In The Studio

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Photographer Andrea Hernández has been travelling around her native Venezuela documenting people and nature for her ongoing project called Mango Season.

Mango season in Venezuela is a time of abundance, when mango fruit is plentiful on the trees. During this time of economic crisis and food scarcity in the country, many people can now be seen roaming the streets looking for these fruits to feed themselves and their families.

Andrea doesn’t want to just take photographs of the hungry, but to dignify the struggle, showing how people are helping to solve this situation and help create a bridge between the people in the photographs and the viewer.

Presenter: Francis Peña
Producer: Andrea Kidd

(Photo: Andrea Hernández. Credit: Courtesy of Juan Velásquez)

Documenting the political and economic crisis across the country

Inside the brains of the world\u2019s most creative people

Photographer Andrea Hernández has been travelling around her native Venezuela documenting people and nature for her ongoing project called Mango Season.

Mango season in Venezuela is a time of abundance, when mango fruit is plentiful on the trees. During this time of economic crisis and food scarcity in the country, many people can now be seen roaming the streets looking for these fruits to feed themselves and their families.

Andrea doesn’t want to just take photographs of the hungry, but to dignify the struggle, showing how people are helping to solve this situation and help create a bridge between the people in the photographs and the viewer.

Presenter: Francis Peña
Producer: Andrea Kidd

(Photo: Andrea Hernández. Credit: Courtesy of Juan Velásquez)

Documenting the political and economic crisis across the country

Inside the brains of the world\u2019s most creative people

Presenter: Francis Peña

Documenting the political and economic crisis across the country.

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

The BBC's Andrea Kidd joins Claudia in her apartment in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires, as she works on her latest, as yet, untitled novel. It follows the story of two step-sisters, one a radio journalist, the other an escort, both unaware of the other's existence, until a dramatic incident brings their lives together. But was it an accident or something more sinister?

Claudia's been called the Queen of Suspense and Argentina's Queen of the Noir Novels and although her works often revolved around a crime or the dead, her books centre on relationships and capture the country's society.

She is also interested in what makes her characters tick, a trait she thinks that could stem from the Argentinian's love of psychoanalysis.

Claudia also explains how she starts her novels with an image and how her ill cat was the catalyst for this latest work.

Presented and produced by Andrea Kidd

Argentina's 'Queen of Suspense' on her latest novel.

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Bestselling novelist Claudia Piñeiro talks about the inspiration behind her latest book and why Argentinian society remains an important character in her work.

Claudia Piñeiro is one of Argentina's bestselling and most translated crime and mystery writers.

As well as novels for both adults and children, she's also a screenwriter and has written for the theatre.

The BBC's Andrea Kidd joins Claudia in her apartment filled with books, as she works on her latest, as yet, untitled novel. It follows the story of two step-sisters, one a radio journalist, the other an escort, both unaware of the other's existence, until a dramatic incident brings their lives together. But was it an accident or something more sinister?

In the Studio takes us into the minds and processes of leading and emerging figures from across the creative world.

Join fellow author Paul Waters as he watches Awais take a radical step to tackle this problem and try to finish his first draft. Along the way Paul meets other international authors who share how they cope when the words won't flow. But will Awais manage to finish his own story?

In the Studio takes us into the minds and processes of leading and emerging figures from across the creative world.

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Presented and produced by Paul Waters.

Discovering Awais's radical solution to find the right words

Pakistani thriller author, Awais Khan, takes a radical step to overcome his writer's block as he works on his new book, His Sister's Secret.

Vik Muniz likes to trap and fool his audience with trickery and illusion

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Vik Muniz likes to trap and fool his audience with trickery and illusion.

Her next movie is an adaptation of her autobiographical novel Seven Miles Out. It's about a teenage girl coming to terms with her father's suicide, and not one word of the book has made its way into the screenplay. Carol tells Stephen Hughes why she was surprised by how difficult it was to adapt her own work, and how it brought back thoughts and feelings she thought she'd learned to live with. Carol also reveals that selling a script is harder than writing one, as she waits patiently to hear back from film companies that she'd sent the screenplay to.

Produced and presented by Stephen Hughes

**This programme contains distressing content**

During this interview, Carol speaks frankly about the effect of her father's suicide upon her. If you need support following anything you've heard in this episode, there's information at bbc.com/actionline and help is also available at befrienders.org.

Image: Carol Morley (Credit: Paul Marc Mitchell)

An acclaimed film-maker on the art of writing and selling a screenplay

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Acclaimed film-maker Carol Morley tells Stephen Hughes about the art of writing and selling a screenplay. Please note that this programme contains distressing content.

