inspiring, startling, intriguing or challenging. Some pick familiar works, others ones they've never seen before, and their choices range from paintings and sculptures to photographs, films and even symbols. Drawing on their personal history and expert knowledge, they share their thoughts, insights and observations.
How does a cosmologist view Van Gogh's The Starry Night? What does a jazz pianist see in Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie? What will a top fashion designer decode from the clothes painted by an artist in Harlem in the 1930s? And what will a psychologist make of Picasso's unflinching depictions of man's inhumanity, The Charnel House and Guernica?
These questions, and many more, will be answered in this eye-opening series. Revealing, surprising and perceptive, it deconstructs the gallery experience, bringing us a new way of looking at, and appreciating, art.
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
Produced by Paul Kobrak and Tom Alban
The Way I See It is a co-production of the BBC and the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Tracklist:
- Starry Night and Janna Levin
- Steve Martin and the Lonely Synchromists
- Jason Moran and Piet Mondrian
- Neri Oxman and the Endless House
- Steven Pinker and Picasso
- Steve Reich on Richard Serra's Equal
- Margaret Cho and Lady Vengeance
- Duro Olowu on William H Johnson's 'Children'
- Michael Bierut on Ed Ruscha's OOF
- John Waters on Lee Lozano's Untitled 1963
- Roxane Gay and Christ's Entry into Journalism
- Es Devlin on Felix Gonzalez-Torres's Perfect Lovers
- Hisham Matar with Man Sleeping Along the Seine
- Renee Fleming chooses Colors for a Large Wall
- The Director's Choice
- Fiona Shaw on Georgia O'Keeffe's Lake George, Coat and Red
- Bryan Stevenson on Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series
- Richard Serra on Jackson Pollock
- Madeleine Thien on Vija Celmins' Bikini
- Zac Posen on Constantin Brancusi's Bird in Space
- Mark Morris on Florine Stettheimer's Costume Design for Orphee
- Sarah Sze and Siddhartha Mukherjee on Louise Bourgeois's Quarantania, I
- Orhan Pamuk on Taglioni's Jewel Casket by Joseph Cornell
- Liz Diller on Marcel Duchamp's Network of Stoppages
- Isabella Boylston on Maya Deren and Talley Beatty
- Stanley Tucci and Giacometti's Head of a Man on a Rod
- Lady Ruth Rogers on Henri Rousseau's The Dream
- Yves Behar and the IEC's Power Symbol
- David Henry Hwang on Martin Wong's Stanton near Forsyth Street
- Alastair Sooke
