Episodes
| Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Thames Whale | 20211108 | Extraordinary reports of whales into the River Thames date back to the seventeenth century. Most recently, the northern bottlenose whale `Willy` (2006), `Benny The Beluga` (2018) and a juvenile minke whale (2021) have stirred a collective hysteria and highlighted nature's precarious, yet persistent role in the hallucinogenic heart of London. Richard Sabin (Principal Curator for Mammals at Natural History Museum, London) and Jessica Sarah Rinland (filmmaker We Account The Whale Immortal') weave their way through the cult of cetacean celebrity, British folklore and a living archive of whale bones. Where the sea transforms into a city, they probe the temporal, tidal space of the Thames, whales - ancient, alien and yet remarkably connected to humans - and the Londoner as witness. Elsewhere, 23-year-old Londoner Abondance Matanda reads a specially-commissioned eulogy for all those who have found themselves submerged in the city's `big belly kingdom of concrete.` As primal apparitions in the brackish, belching Thames - once declared biologically dead in 1959 - do these whales offer a utopian antidote for human longing? Can their transitory and often tragic presence provide any more than a fleeting rupture within the oppressive monotony of the metropolis? About Joseph Joseph is a multidisciplinary artist, community organiser and sports coach. Their practice centres intergenerational knowledge sharing and collaboration through practical workshops, sports methodologies and open-source resources. Joseph works predominantly within site-specific contexts and peer-to-peer platforms including artist-run spaces, online radio and DIY communities. Recent sound work has been broadcast on BBC (Between the Ears, The Verb), NTS (Tough Matter), and exhibited at Wellcome Collection (London) with Bhebhe&Davies and Futura Centre for Contemporary Art (Prague) with Ashley Holmes. In 2021, Joseph received a Percolate Programme Residency at Siobhan Davies Studios and an Image Behaviour commission at The Institute of Contemporary Arts to develop experimental moving image, sound and movement work with RUT. New Creatives is supported by Arts Council England and BBC Arts. Joseph Bond - Producer & Music Jessica Sarah Rinland - Artist & Filmmaker Abondance Matanda - Poet Imani Robinson - Newsreader Martha?Pazienti?Caidan (NTS) - Executive Producer A whale's extraordinary voyage up the River Thames to the hallucinogenic heart of London. |
| 02 | Time Is What Keeps The Light From Reaching Us | 20211109 | Standing on Waterloo Bridge in 2021, the artist re-examines the personal impact of Derek Jarman's final film, Blue' (1993). His celebrated experimental film is a poetic reckoning with his grief at the loss of friends, lovers and his own life as a result of AIDS-related illnesses. Time is what keeps the light from reaching us' is an audio essay, sampling from the film itself, asking the question, what does it mean to review Jarman's film without an image today? A re-view, in this case, might be defined by a multiplicity of looks; seeing again, anew, once more. As the artist finds out, Blue' casts its shadow over all they see. From the vantage point of many years, Time is what keeps the light from reaching us' is a cinematic vision; a long-distance double-take. About Cassandre Cassandre Greenberg is an artist and writer. Most recently, she completed the audio documentary, Touchdown. She was the 2019 recipient of the Michael O'Pray Art Writing prize, and her texts have been published on Art Monthly, The White Review, The Architectural Review, and others. She has shown works at ICA, IMT Gallery, SPACE studios, and Auto Italia. New Creatives is supported by Arts Council England and BBC Arts. Cassandre Greenberg - Writer, Director, Performer & Producer MX World - Musician Martha Pazienti Caidan (NTS) - Executive Producer Mark Estall - Sound Engineer Archival material from BFI National Archive. Quotations selected from Blue by Derek Jarman (1993), with thanks to Basilisk Productions and James Mackay. A personal ode to Derek Jarman's film, 'Blue', voiced across distances and time |
