Aesthetic preferences, for Zakia Sewell, have always been woven into her identity, informing the ways she’s engaged with the world, through like-minded music lovers and fashion tribes. Taste is also enshrined in objects that come to be deemed of greater or lesser value.

In this episode, Zakia visits the Potteries Museum in Stoke-on-Trent to talk with curator Ben Miller, ponders the nature of 'kitsch' with Ruth Holliday (co-author with Tracey Potts of Kitsch! Cultural Politics and Taste), and explores with Dr Rebecca Chamberlain of Goldsmiths, University of London, the neurological and philosophical bases for the artistic tastes we as a society hold.

Presented by Zakia Sewell
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
(Image credit: Buster Grey Jung) Show less