Colm has explored the experiences of other novelists and creative thinkers in his writing. His recent title, The Magician, traced the life of German writer Thomas Mann, and his book The Master, an international literary sensation, told the story of the novelist Henry James.

Alongside the release of his debut collection of poems, Vinegar Hill, Colm gives fellow Irish writer Helen Cullen an insight into how he works, taking her through his writing process, how he gathers his ideas and his approach to refining his work.

They explore the differences and similarities in techniques of writing prose and poetry, and how influence can be drawn from outside the literary world. Helen discovers what it is like to immerse oneself in the creative of mind of figures such as Henry James, and how it shaped Colm as a writer.

Presenter: Helen Cullen

Readings: Matthew Durkan

Producer: Sam Peach

Executive producer: Rebecca Armstrong

Inside the creative world of the acclaimed author of Brooklyn

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Inside the creative world of the acclaimed author of Brooklyn, The Magician and The Master.

Now, the stage adaptation of The Promise, written by Galgut and director Sylvaine Strike, is being readied to premiere at the Star Theatre, at the Homecoming Centre in Cape Town.

But how does a text so praised for its formal inventiveness – the narrative voice shifting from third to first person, and inhabiting multiple interior lives, sometimes within a single paragraph – get translated for the theatre and brought to life?

Writer Bongani Kona goes behind the curtain to watch the rehearsal process unfold. We trace Galgut's journey from the play's conception, and follow the director and cast as they workshop scenes, experiment with sound and action, and navigate the unusual set design – all in the build-up to opening night.

The Promise on stage is directed by Sylvaine Strike with stage adaptation by Damon Galgut and Sylvaine Strike. Original music composition by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder.

Presenter: Bongani Kona

Produced by Catherine Boulle and Bongani Kona

A Falling Tree production for the BBC World Service

Image: Damon Galgut (Credit: Leonardo Cendamo/Getty Images) in front of a scene from the stage adaptation of The Promise (Credit: Claude Barnardo)

A Booker Prize-winning novel moves from the page to the stage

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Damon Galgut's Booker Prize-winning novel, The Promise, moves from the page to the stage.

We go behind the scenes to eavesdrop on rehearsals and meet Danny and his creative team. We discover that unlike a film, where the director can have complete control, the creation of Free Your Mind is a collaborative effort. We hear from other members of the team including composer Michael ‘Mikey J' Asante MBE and choreographer Kenrick 'H2O' Sandy MBE, co-founders of hip-hop dance group Boy Blue who worked with Danny on the Olympics opening ceremony.

There is huge pressure on the team to deliver an opening event that will match the scale and ambition of the new venue, which is run by Factory International and cost £240m to build, the largest cultural investment in the UK since Tate Modern over 20 years ago.

Danny Boyle and his team's dance spectacular opens Manchester's breathtaking new venue

We go behind the scenes to eavesdrop on rehearsals and meet Danny and his creative team. We discover that unlike a film, where the director can have complete control, the creation of Free Your Mind is a collaborative effort. We hear from other members of the team including composer Michael ‘Mikey J' Asante MBE and choreographer Kenrick 'H2O' Sandy MBE, co-founders of hip-hop dance group Boy Blue, who worked with Danny on the Olympics opening ceremony.

There is huge pressure on the team to deliver an opening event that will match the scale and ambition of the new venue, which is run by Factory International and cost £240m to build, the largest cultural investment in the UK since Tate Modern over 20 years ago.

(Image: Danny Boyle. Credit: Tim P Whitby/Getty Images)

Creating a dance spectacular to launch Manchester's new venue

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Danny Boyle returns to his home town of Manchester in the north west of England to direct a hip-hop dance spectacular to open a breathtaking new venue, Aviva Studios.

As she celebrates 30 years in the fashion business, the BBC's Rachel Royce follows Maria as she creates her new collection for her autumn-winter season 2024. From design sketches and colour palettes, to draping fabric over mannequins, Maria then always tries the garments on herself and her team before finalising every piece.

Maria knew she wanted to be a fashion designer from the age of eight and her own teenage insecurities about her body has influenced her desire to make fashion that enhances the female form.

Presenter/producer: Rachel Royce

Executive producer: Andrea Kidd

(Photo: Maria Grachvogel. Credit: BBC)

Maria Grachvogel shares her passion for creating outfits and working with Victoria Beckham

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

British fashion designer Maria Grachvogel shares her passion for creating outfits, working with Spice Girl Victoria Beckham and how she is celebrating 30 years in the industry.