| 03 | Therianthropy | 20211110 | Acting as a lullaby, this 14-minute piece mixes together a narrative, spoken by Randolf Menzel, and music. Just before going to sleep, listeners will experience Randolf Menzel's dream and question if bees dream as well. Dr. Randolf Menzel is a German neurobiologist who dedicated his life to the world of bees. At the beginning of his career, he was dreaming of becoming a bee. At nights, and sometimes during the day, he was transforming into his subject of research. These experiences helped him to build a better understanding of what it is like to be a bee, and gave him leads to his scientific inquiries. In return, his discoveries in the lab were enhancing his dreams. Dream worlds are a central part of human life. Neuroscience has shown that they are an important activity for human brain and its evolution, and not mere epiphenomena. Within these dream lands, time is telescoped, it is distorted; offering a space to try specific hypotheses. About Apian Apian is a machine built for exploring the age-old interspecies relationship between humans and bees. It offers a refuge to encounter this alien species on a more egalitarian basis, mediated by technology and human thoughts. Working outside any institution, Apian is a non-profit bureau, a ministry of bees. It is heuristic, experimental, messy, serious, but above all tries to be honest. In 2020, Apian published his first book, Hives/Ruches (RVB/Vevey Images, 2020) - a visual atlas of the hive. `Apian also aims to be collaborative and has been a meeting place for shared sensibilities. It has been shown for example at Eyebeam 2021, La Becque 2020, and CTM Festival Berlin 2019, among others. New Creatives is supported by Arts Council England and BBC Arts. A piece by Apian (Laurent Güdel, Robert Torche, Ellen Lapper, Aladin Borioli) A special thanks to Dr. Randolf Menzel. Producer: Josh Farmer (NTS) A foray into dream worlds, one of a neurobiologist and one of bees |
| 04 | Quilts Of Love | 20211111 | For the first time since it was initially displayed in Hyde Park in 1994, the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt was unfolded in its entirety in July 2021. It features hundreds of hand-stitched, glue-gunned and collaged?memorial panels. Each is the size of a grave plot, powerfully naming a generation of loved ones lost during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 80s and 90s.?The Quilt, with all its colours, materials and immense care and detail, is a heart-breaking monument of love for those departed, as well as a protest against the institutional failures of the period and the stigma surrounding HIV that still remains. Colliding past and present, Quilts of Love' features interviews with Barton Friedland, Project Coordinator of the 1994 display, and the staff of The Food Chain, a frontline HIV charity that recently spearheaded the 2021 exhibition. The work pays homage to this stunning piece of visual and community art, but also the tireless work of the people who have made sure the stories behind the Quilts are preserved and the names it commemorates are never forgotten. About Tom Tom Foskett-Barnes is a composer and sound designer working across film, theatre and sound art. Tom scored Oscar-nominated short documentary Black Sheep and Bafta-nominated short film toni_with_an_i. For theatre Tom has worked at Old Vic, the Arcola, Soho Theatre and The Globe. In 2016 Tom was Sound and Music Composer in Residence with ROLI as part of the Embedded_Innovate Scheme and in 2017 Tom was selected as part of the Old Vic 12. Quilts of Love' is the second instalment in a trilogy of works about UK queer history. The first was Living With The Light On', an audio documentary about the UK's leading LGBT+ helpline Switchboard. Tom trained at the Royal College of Music as a Soir退e d'Or Scholar generously supported by a Clifton Parker Award and was also the recipient of a BAFTA UK Scholarship. New Creatives is supported by Arts Council England and BBC Arts. Tom Foskett-Barnes -?Composer, Sound Designer and Producer? Anna Brewster, Siobhကn Lanigan, Clifford McManus, Clare Quinn (The Food Chain) and Barton Friedland (Quilts of Love Display) -?Interviewees? Rory Bowens (NTS) -?Executive Producer We explore the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt and its first display in 27 years |
