CHANEL Connects

Season Four of CHANEL Connects, the flagship arts and culture podcast, concludes with Adriano Pedrosa, curator of the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale and the Artistic Director of the São Paulo Museum of Art. In conversation with Yana Peel, Global Head of Arts & Culture at CHANEL, Pedrosa discusses the theme for this year’s Biennale: Stranieri Ovunque—Foreigners Everywhere, and how an exhibition can "reinforce what truly matters."

At the Palazzo Persico, the world-famous designers Michael Rock and Irma Boom reflect on Venice’s pivotal role in the history of book publishing – and its influence on generations of contemporary artists. Michael is the co-founder of 2x4, while Boom has designed more than 300 books across her career. Together, they explore how, more than 500 years ago, Venice revolutionised art, a legacy that continues to this day.

This episode connects two artists from countries uniquely impacted by climate change. Representing Iceland and Hong Kong, Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir and Trevor Yeung are navigating this year’s Venice Biennale and Venice as a city, much the way they treat their island homes. At the Conservatorio di Musica, looking out onto the Italian canals, they discuss how art can inspire action in the natural world.

What makes a great curator, and what brings them to the Venice Biennale, without fail, for the past two decades? In this episode, distinguished curators from the museum world connect to share their stories of seeing and discovery. Simon Castets, Director of Strategic Initiatives at LUMA Arles in France, speaks with Courtney J. Martin, Executive Director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation in New York. Together, they discuss how the biennale shapes the coming trends in the international art scene.

The South African multidisciplinary artist William Kentridge and the famed curator Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev have created some of the most resonant work of their time. These two giants of the art world discuss the Venice installation of William’s film Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot, Carolyn’s work as the former director of the Castello di Rivoli museum in Italy, and the origins of their long and rich creative relationship.

Julien Creuzet, one of the world’s leading contemporary artists, connects with Alvin Li, Curator of International Art at the Tate Modern in London. Julien is a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris and the first French-Caribbean artist to represent France at the Venice Biennale. Supported by the CHANEL Culture Fund, his exhibition blends sculpture and film with poetry and music, transforming the France Pavilion. In a conversation with Alvin Li at Palazzo Pisani Moretta, Julien revisits his childhood on the island of Martinique and reflects on art’s unique capacity to unearth untold stories.

We connect two remarkable women from the international gallery scene – the legendary Sadie Coles, who has shaped the art world for decades, and Angelina Volk, a prominent young gallerist who is set to do the same for the next generation. Sadie founded her eponymous gallery in central London in 1997; Angelina founded EMALIN gallery in east London nearly twenty years later. Together, Sadie and Angelina discuss how the Venice Biennale sets the international art agenda - and how working with artists is a great love affair.

Recorded at Venice’s Conservatorio di Musica, this episode explores art collectives, performance and the power of sound. Actress Vicky Krieps, star of Phantom Thread and Corsage, connects with the artist and musician Andrea Mancini and Every Island art collective, who are presenting work at the Luxembourg Pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale. Vicky reveals how she writes music to better understand her characters, while Every Island discuss how sound enables them to work in a truly collective way.

For the Venice Biennale Edition of CHANEL’s flagship arts and culture podcast, Andrew Durbin, author and Editor-in-Chief of Frieze magazine, connects with Kimberly Drew, author, critic and Curatorial Director at Pace Gallery. Kimberly has developed a huge online following for the way she uses emerging platforms to communicate about art. And, as the editor of Frieze, Andrew is one of the most influential writers on art in the world. Together, they discuss the evolution of art in the digital age and explore how the Venice Biennale came to be the centrepiece of the global art community.

Welcome to Season 4 of CHANEL Connects.

This series takes you to the Venice Biennale—the essential cultural event of 2024— where leading artists, curators, gallerists, and thinkers join CHANEL’s flagship arts and culture podcast. Through a series of generous and revealing conversations, each episode explores the defining issues of our time. Listen in now, and let’s connect!