As she celebrates 30 years in the fashion business, the BBC's Rachel Royce follows Maria as she creates her new collection for her Autumn/winter season 2024. From design sketches and colour palettes, to draping fabric over mannequins, Maria then always tries the garments on herself and her team before finalising every piece.

Presented and produced by Rachel Royce.

Executive producer: Andrea Kidd.

In the Studio takes us into the minds and processes of leading and emerging figures from across the creative world.

Iryna Tsilyk is one of Ukraine’s best known young documentary makers. She made her name following the lives of soldiers, female paramedics and families living on the frontline in East Ukraine after the region was taken over by Moscow-backed separatists. However after Russia’s full-scale invasion brought the war to Iryna’s home city of Kyiv, she decided she could no longer stay behind the camera. So, in her current project, The Red Zone, Iryna is turning the lens on herself and her family.

Iryna’s husband, Artem Chekh, is a well-known novelist and journalist. He volunteered to join the army and found himself in Bakhmut, scene of some of the bloodiest fighting. For five days Iryna did not know if he was alive or dead. She is focusing on the anguish she felt over this period and using a series of flashbacks to illustrate their past lives in peacetime.

Iryna tells Lucy Ash that to give herself more artistic freedom she has decided on a radical new tool for her work: this film will be an animation. Making films in wartime is a challenge and animation is expensive but Iryna has foreign backers and is determined to tell her own story in her own way.

Presented and produced by Lucy Ash
Executive Producer: Andrea Kidd for the BBC World Service

(Photo: Iryna Tsilyk. Credit: Julia Weber)

How the war is transforming the work of this Ukrainian documentary maker

Inside the brains of the world\u2019s most creative people

Iryna's husband, Artem Chekh, is a well-known novelist and journalist. He volunteered to join the army and found himself in Bakhmut, scene of some of the bloodiest fighting. For five days Iryna did not know if he was alive or dead. She is focusing on the anguish she felt over this period and using a series of flashbacks to illustrate their past lives in peacetime.

Iryna tells Lucy Ash that to give herself more artistic freedom she has decided on a radical new tool for her work: this film will be an animation. Making films in wartime is a challenge and animation is expensive but Iryna has foreign backers and is determined to tell her own story in her own way.

In the Studio takes us into the minds and processes of leading and emerging figures from across the creative world.

Iryna's husband, Artem Chekh, is a well-known novelist and journalist. He volunteered to join the army and found himself in Bakhmut, scene of some of the bloodiest fighting. For five days Iryna did not know if he was alive or dead. She is focusing on the anguish she felt over this period and using a series of flashbacks to illustrate their past lives in peacetime.

Iryna tells Lucy Ash that to give herself more artistic freedom she has decided on a radical new tool for her work: this film will be an animation. Making films in wartime is a challenge and animation is expensive but Iryna has foreign backers and is determined to tell her own story in her own way.

Presented and produced by Lucy Ash

Executive Producer: Andrea Kidd for the BBC World Service

(Photo: Iryna Tsilyk. Credit: Julia Weber)

How the war is transforming the work of this Ukrainian documentary maker

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Iryna Tsilyk has won awards for her documentaries in east Ukraine. However after Russia's full-scale invasion she's decided to tell her own story in a new way - through animation.

Ghawgha's single of 2019 ‘I Kiss You Amid the Taliban' celebrated the hard-gained freedoms of the new generation in Afghanistan before the Taliban takeover in 2021 and Kawoon Khamoosh follows Ghawgha as she works on and records her new album called Qaf. Qaf refers to a mysterious mountain that exists in legends where the mythological bird Simurgh had her nest and Ghawgha has been working with both poets from Afghanistan, as well as writing her own lyrics.

Qaf is a very personal album, sung in Farsi, that depicts her own physically and emotionally difficult journey from Afghanistan to Europe, as well as reflecting others affected by war, discrimination and migration.

Presenter and reporter: Kawoon Khamoosh. Produced by Andrea Kidd for the BBC World Service.

Producer: Andrea Kidd

Ghawgha shares how her personal story has led her from Afghanistan to Europe

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Ghawgha is a vocalist from Afghanistan who explores identity, displacement and the struggles of her people. For her new album she creates songs reflecting her own personal journey

In The Studio follows Helle as she faces her biggest challenge yet - designing one of America's largest natural playgrounds, at Colene Hoose School in Normal, Illinois.

Landscape architect Helle Nebelong designs one of America's largest natural playgrounds

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Michael Volle is a baritone singer who has made his name with magisterial operatic performances, particularly Wagner. Helmut Deutsch has been playing the piano alongside the great and the good of the classical world for five decades, including the soprano Ileana Cotrubas and the tenor Jonas Kaufmann.

