Free Thinking Folgen

From the Great Exhibition of 1851 to Shanghai 2010, Owen Hatherley, Emily MacGregor and Paul Greenhalgh explore visions of the future offered by world's fairs and expos with Matthew Sweet. Emily MacGregor describes the row which blew up over music commissioned by William Grant Still for the 1939/40 New York World's Fair. Paul Greenhalgh tells us about world's fairs from London and Paris to Shanghai. Owen Hatherley describes visiting an expo in Kazakhstan.Owen Hatherley's new book is called Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances: Finding a Home in the Ruins of Modernism. He has made a film about the modernism represented in the buildings which house the London Czech and Slovak embassies as part of the London Festival of Architecture https://www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org/Paul Greenhalgh is the author of Fair World: A History of World's Fairs and Expositions from London to Shanghai 1851-2010. His latest book is Ceramic, Art & Civilisation. He is Director of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich and a Professor of Art History.Dr Emily MacGregor is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Music Department at King's College, London and is currently working on a project exploring The Symphony in 1933. You can hear more about the composer William Grant Still if you look up Composer of the WeekProducer: Torquil MacLeodYou can find other programmes hearing from architects and exploring architecture on BBC Radio 3 this week including Words and Music and a Music Matters report on Bold Tendencies, who host concerts in a former car park in Peckham.

Peace, prosperity and formica - that's one way of describing the vision on show at the Festival of Britain in 1951. But domesticity had a radical side and in this Free Thinking conversation, Shahidha Bari talks to researchers Sophie Scott-Brown and Rachele Dini and looks at the domestic appliances selected for display in the newly re-opened Museum of the Home, talking to Director Sonia Solicari about how ideas about home, homelessness and home-making have shaped what is on show.Museum of the Home, previously the Geffrye Museum re-opened on June 12th 2021 https://www.museumofthehome.org.uk/Producer: Luke MulhallPart of BBC Radio 3's programming tying into the London Festival of Architecture. Madeleine Bunting recorded a series of Essays considering different ideas about home, homesickness, homelessness and Homelands which is being broadcast this week on BBC Radio 3 and available on BBC Sounds.You might be interested in a Free Thinking discussion called Fiction in 1946 recorded at London's Southbank Centre with Lara Feigel, Kevin Jackson and Benjamin Markovits https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07wrq03Enid Marx, Edward Bawden and Charles Rennie Mackintosh are discussed in this episode called Designing the Future https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b2mgpl

Stew, the name for brothels in London. A townhouse set to become luxury flats in the centre of Soho is the focus of the new novel Hot Stew from Fiona Mozley, who was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for her debut book Elmet. SI Martin founded the 500 Years of Black London walks nearly 20 years ago. In his novel Incomparable World he depicts a bustling eighteenth century London which offers a refuge for the many black Americans who fought for liberty on the side of the British. Plus pianist and composer Belle Chen on her six original new pieces exploring London - each composition with its genesis in a field recording in the city from both before and during the pandemic. They join architects Eric Parry and Alison Brooks, and presenter Laurence Scott, for a conversation about the development of London, as part of the London Festival of Architecture. Alison Brooks is one of the judges for this year's Davidson Prize Exhibition: a digital showcase of architects’ solutions to ways of living in a post-pandemic world. Eric Parry has been thinking about the changing city skyline.Fiona Mozley's novel called Hot Stew is out now, as is Incomparable World by SI Martin - part of the Black Britain: Writing Back series of books chosen by Bernadine Evaristo for republishing.You can find out more about the music of Belle Chen here - https://www.bellechen.com/The London Festival of Architecture runs throughout June with events online and around the city https://www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org/https://www.alisonbrooksarchitects.com/https://www.ericparryarchitects.co.uk/On BBC Radio 3 Essential Classics is broadcasting five classic choices of music composed for particular buildings. Words and Music inspired by architecture features readings by Marilyn Nnadebe and Henry Goodman, from writers including Caleb Femi, Marwa al-Sabouni, Susanna Clark, Thomas Hardy, Andrew Marvell, Adrienne Rich, and music from Hildegard of Bingen to Iain Chambers. Music Matters explored buildings, acoustics, and music, looking at Bold Tendencies and the former car park they use as a venue in Peckham, in London.Producer: Emma Wallace