| 05 | Ding Dong | 20211112 | Part poem, part surreal radio play, Ding Dong explores the difficulties of staying in the present through the mind of a millennial, and delves into why shutting off your senses with the content on your phone is far more appealing than opening your eyes to the discomfort of today (and even worse, the bleak uncertainty of tomorrow). When the Present Moment comes knocking, Leanne wants nothing to do with her. She's far too smiley and righteous, and she has some difficult questions which are best left unanswered. Besides, Leanne's very busy scrolling through videos of dogs on her phone and eating biscuits, so she doesn't really have the time. However, the Present Moment is persistent in her curiosity of the here and now, and refuses to stop dinging Leanne's doorbell until she has her answers, forcing her away from the blissful euphoria of her phone (and her fridge) to face up to the uneasy prospect of some time without distraction. Accompanied by a dreamlike score composed by Emma Barnaby. About Leanne Leanne Shorley is an actor, writer, comedian and spoken word artist. This is her second piece for New Creatives. Her first, Couple Goals', was broadcast on BBC Introducing Arts with Gemma Cairney' on BBC 6 Music last year. She's an alumni of BBC Words First and has recently appeared on the BAFTA winning Life & Rhymes' on Sky Arts. New Creatives is supported by Arts Council England and BBC Arts. Leanne Shorley - Writer and Performer Emma Barnaby - Music Composer Martha?Pazienti?Caidan (NTS) -?Executive Producer When the Present Moment shows up, will Leanne stop scrolling to give her the time of day? |
| 06 | One Continuous Loop | 20211113 | A soundscape of nostalgia, loneliness and reflection on Kwei's journey home after a concert as he recollects memories following a big move to a new city. About Esme and Caleb Esme Allman is a poet, writer and theatre-maker based in South East London. She is an alumna on the Roundhouse Poetry Collective and the Barbican Young Poets programme. She has previously received poetry commissions from the ICA's New Creatives Programme, English Heritage, the Barbican and Sydenham Arts. Her work has also appeared in POSTSCRIPT, The Skinny and the Barbican Young Poets 2019/2020 anthology. Her work explores blackness, history, memory, desire and the ways these ideas interact with each other. Caleb Azumah Nelson (b. 1993) is a British-Ghanaian writer and photographer, living in South East London. He was recently shortlisted for the Palm Photo Prize?and won the People's Choice prize. He has produced music and sound for artists such as MAVI and Belinda Zhawi. His writing has been published in The New York Times, The White Review, Granta and Harper's Bazaar. He was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award 2020 for his story 'Pray'.?His first novel, OPEN WATER, was published by Viking (UK) and Grove Atlantic (US), and was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize. New Creatives is supported by Arts Council England and BBC Arts. Esme Allman - Writer, Poet and Performer Caleb Azumah Nelson -Writer and Performer, Sound Production Tife Kusoro - Performer Rory Bowens (NTS) - Executive Producer |
| 07 | Another Country, Another Quandary | 20211120 | Another Country, Another Quandary is a montage of interviews, field recordings and self records scored with original compositions and vocalisation that draws on the ideas of hauntology. The piece features a number of UK based artists born elsewhere as they reflect on their journeys of where they are today across geographies and time frames. The cast of voices reflects on their childhood migration to the UK & other parts of the world and the impact this has had on their sense of self and their artistic practices. The piece focuses on how the artists see themselves in another dimension where they never left their home countries and what that intangible dimension looks like. How do they dream about the time and space between where they are and where they've been. The voices featured are of painter, Kudzanai-Violet Hwami, visual artist, Fungai Marima and harpist, Marysia Osuchowska. About Belinda Belinda Zhawi is a Zimbabwean literary & sound artist. She is the author of Small Inheritances (ignitionpress, 2018) & South of South East (Bad Betty Press, 2019), co-founder of literary arts platform BORN::FREE & experiments with sound/text performance as MA.MOYO. Her work has been broadcast & published on various platforms including The White Review, NTS Live, Boiler Room & BBC Radio 3, 4 & 6. She has held residencies with ICA London, Serpentine Galleries & Triangle France to name a few. Belinda hosts Juju Fission (RTM FM), a monthly radio broadcast. She lives & works in South East London, UK. New Creatives is supported by Arts Council England and BBC Arts. Josh Farmer (NTS) - Executive Producer Belinda Zhawi - Sound Artist, Researcher Fungai Marima, Kudzanai-Violet Hwami, Maria Osuchowska - Voices Maria Osuchowska - Original Music Three artists born elsewhere reflect on their journeys across geographies & time frames |