Performing the 24-song cycle that Franz Schubert wrote at the end of his short life, Die Winterreise, or the Winter’s Journey, is considered the pinnacle of the recital repertoire, even for such accomplished musicians. The trust between singer and pianist must be absolute, because the two performers are, in Volle’s words, “naked and pure on stage”. Deutsch and Volle have a 20-year friendship and working partnership to build on, a musical connection that brings them together to perform this “summit” of singing over and over again.

Yet their next performance will be something out of the ordinary. They are undertaking a staged performance at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, in Barcelona. The musicians will be joined by actresses on the stage, photographs accompanying the music, and newly developed poems interspersed between songs. How will the staging affect the relationship between singer and pianist, and how will it impact the music? Writer and journalist Lluís Amiguet joins rehearsals in Barcelona to find out.

Image: Helmut Deutsch (Credit: Kartal Karagedik) and Michael Volle (Credit: David Ruano)

An acclaimed pianist and baritone tackle Franz Schubert's song cycle

Inside the brains of the world\u2019s most creative people

Michael Volle is a baritone singer who has made his name with magisterial operatic performances, particularly Wagner. Helmut Deutsch has been playing the piano alongside the great and the good of the classical world for five decades, including the soprano Ileana Cotrubas and the tenor Jonas Kaufmann.

Performing the 24-song cycle that Franz Schubert wrote at the end of his short life, Die Winterreise, or the Winter’s Journey, is considered the pinnacle of the recital repertoire, even for such accomplished musicians. The trust between singer and pianist must be absolute, because the two performers are, in Volle’s words, “naked and pure on stage”. Deutsch and Volle have a 20-year friendship and working partnership to build on, a musical connection that brings them together to perform this “summit” of singing over and over again.

Yet their next performance will be something out of the ordinary. They are undertaking a staged performance at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, in Barcelona. The musicians will be joined by actresses on the stage, photographs accompanying the music, and newly developed poems interspersed between songs. How will the staging affect the relationship between singer and pianist, and how will it impact the music? Writer and journalist Lluís Amiguet joins rehearsals in Barcelona to find out.

Image: Helmut Deutsch (Credit: Kartal Karagedik) and Michael Volle (Credit: David Ruano)

An acclaimed pianist and baritone tackle Franz Schubert's song cycle

Inside the brains of the world\u2019s most creative people

Performing the 24-song cycle that Franz Schubert wrote at the end of his short life, Die Winterreise, or the Winter's Journey, is considered the pinnacle of the recital repertoire, even for such accomplished musicians. The trust between singer and pianist must be absolute, because the two performers are, in Volle's words, “naked and pure on stage ?. Deutsch and Volle have a 20-year friendship and working partnership to build on- a musical connection that brings them together to perform this “summit ? of singing over and over again.

Yet their next performance will be something out of the ordinary. They are undertaking a staged performance at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, in Barcelona. The musicians will be joined by actresses on the stage, photographs accompanying the music, and newly developed poems interspersed between songs. How will the staging affect the relationship between singer and pianist, and how will it impact the music? Writer and journalist Lluís Amiguet joins rehearsals in Barcelona to find out.

Journalist Llu\u00eds Amiguet joins Deutsch and Volle for rehearsals of Die Winterreise

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Journalist Lluís Amiguet joins Deutsch and Volle for rehearsals of Die Winterreise at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, in Barcelona.

And what's more, the pair were also doing all this entirely off-shore! Aboard a steel barge moored on a stretch of London canal where Peter also lives.

Painstakingly, for months and then years, the narrow living space of Nightjar was reinvented as a studio, slowly bringing to life a story about an astronomer, who embarks on a fantastic voyage hurtling into the universe on his sailboat. In the process – keeping costs down and using all materials at their disposal - they became especially good at special effects. Crumbled toilet paper delivers a dust they use to create constellations, the junkshop antique parts of a watchmaker form a golden telescope, all in dreamlike landscapes assembled from Peter's delicately created artwork.

Finally the film is finished – and has won 7 international awards (and counting).

This edition of the In The Studio takes listeners on board ‘Studio Nightjar' to look at the multiplane at work. Using conversations, audio-diaries, and sounds of canal-life it's a frame-by-frame immersion in the crafting of an animation that became no less than an obsession to its makers, through record-breaking heatwaves and rainstorms.

Presenter/producer: Antonia Quirke

Executive producer: Stephen Hughes

(Photo: Peter Beatty. Credit: Oliver Twitchett)

Artist and film-maker Peter Beatty turns his barge into a film studio

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Artist and film-maker Peter Beatty turns his barge into a film studio and builds his own multi-plane camera for his next music video.

