Programme Details

Phillip Dodd presents you with the first Night Waves of the season - opening with an interview with the celebrated architect Daniel Libeskind. How does he keep his faith in architecture, when projects like Ground Zero and The Spiral at the V & A are plagued with controversy?

In the meantime, the first Beijing Architecture Biennial opens. Why is the Forbidden City opening itself up to architects in the West? Yet at the same time it is scaling down its plans for the 2008 Olympics? We find out on the first night of this new international event.

The film director Michael Mann is popularly known for Miami Vice in the 70s. But his films, such as Heat and Manhunter have been influential too for their depictions of intense male friendship. His latest, Collateral stars Tom Cruise - as a villainous assassin. Has Michael Mann been influenced by the works of the novelist Joseph Conrad, as Phillip Dodd suspects?

When Goethe created the figure of the suicidal poet Werther, there was a social phenomenon: a spate of copy cat suicides. Why and how has this poet exercised such influence over the European imagination? We find out on the night a new production of Jules Massenet's 'Werther' opens at the Royal Opera House.

And how has childhood naughtiness influenced young designers Julie and Michael to put electric cables and light bulbs in water? These two young designers to watch for the future talk about - Flood - their underwater light.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Collateral - starring Tom Cruise and directed by Michael Mann opens nationwide Friday September 24th. 

The Space of Encounter: The Architecture of Daniel Libeskind is at the Barbican Art Gallery, London until January 23 rd . A season of his films runs at the Barbican Cinema until September 23rd . His memoir: Breaking Ground: Adventures in Life and Architecture is published October 11 th by John Murray.

Werther by Jules Massenet and directed by Benoit Jacquot is on at the Royal Opera House, London , until October 6th 2004

The Beijing Architectural Biennial is running until October 1st .

Flood by Michael and Julie - otherwise known as Wokmedia - can be seen shortly at the Design Museum , London .

Presenter: Phillip Dodd
Producer: Ariane Koek