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Studio 360 (Art)

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Now playing on Public Radio 89.9 Radford, VA 16 minutes left
Listen locally on KCRW 89.9 Today at 6pm (Pacific)
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Host: Kurt Andersen
Current issues, events and trends in art are a jumping off point for an exploration of ideas that aren't necessarily "news," yet are provocative and offer a lens on experience that only art can provide.
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Genres: Art, Commentary, Magazine
Location: New York, NY
Language: English
Networks: PRI, NPR

Last updated 544 days ago Update program info

Recent Topics

Forgery, Iron Fists, Talib Kweli (Studio 360)

Fri, Sep 5

Nothing is quite as it seems. Kurt talks with Lee Israel about her new memoir Can You Ever Forgive Me? about her years forging letters by famous writers. Steven Heller shows us how the 20th century’s towering mad men -- Hitler, Stalin, Mao -- were masters not just of terror but of successful branding. And we’ll take a surprising look at another aspect of Mao Zedong’s rule: he wrote classical poetry like a bourgeois reactionary.

Gypsy, Iraqi Symphony, Biophony (Studio 360)

Fri, Aug 29

Kurt talks with Broadway diva, Patti Lupone, the star of "Gypsy." And we’ll hear how the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra keeps performing, against all odds, in wartorn Baghdad. An Iraqi guitarist carries his love of American blues into his new life as a refugee in Damascus. And a folkie-turned-biologist gets us to listen to the wild.

Porochista, MacDowell, Blind Boys (Studio 360)

Fri, Aug 22

The ultimate summer camp for artists. For a century New Hampshire’s MacDowell Colony has given artists studio space in the woods, no interruptions, and a picnic basket delivered to the cabin door. We’ll hear from MacDowell alums Mike Daisey, a monologist, and Tara Geer, a visual artist. The writer Henry Alford gets inspired to start his own artist colony, and delivers lunch by subway to a hand-picked group of artists. Plus, novelist Porochista Khakpour and an in-studio performance from gospel...

Baker, Alexander, Newman (Studio 360)

Fri, Aug 15

Made in China (Studio 360)

Fri, Aug 8

Cooder, China, Cheetah Legs (Studio 360)

Fri, Aug 1

Kurt Andersen walks us through the astonishing architecture of the new Beijing. We’ll hear about the prosthetic limb that may change the future of track and field. Plus, music legend Ry Cooder on his new record I, Flathead – the third in his trilogy about modern California and its people.

Philippe, Kehinde, DJ Shadow (Studio 360)

Fri, Jul 25

Studio 360 takes some risks. Philippe Petit remembers his infamous highwire walk between the World Trade Center towers. DJ Shadow lectures on the occupational hazards of finding precious vinyl in record-store basements. And Bill Murray reads a poem – don’t worry, not his own. Plus, Kehinde Wiley paints hip-hop legends in the style of the Renaissance masters, and Miranda July reads a story from her recent collection.

Live in Aspen (Studio 360)

Fri, Jul 18

Multiple personalities. In a program recorded live at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Tony Award-winning performer Sarah Jones transforms herself into a dizzying range of characters – from a Jewish grandmother to a teenaged rapper. Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner, who developed the theory of multiple intelligences, gives some free analysis to audience members. And country rocker Steve Earle sings about leaving Tennessee, performing tracks from his new record Washington Square Serenade.

Superman (Studio 360: American Icons)

Fri, Jul 11

Kurt Andersen explores the history of Superman and why "The Man of Steel" remains as popular and elusive as ever.

Stop-Loss, Bell Labs, Burke (Studio 360)

Fri, Jul 4

Filmmaker Kimberly Peirce talks about taking inspiration from soldiers’ videos, shot in Iraq and posted to YouTube. Her movie “Stop-Loss” is just out on DVD. We’ll also hear about the legendary scientific lab in New Jersey that invented nearly everything. Plus, soul singer Solomon Burke masters country music.