In the Studio takes us into the minds and processes of leading and emerging figures from across the creative world.

Ivo van Hove is the most sought-after theatre director in the world. We join him in Paris, London and Amsterdam, where he works on productions that are often maximal - big musicals, operas and dramas such as The Damned - but where he also loves to stage minimal intimate dramas, such as The Glass Menagerie or A Little Life. How does van Hove work? Why are actors of the calibre of James Norton and Isabel Huppert so willing to work with him? And what drives his relentless thirst to bring new experiences to the theatre audience?

(Photo: Ivo van Hove. Credit: Jan Versweyveld)

Inside the creative mind of one of the world's most celebrated theatre directors

Inside the brains of the world\u2019s most creative people

Ivo van Hove is the most sought-after theatre director in the world. We join him in Paris, London and Amsterdam, where he works on productions that are often maximal - big musicals, operas and dramas such as The Damned - but where he also loves to stage minimal intimate dramas, such as The Glass Menagerie or A Little Life. How does van Hove work? Why are actors of the calibre of James Norton and Isabel Huppert so willing to work with him? And what drives his relentless thirst to bring new experiences to the theatre audience?

(Photo: Ivo van Hove. Credit: Jan Versweyveld)

Inside the creative mind of one of the world's most celebrated theatre directors

Inside the brains of the world\u2019s most creative people

In the Studio takes us into the minds and processes of leading and emerging figures from across the creative world.

Ivo van Hove is the most sought-after theatre director in the world. We join him in Paris, London and Amsterdam, where he works on productions that are often maximal - big musicals, operas and dramas such as The Damned - but where he also loves to stagte minimal intimate dramas, such as The Glass Menagerie or A Little Life. How does van Hove work? Why are actors of the calibre of James Norton and Isabel Huppert so willing to work with him? And what drives his relentless thirst to bring new experiences to the theatre audience?

Image: Ivo van Hove (Credit: Jan Versweyveld)

Inside the creative mind of one of the world's most celebrated theatre directors

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Inside the creative mind of Ivo van Hove, one of the world's most celebrated theatre directors.

Jenn is joined in her Taipei studio by Lucy Collingwood as she reaches the final stages of a collection that's been many months in the making. Surrounded by sewing machines and a snooker table repurposed into a large fabric cutting table. Jenn shares her influences and attention to detail – from the running order of her catwalk show, finalising the looks on mannequins, to adding handmade accessories made of recycled zips and ribbons and choosing which eye catching creation should kick start the show.

Jenn takes us to one of the places that informs her work, the Fu He Bridge Flea Market, where items from used bicycle chains to second hand motorbike jackets can end up as integral parts of her high end garments.

For the catwalks of fashion weeks, Jenn is also planning something a little unusual. As well as her striking garments made in bold colours and hand-dyed fabrics, she's also creating a digital version of her designs and collaborating on a game featuring characters who embody the themes behind her show.

We share Jenn's creative journey from Taipei to backstage at her London Fashion Week catwalk show as the audience reacts as her collection is finally revealed.

Producer: Lucy Collingwood

Exec Producer: Andrea Kidd

(Photo: Jen Lee. Credit: BBC)

Taking inspiration from the flea markets of Taipei to show on the catwalks of London

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

His artwork may last as little as ten minutes before the sea washes it away, but his sculptures are not meant to last; his art is a testament to the beauty found in the ephemeral moment.

Jon's work is not defined by meticulous planning, and he rarely has a fully formed idea in his head before he reaches the beach. He allows the environment on the day to guide his creative instincts.

From the ancient tools he uses to create his sculptures to the modern technology he employs to capture it; we follow Jon's creative process as he takes us to his favourite location to work - the pristine beach of Lindsway Bay on the Pembrokeshire coast, West Wales. Jon considers his work to be a collaboration with nature. However, it is nature itself which threatens to erase his work before it is even complete. With the tide fast approaching and mere minutes before the artwork is swept away, will he manage to complete the work in time? We listen to the artists race against natures clock.

Presented by Dualtagh Herr.

The creative process of Land Artist Jon Foreman as he makes new work in Pembrokeshire.

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Land Artist Jon Foreman takes us behind the scenes of his new sculpture created on the pristine beach of Lindsway Bay on the Pembrokeshire coast, West Wales.

These are the ideas that set Kuma apart from his peers, and the reason why Time magazine named him the world's most influential architect in 2021. Kuma's mission has manifested in so many iconic buildings around the world, including China's Folk Art Museum, the V&A in Scotland, and Japan's National Stadium, built for the 2020 Olympics. Kuma's work also extends to “micro-architecture ?, encompassing pens and sustainable sneakers, among other things.

