Ben Luke

Ben Luke is a contributing editor and podcast host at The Art Newspaper

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Tim Spall on playing L.S. Lowry. Plus, an exclusive interview with Chris Ofili and Jasmine Thomas-Girvan

We kick off the new season with a behind-the-scenes look at the film Mrs Lowry and Son and explore an artistic relationship in Trinidad

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson
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Top of the Pods: David Hockney and other modern British mavericks

We revisit our exclusive interview with the British artist. Plus, expert Martin Gayford tells us about Hockney, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and others in post-war London

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson
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Top of the Pods: The best of the Venice Biennale

A look back at our coverage of the contemporary art event, including interviews with Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and Ralph Rugoff

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson
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Top of the Pods: Leonardo—the Salvator Mundi saga

We revisit interviews about the headline-making auction of the famous painting, its origins and its present whereabouts

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson
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Top of the Pods: video artists in the spotlight

We bring together discussions with three masters of video art: Ragnar Kjartansson, John Akomfrah and Christian Marclay

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson
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Top of the Pods: Artemisia Gentileschi and the forgotten female Old Masters

We look back at the women who were written out of art history with National Gallery curator Letizia Treves, Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum director Jordana Pomeroy and artist Helen Cammock

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson
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In memoriam: Karsten Schubert in conversation with Michael Landy

In this archive interview, the artist Michael Landy speaks to the London-based dealer Karsten Schubert, who died this week, about his life as a collector

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson
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Top of the Pods: climate crisis with Olafur Eliasson, Justin Brice Guariglia and Anna Somers Cocks

As many parts of the world record their highest ever temperatures, we look back on three interviews focusing on climate change and the anthropocene.

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson

Museums cannot ignore artists’ values

Artists are increasingly concerned about the ethical principles of the museums and galleries in which they show their work

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Top of the Pods: the world of Warhol, as told by Jeremy Deller and Donna De Salvo

With the Pop artist's blockbuster retrospective currently on show at SFMoMA, we delve into the life and legacy of the ever-popular painter with artist Jeremy Deller and curator Donna De Salvo. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.

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Top of the Pods: experts on Van Gogh in the asylum and his early life

We bring together our interviews with Martin Bailey and Martin Gayford who discuss the turbulent life and longstanding legacy of the Dutch painter. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, Aimee Dawson and David Clack

The natural world meets the virtual in Jakob Kudsk Steensen's augmented reality experience at Serpentine Galleries

Marking the galleries' first Augmented Architecture commission, the work explores the sights and sounds of the flora and fauna in London’s Hyde Park

Turner Prize nominee Helen Cammock on Baroque music and marginalised histories

The UK artist's solo exhibition at London's Whitechapel Gallery explores the lives of 17th-century Italian female composers

Art historian Douglas Crimp, who defined the Pictures Generation, dies aged 74

The writer, curator and editor organised the influential Pictures exhibition and championed artist activism during the Aids crisis

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Ibrahim Mahama's ghosts of Ghana. Plus, China's epic Picasso show

We speak to the Ghanaian artist as he unveils a major new commission at the Whitworth as part of the Manchester International Festival. Plus, we find out about the Picasso blockbuster at UCCA in Beijing. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.

Hosted by Ben Luke, Cristina Ruiz and Lisa Movius. Produced by David Clack and Aimee Dawson
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Vermeer's hidden cupid, the Prado's Dutch-Spanish show, plus Helen Cammock

The story behind the revealing of Cupid in one of Vermeer's greatest masterpieces, and Helen Cammock on her Whitechapel show and nomination for this year's Turner Prize

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska and David Clack
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David Smith in Yorkshire. Plus, the works that inspired leading artists

The great US sculptor's work comes to the UK, while a new book explores the thought-provoking works that inspired 50 internationally acclaimed artists

Hosted by Ben Luke. with guest speaker Jori Finkel. Produced by Julia Michalska and David Clack
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Art Basel and William Kentridge

As his show opens at the Kunstmuseum Basel, we talk to the South African artist about his latest works. Plus, we look at the 50th edition of the Art Basel fair. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.

Hosted by Ben Luke. with guest speakers Cristina Ruiz and Melanie Gerlis. Produced by Julia Michalska and David Clack

The human side of AI

How do algorithms see and shape the world? An exhibition at Basel’s HeK explores the often uncomfortable coexistence of humanity and AI

Interview: William Kentridge on his life lessons

Self-interrogation is central to the work of the South African artist, whose latest piece on show at the Kunstmuseum Basel poses a series of questions that get half-answered

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Painting, identity and injustice: Howardena Pindell and Oscar Murillo

With major gallery shows in London, the two artists discuss their multifarious art practices

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson

At last, Dora Maar emerges from her lover Picasso’s shadow

Major survey of the Surrealist photographer at Centre Pompidou will travel to Tate Modern and the Getty Center

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The rise of the mega-dealers, plus artists take over the Guggenheim

Michael Shnayerson talks to us about his new book Boom and Nancy Spector and Paul Chan take us through the Guggenheim's Artistic Licence show

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Manga and Camp: the art of going over the top

We talk about Manga, the subject of the British Museum's huge new show, and we explore the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition Camp: Notes on Fashion. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.

Hosted by Ben Luke and Nancy Kenney. Produced by David Clack and Julia Michalska

How Notre Dame abounds in the collective artistic imagination

Matisse's 1900 painting of the gothic cathedral risked taking on elegiac significance before the fire was extinguished

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Should museums sell works of art? Plus, activism at the Whitney Biennial

After the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's sale of its Rothko, we discuss the principles that guide deaccessioning in the US and speak to activists about the Whitney vice-chairman's problematic link to a weapons manufacturer

Venice Biennale 2019: the must-see pavilions around the city

An indoor beach, Mongolian throat singing and ceramic vaginas—where to go beyond the Arsenale and Giardini

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Venice Biennale special: our review. Plus, how much longer will the city survive?

Ben Luke and Jane Morris review the main exhibition and we speak to the artists Laure Prouvost and Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster about their works in the show. Plus, we talk about climate change and the challenges Venice is facing as the surrounding waters rise. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.

Hosted by Ben Luke. with guest speaker Jane Morris. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson

Screen time: digital art eclipses painting in Ralph Rugoff's 'mightily impressive' Venice Biennale show

With multi-artist spaces and the split between the Arsenale and Giardini, May You Live in Interesting Times offers a new way of looking at a biennial exhibition

Exhibitions during the Venice Biennale: a festival of painting

Among the many official “collateral” exhibitions connected to the Biennale and independently organised shows, painting is noticeably abundant