WALL-E, Waterfalls, Batman (Studio 360)

Fri, Jun 27

Studio 360 falls for summer blockbusters. Meet the genius behind sound effects in the new Pixar film "Wall-E." A victim of "viral marketing" explains how he got psyched for next month’s Batman movie. And take a boat ride with an international art star, Olafur Eliasson, as he inspects his enormous art project in New York Harbor: four man-made waterfalls, ten stories high.

T-Bone, Doonan, Fonseca (Studio 360)

Fri, Jun 20

Fashion guru Simon Doonan, author of Eccentric Glamour, schools Kurt in style. Writer Isabel Fonseca explains how she tackled the thorny world of marital infidelity in her new novel Attachment. And producer extraordinaire T-Bone Burnett shares dark and moody songs from his new record Tooth of Crime.

Keaton, Suburbs, Tonys (Studio 360)

Fri, Jun 13

We've got your front yard and we're not giving it back. An artist transforms America's lawns, one vegetable garden at a time. What can America's suburbs learn from the shantytowns of Tijuana? Architect Teddy Cruz has an answer. And Diane Keaton obsesses over an obscure photographer. Plus, we’ll hear about two Tony-nominated musicals shaking up Broadway: "Sunday in the Park with George" and "Passing Strange."

Getty Fabulous: Live in L.A. (Studio 360)

Fri, Jun 6

Studio 360 goes Hollywood. In June 2007, in front of a live audience at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, Kurt talked to the city’s creative movers and shakers. East L.A. fusion rockers Quetzal show how they’re pushing the boundaries of Chicano music to a new level of cool. Jon Robin Baitz (creator of ABC’s "Brothers and Sisters") explains why it’s good to be a playwright writing for TV. Plus, insightful commentary from Svetlana, LA's most highly cultured escort (as performed by actress and...

Ellison, Omaha, Mann (Studio 360)

Fri, May 30

Hadron Collider, Price, Misrach (Studio 360)

Fri, May 23

Smashing atoms and colliding worlds. We try to wrap our brains around the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest particle accelerator, which revs up this summer. Writer Lydia Millet imagines a quantum accident at the Collider in a story, read by Martha Plimpton. On the Lower East Side of Manhattan, two worlds collide violently in Richard Price’s novel Lush Life. And, in time for the unofficial start of summer, the eerie and intense beach scenes of Richard Misrach.

Schnabel, Martians, Dickinson (Studio 360)

Fri, May 16

Creativity against all odds. A stroke survivor dictates his memoir by blinking his left eye, a story told in the film “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” We’ll explore an Emily Dickinson poem written from beyond the grave in our American Icons series. And Jack Handey takes on our extraterrestrial enemies, in a story called “What I’d Say to the Martians.”

Dalai Lama, Handey, Smell Safari (Studio 360)

Fri, May 9

Body spray confidential. Kurt Andersen hits the drugstore with a physicist and a perfume critic, and finds out why personal products smell the way they do. And writer Pico Iyer talks about his unique friendship with the Dalai Lama. Plus, satirist Jack Handey has a spooky legend to tell.

Art Market, Honeyboy, Bragg (Studio 360)

Fri, May 2

Kurt looks into the tricky relationship between money and the big-time art world. And we’ll hear how folk music keeps on ticking. A folk music collector explains his scramble to save America’s traditional sounds one field recording at a time. A 92-year-old blues legend, Honeyboy Edwards, remembers his lean days as a boxcar hobo. And outspoken English folk rocker Billy Bragg, who has a new record out, stops by to perform.

Morris, Abu Ghraib, Film Club (Studio 360)

Fri, Apr 25

The aftershocks of Abu Ghraib. In “Standard Operating Procedure,” filmmaker Errol Morris tells the story of the soldiers who posed and photographed abuses of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. In a strange twist of timing, U.S. military prisons are the subject of another movie being released this weekend; this one, however, is a comedy. “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” details the misadventures of two White Castle-loving potheads who find themselves the subjects of racial profiling.

Creative Minds Go Green (Studio 360)

Fri, Apr 18

Studio 360 saves the planet. Kurt Andersen asks a priest about the Vatican’s declaration that pollution is a modern sin. Then we explore design solutions for a changing environment. Kurt visits a solar-powered subway station in Coney Island and talks to an engineer making biofuel from bacteria. Plus, the creative thinkers behind a hand-cranked street generator, the adobe house of the future, carbon-neutral rock shows, and the Eco Art movement.