Broadcaster Nick Luscombe follows Kuma to Japan's oldest and largest lake, and to the ancient capital of Otsu, to observe an unusual project. Kuma is attempting to represent the history of the area not by constructing a new building, but by creating a monument to a legendary cow. Along the way we hear from Chief Priest Fuke of Mii-dera Temple, and philosopher/writer Seigo Matsuoka.

Nick Luscombe follows one of the world's finest architects as he plans an unusual monument

Kengo Kuma has a philosophy: to enrich the connection between buildings and nature, “almost tuning-in ? to the materials. His architecture is inspired by traditional Japanese design, and he’s a serious critic of the global dominance of concrete.

Time magazine named him the world’s most influential architect in 2021. Kuma’s mission has manifested in iconic buildings including China’s Folk Art Museum, the V&A in Scotland, and Japan’s National Stadium, built for the 2020 Olympics. His work also extends to “micro-architecture ?, encompassing pens and sustainable sneakers, among other things.

Broadcaster Nick Luscombe follows Kuma to Japan’s oldest and largest lake, and to the ancient capital of Otsu, to observe an unusual project. Kuma is attempting to represent the history of the area not by constructing a new building, but by creating a monument to a legendary cow. Along the way we hear from Chief Priest Fuke of Mii-dera Temple, and philosopher/writer Seigo Matsuoka.

Presenter/producer: Nick Luscombe
Executive producer: Jack Howson
A Peanut & Crumb production for BBC World Service

(Image: Kengo Kuma. Credit: Jack Howson)

One of the world\u2019s finest architects plans an unusual monument

Inside the brains of the world\u2019s most creative people

Kengo Kuma has a philosophy: to enrich the connection between buildings and nature, “almost tuning-in ? to the materials. His architecture is inspired by traditional Japanese design, and he’s a serious critic of the global dominance of concrete.

Time magazine named him the world’s most influential architect in 2021. Kuma’s mission has manifested in iconic buildings including China’s Folk Art Museum, the V&A in Scotland, and Japan’s National Stadium, built for the 2020 Olympics. His work also extends to “micro-architecture ?, encompassing pens and sustainable sneakers, among other things.

Broadcaster Nick Luscombe follows Kuma to Japan’s oldest and largest lake, and to the ancient capital of Otsu, to observe an unusual project. Kuma is attempting to represent the history of the area not by constructing a new building, but by creating a monument to a legendary cow. Along the way we hear from Chief Priest Fuke of Mii-dera Temple, and philosopher/writer Seigo Matsuoka.

Presenter/producer: Nick Luscombe
Executive producer: Jack Howson
A Peanut & Crumb production for BBC World Service

(Image: Kengo Kuma. Credit: Jack Howson)

One of the world\u2019s finest architects plans an unusual monument

Inside the brains of the world\u2019s most creative people

Time magazine named him the world's most influential architect in 2021. Kuma's mission has manifested in iconic buildings including China's Folk Art Museum, the V&A in Scotland, and Japan's National Stadium, built for the 2020 Olympics. His work also extends to “micro-architecture ?, encompassing pens and sustainable sneakers, among other things.

Broadcaster Nick Luscombe follows Kuma to Japan's oldest and largest lake, and to the ancient capital of Otsu, to observe an unusual project. Kuma is attempting to represent the history of the area not by constructing a new building, but by creating a monument to a legendary cow. Along the way we hear from Chief Priest Fuke of Mii-dera Temple, and philosopher/writer Seigo Matsuoka.

Presenter/producer: Nick Luscombe

Executive producer: Jack Howson

A Peanut & Crumb production for BBC World Service

(Image: Kengo Kuma. Credit: Jack Howson)

One of the world's finest architects plans an unusual monument

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Nick Luscombe follows Kengo Kuma, one of the world's finest architects, as he plans an unusual monument.

For this In The Studio, BBC arts journalist Anna Bailey follows Wangari as she creates her next immersive experience, a life-sized replica of her Nairobi studio where she invited 20 female domestic workers to a day of rest while also painting them for a new series of work which looks at the plight of female domestic workers in Kenya.

Wangari also invites listeners into her Chicago studio where she paints the next painting for the series. But as Anna finds out, rest is not only important to the workers but to Wangari herself.

Presenter and producer Anna Bailey

Executive producer Andrea Kidd.

