Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

Front Row

Magazines & Reviews

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music.

BBC Radio 4 FM

Front Row: Useful Art, Embodying Ruskin, National Theatre for Northern Ireland? Unicorn Store

Useful Art, Embodying Ruskin, National Theatre for Northern Ireland? Unicorn Store

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Useful Art, Embodying Ruskin, National Theatre for Northern Ireland? Unicorn Store

Useful art, embodying Ruskin, National Theatre for Northern Ireland? Unicorn Store review.

Can useful art remake museums and galleries fit for the 21st century? Embodying Ruskin, a National Theatre for Northern Ireland? Brie Larson's new film Unicorn Store reviewed.

Alistair Hudson, Director of the Whitworth in Manchester and Charles Esche, Director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven have been awarded a Transformative Grant to rethink their respective art institutions.  They join Front Row to discuss how the concept of useful art has the power to remake museums and galleries fit for the 21st century. 

England has one, Scotland has one, Wales has two, but Northern Ireland has none – we’re talking National Theatres.  Nóirín McKinney, Director of Arts Development at Arts Council of Northern Ireland, reflects on the desire for a National Theatre of Northern Ireland, and why it  has yet to be fulfilled.

The bicentenary of the birth of celebrated art critic John Ruskin is being marked by events and exhibitions across the country, but one art historian has gone further than most in bringing Ruskin’s work to life for a modern audience.  Dr Paul O’Keefe has been performing Ruskin’s lectures in character for two decades. He explains why a bad wig turned out to be the perfect prop for his transformation and what he’s learnt from portraying Ruskin as he gives his lectures.

After winning the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Room, and before starring in the recent superhero adventure  Captain Marvel, Brie Larson decided to make her directorial debut with the film Unicorn Store about a failed arts student who while struggling to make her way in the corporate world receives a curious invitation to a Unicorn store.  Annabel Grundy, Major Programmes Manager at the Broadway Cinema in Nottingham reviews.

Presenter: John Wilson
Producer: Ekene Akalawu

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Front Row

Useful Art, Embodying Ruskin, National Theatre for Northern Ireland? Unicorn Store

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4