Girls, Blume, Mulatu Astatke (Studio 360)

Fri, Apr 11

Studio 360 samples girl culture. Student filmmakers weigh in on the women they see on screen and the “American Girl” empire embraces a period of ancient history: The 1970s. A translator in Istanbul brings Judy Blume to young Turkish readers, and body issues become an obsession for a young storyteller. Plus, a tattoo parlor pops up at a fancy art fair and we follow Ethiopia’s musical ambassador from Addis Ababa to Boston.

Del, Dinnerstein, Swedish Pop (Studio 360)

Fri, Apr 4

Studio 360 dives into music’s deep end. Kurt talks with Del tha Funkee Homosapien, who’s made huge hits but has also carved out a niche as hip-hop’s oddball. Simone Dinnerstein performs a few "Goldberg Variations," and Swedes plot their government-backed global takeover of indie rock. Plus, photographer Taryn Simon with tips on gaining access to forbidden zones.

Art and Autism (Studio 360)

Fri, Mar 28

Kurt Andersen asks what art reveals about autism. Researcher Blythe Corbett guides Kurt through some of the controversial questions surrounding the disorder. A man with autism writes a dark satire about the world of special education. Scientists try to understand the perceptions of autistic people by watching movies with them – and following their eye movements with a laser. And a playwright presents an extreme hypothesis: in our technological, disconnected world, is autism an evolutionary...

Stop-Loss, Black 47, Stew (Studio 360)

Fri, Mar 21

Making sense of the Iraq War on film, in rock music, and on-stage. The director Kimberley Peirce tells a hidden war story in "Stop-Loss." The band Black 47 writes songs for a surprising fan base: combat soldiers. George Packer transforms his article on Iraqi translators into a stage play. Plus, songs and stories from Stew, the creator of "Passing Strange," the new rock musical that's revolutionizing Broadway.

Murakami, Big Eyes, Stars (Studio 360)

Fri, Mar 14

Studio 360 considers the strange force of cuteness, and our biological urge to say, “awww!” or sometimes “ugggh” when we encounter the cute. And in Japan, anxieties about the atomic bomb may be masked in cuteness. Plus, a live set of smart indie pop from the band “Stars.”

Gondry, Silber, Baker (Studio 360)

Fri, Mar 7

Studio 360 gets tough. Kurt Andersen asks author John Silber, about architecture he considers absurd. S. Epatha Merkerson tells us how she plays the no nonsense "Law and Order" character, Lt. Anita van Buren. And when 360 leaves the office early to make a movie, Kurt does his own stunts.

Sontag, Hemon, War (Studio 360)

Fri, Feb 29

How artists help us to make sense of war. As the 5th anniversary of the Iraq invasion approaches, Kurt Andersen revisits his conversation with the late writer Susan Sontag. Recorded a month before the war in Iraq began and only a year before her death, Sontag looks at how we interpret images of war, and tells us how she staged theater in the war zone. Also, novelists who escaped war find meaning in poetry, and two film critics look at how American filmmakers have fought and refought the Viet...

Page, Blind Boys, Piaf (Studio 360)

Fri, Feb 22

Youth isn’t wasted on the young. Ellen Page, the 21 year-old star of the hit movie “Juno,” put in everything she had after landing her dream role as a smart, savvy, pregnant teen. And 23-year-old indie-rocker Thao Nguyen tells us how spending her teen years working at her mom’s laundromat honed her guitar skills. All that plus the amazing gospel sounds of the Blind Boys of Alabama.

Fashion, Love, Guerra de la Paz (Studio 360)

Fri, Feb 15

Studio 360 takes a chance on love and fashion. Fiona Chutney sashays through New York’s Fashion Week seeking outfit advice for Valentine’s Day. We reveal the winner of our contest for a custom-made love song created by indie popster Corey Dargel. Plus, love songs from India that will break your heart, even if you don’t speak Urdu.