Exploring the plight of female domestic workers in Kenya through art

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Originally from Cork, Ireland, Kieran now lives in Berlin where he plans and designs zoos across the globe. He lists milestone projects in countries including the UK, Denmark, South Korea, Uzbekistan, China, and Germany. From his studios in Berlin, we find Kieran overseeing multiple international projects including a major, and slightly mysterious, new zoo development in Gujarat, India, called simply 'Zoo India'.

Working with a multidisciplinary team including architects, landscape architects, interior designers and communication designers, it quickly becomes clear that design is just one element of a complex and fascinating process.

A Tandem production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Kieran Stanley. Credit: Dan Pearlman)

Behind the scenes with Zoo designer Kieran Stanley

Behind the scenes with Zoo designer Kieran Stanley who has created some of the world's most impressive spaces to care for animals, including a new zoo in Gujarat, India.

In this episode of In The Studio, Paralympian gold medallist Ellie Simmonds, explores what it takes to design and build a swimming pool, and asks why they are so important in a post-pandemic era.

We join award-winning Dutch architects, VenhoevenCS, as they sign off their biggest project to date (The Aquatic Centre for Paris 2024) and begin planning and designing a brand-new public pool.

Their lead architects will talk us through their plans for the new pool, looking at sustainability, accessibility and safety. We'll visit the site of the build and the offices, to eavesdrop on their planning meetings.

We'll also hear from British architect, author and swimming advocate Chris Romer Lee about the importance of public pools, and why he thinks more of us should be getting in to water.

In the Studio takes us into the minds and processes of leading and emerging figures from across the creative world.

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

We join award-winning Dutch architects VenhoevenCS as they sign off their biggest project to date - the aquatic centre for Paris 2024 - and begin planning and designing a brand-new public pool. Their lead architects will talk us through their plans for the new pool, looking at sustainability, accessibility and safety. We'll visit the site of the build and the offices, to eavesdrop on their planning meetings.

We'll also hear from British architect, author and swimming advocate Chris Romer Lee about the importance of public pools, and why he thinks more of us should be getting into the water.

A Spiritland production

Image: Ellie Simmonds (Credit: Anthony Devlin/Getty Images for the National Lottery) and the Hofbad swimming pool in Den Haag, the Netherlands, designed by VenhoevenCS

The Paralympic gold medallist follows the construction of a new public swimming pool

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Manal gives Melissa Gronlund a sense of the importance of storytelling and being a memory keeper in a changing society. She also talks about her early work challenging the restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia, such as I Am, which questioned the way women were only allowed to perform certain roles in Saudi society. Melissa hears how one of the country's most established artists is navigating Saudi Arabia's new cultural scene.

Producers: Ashley Byrne, Melissa Gronlund and Danielle Manning

A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service

Image: Manal AlDowayan's participatory workshops in AlUla (2023), part of Oasis of Stories for Wadi AlFann (Courtesy of Royal Commission for AlUla)

How one of Saudi Arabia's most established artists navigates its changing society

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Art journalist Melissa Gronlund gives an insight into the work of internationally renowned Saudi artist Manal AlDowayan.

Lockdown presents a number of challenges, expected ones like social distancing and sick crew members. And unexpected ones, like studios being too full and staff being in short supply because more movies were being made during the pandemic, rather than less.

Maria kept an audio diary during these unprecedented times for the British film industry, as she battles with crew shortages, schedule changes and a possible bout of Covid.

Producing and reporting by Antonia Quirke

Executive Producer: Stephen Hughes for BBC World Service

The secrets of the production designer

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

In the Studio takes us into the minds of leading figures from the creative world.

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

In the Studio takes us into the minds and processes of leading and emerging figures from across the creative world.

He reveals how he managed to film on a smugglers' route between Iran and Afghanistan, and how he avoided the attentions of the Taliban. And he also reveals details of the documentary he is currently making about the return of the Taliban to Afghanistan.

Presented by Antonia Quirke

Produced by Stephen Hughes for BBC World Service

Mohsen Makhmalbaf on Kandahar

Mohsen Makhmalbaf takes us behind the scenes of the making of Kandahar which captured the world's attention when President Bush asked to see it after the attacks on 9/11

Jeff Lunden follows PAC NYC's artistic director Bill Rauch and his behind the scenes team, as they get the specially built, flexible theatres ready for their opening season.

We'll also be talking to some of the on stage creatives who've been commissioned to make works for this very special season, including theatre maker Bill T. Jones, whose piece Night Watch is about the shootings in a Black church in Charleston, South Carolina and a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Choreographer Annie-B Parsons talks about how it feels as a New Yorker to create her commission The March.

For many New Yorkers and also for people from across the world, the site remains a sacred space and we'll be hearing from Paula Berry, who lost her husband in the 9/11 attacks about why for her this arts center is on sacred ground and is a place to celebrate life.