Tras grabar "Filmed with Love", Penélope Cruz, ganadora de un premio Óscar, y la directora Carla Simón continúan su conversación en español, tratando temas como la maternidad, el equilibrio entre realidad y ficción, y la importancia de la observación humana.

Barry Jenkins and Isaac Julien are two giants of filmmaking, whose creative sensibilities have much in common. Both have produced work that has profoundly shaped contemporary culture: Jenkins’s 2016 Academy Award-winning film Moonlight is a sensitive portrayal of Black masculinity, while Julien has been at the forefront of Black British filmmaking for over three decades. In this episode, we bring them together for the very first time, in London, for a conversation about portraying vulnerability, the art of adapting literary texts, and the influence of beauty, music, and memory on their work.

What is the nature of authentic creativity in a world of artificial intelligence? In this episode, artist Sarah Meyohas, whose practice explores the technologies that are transforming society, speaks to Albert Read, the managing director of Condé Nast Britain and author of The Imagination Muscle. His brilliant book is a guide to honing our human skills of creation in a complex and increasingly automated world. Together, they discuss originality, authorship, and the enduring power of the artist.

Artist Amy Sillman is renowned for her oil paintings that defy categorisation. She has been at the helm of a new wave of artists - most of them women - who over the last decade have reinvigorated abstraction. Amy connects with celebrated writer Sheila Heti, whose books, including Pure Colour (2022) and Motherhood (2018), blur the lines between fiction and memoir, creating new and original ways to understand lived experience: motherhood, art, and mortality. In this episode, they discuss how they each embrace ambiguity with purpose.

In this episode, food visionaries unite: Ruthie Rogers, the legendary chef behind The River Café in London, talks to Jon Gray, Co-Founder of the Bronx-based collective Ghetto Gastro. They discuss their recent cookbooks which challenge accepted conventions - from photography and recipe instructions, to the availability and distribution of fresh ingredients. Both are committed to community and are champions of collaboration, focused on the intersection of culture and food, their legacies, and the power of partnership.

In this episode we bring together a cinematic legend and a rising star: the Academy Award-winning actor Penélope Cruz, whose performances in independent film and Hollywood blockbusters have been captivating audiences for more than three decades. She connects with Carla Simón, a director who has introduced Catalan cinema to new, global audiences by drawing on her rural upbringing. The duo connects in Madrid for the first time and discuss politics, parenthood, and the bravery of taking the space to breathe.

Two good friends are working at the intersection of art and architecture from very different angles. Award-winning architect Frida Escobedo is currently renovating the contemporary wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. José Esparza Chong Cuy, Chief Curator of Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York, is changing public engagement with both disciplines. The two of them discuss the magic of Lina Bo Bardi, the connections between art and architecture, and how Mexico has influenced both of their work.

Rachel Rose is known for her intricate video installations which investigate our changing understanding of the world - from labour in 17th-century England, to explorations of outer space. In this episode she connects with fellow artist Aria Dean, who uses film and sculpture to produce meditations on Blackness and artistic theory. Their conversation digs deep into the contemporary art world: their multidisciplinary practices - including film, sculpture, and installation, the use of memes as critique, and how the weight of history inspires them.

This episode features two audacious talents shaking up the film industry - in front of, and behind the camera. Savanah Leaf came to film as a former Olympic volleyball player and her debut feature, Earth Mama, recently premiered at Sundance Film Festival to widespread acclaim. Margaret Qualley has already worked with some of the best directors in cinema, from Claire Denis and Quentin Tarantino to Yorgos Lanthimos and Ethan Coen. The multi-hyphenate duo sit down in New York for a conversation about their journeys so far.

Kelsey Lu is a classically trained musician whose work is defined by otherworldly electro-classical sound, and by collaborations with artists including Solange and Blood Orange. Yinka Ilori is known for creating bold, colourful designs informed by his British-Nigerian heritage, often focused on accessibility and inclusion. Challenging us to think in new ways, Yinka and Kelsey Lu discuss the influence of the natural world on their respective practices, and the immersive power of music and art. They begin their conversation by exploring how joy feeds their creativity.