Presenter and Producer: Jeff Lunden

Exec Producer: Andrea Kidd

(Photo: The Perelman Performing Arts Center, NYC. Credit: The BBC)

The opening of The Perelman Performing Arts Center built on the site of NY's Twin Towers

Jeff Lunden goes behind the scenes of PAC NYC, the arts centre built on the site of the World Trade Center in New York, as it prepares to open its door for the first time.

Fred D'Aguiar recovers and re-imagines his story, in several voices – including the horses. In this edition of In the Studio, Julian May meets D'Aguiar on the cusp. For The Unnamed is written and D'Aguiar explains how he is now preparing it for publication and his way of proof-reading. He is also feeling his way towards his next project, beginning a series of poetic studies of people he has known, people he has lost and people who inspire him. This is, tentatively, entitled Lives Studied.

D'Aguiar reveals his processes, how he begins, rising very early, taking his dog, Dexter, for a walk, drinking a coffee, then setting to. He speaks quickly, so writes always in longhand with a pen, to slow thought down, to consider. He speaks too of his reading and influences, for instance Robert Lowell and his collection ‘Life Studies'. For D'Aguiar the practice of writing is integral to his existence - writing is living.

Fred D'Aguiar on his collection For the Unnamed, inspired by a black jockey from 1852.

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Fred D'Aguiar recovers and re-imagines his story, in several voices – including the horses. In this edition of In the Studio Julian May meets D'Aguiar on the cusp. For The Unnamed is written and D'Aguiar explains how he is now preparing it for publication and his way of proof-reading. He is also feeling his way towards his next project, beginning a series of poetic studies of people he has known, people he has lost and people who inspire him. This is, tentatively, entitled Lives Studied.

Presenter and Producer: Julian May

(Photo: Fred D'Aguiar. Credit: Courtesy of Fred D'Aguiar)

The poet Fred D'Aguiar explains how he finishes his book about an unnamed black jockey who wins a huge race, finds a new subject, a series of poetic portraits, and begins again.

Manal's early projects were set amid the backdrop of limitations being placed on women in her home country.

At her base in London, she tells Melissa about Esmi: My Name, her best known work where she collaborated with women to flout the convention against saying their names in public, asking each woman in her workshops to write their name on a prayer bead, which she then strings together and hangs from the ceiling in exhibitions

And Manal talks to Melissa about ‘I Am', where she wears the clothes of a traditional Bedouin female and holds up a blackboard stating her job, to signal the way that women were only allowed to perform certain roles in Saudi society

The discussion around these two projects will enable us to get a real understanding into the experiences of women in Saudi Arabia where there have been considerable restrictions on how they are allowed to live their lives over decades.

In following Manal's contemporary work, we will also get an understanding of the changes to the rights of women in Saudi. How far do they go? And how has her work changed as its context changes?

We will also hear about her role in the forthcoming Venice Biennale and reflect how Manal's work continues to change as her country and experiences of fellow women there continue to evolve.

In the Studio takes us into the minds and processes of leading and emerging figures from across the creative world.

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

The film follows a year in the life of 61-year-old African American, Adrian Spears. He certainly stands out in the sleepy Californian town where he makes a living shining shoes: dancing around with his bowler hat, starched shirt and bright red uniform. The film opens as he folds up the cardboard sheets he sleeps on at night and makes his way to the storage unit where he keeps clothes and an iron. Everything he owns is immaculately pressed, and it was partly his quiet dignity which drew Leonard to Adrian, and which resonates throughout the movie.

Leonard had thought his days in the movies business were over: he gave up his Hollywood career 30 years ago to retrain as a family therapist and through Adrian's story he has reclaimed his passion.

The BBC Producer, Sue Mitchell, came across Leonard's film whilst recording with a homeless man living just a few miles away. She was intrigued and began exploring the background to the film and examining why it was proving so popular with audiences.

Presented and produced: Sue Mitchell

A new documentary about homelessness by filmmaker, Leonard Manzella

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Sue Mitchell explores a new documentary about homelessness with filmmaker, Leonard Manzella.

Presenter: Francine Stock

Producer: Stephen Hughes

(Photo: Thelma Schoonmaker at the Peeping Tom screening during the 67th BFI London Film Festival. Credit: John Phillips/Getty Images)

Thelma Schoonmaker reveals the secrets of the cutting room

Inside the brains of the world's most creative people

Thelma Schoonmaker is arguably the world's most famous film editor. She tells Francine Stock some secrets of the cutting room.

In the Studio takes us into the minds and processes of leading and emerging figures from across the creative world.