20 June 2005
Monday 20 June 2005 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)
Susan Hitch and guests discuss 'Geek Chic' and the inexorable rise of the geek. Also, in the latest of the Picture of Britain series, Louis de Bernieres casts his eye over his beloved East Anglia.
Programme Details
Benoit Mandelbrot is the world's greatest living mathematician. His discovery of fractals - the beautiful shapes which now emblazon many a child's tee shirts and led to a new understanding of nature, popularly called chaos theory - has been one of the great eureka moments in science. A self proclaimed maverick, this Polish born Frenchman led a difficult early life during the second world - which as he explains to Susan Hitch - has meant that he always takes risks and never bows to the accepted. He reveals that mathematics is not about numbers and algebraic numbers, but is really about looking, just like primitive man did 1000s of years ago when he saw the moon at night. See if you are convinced...
If that is not challenge enough, a new book is saying that it's chic to be a Geek - and know everything about data and how to access it. But is that true? Quentin Cooper, presenter of BBC Radio 4's The Material World reflects on whether this is true.
Cecily Brown is one of the greatest stars of British painting - but she's better known in New York where she now lives and works, than she is here in her home country. Her canvases are often at least 6 foot high, and famously depict people having sex, or limbs scattered in a landscape. Only in her mid 30s, critics proclaim she takes on the great masters of 20th century tradition - such as Philip Guston and Willem de Kooning with an audacity and skill, matched by few others. On the eve of her first major solo exhibition in this country, Cecily talks to Susan Hitch about how in painting for her it's the space between objects and figures which matter - and why sex is the one subject in her painting she finds hard to let go and move beyond.
Also in the programme, as part of the BBC's Picture of Britain series on television and radio, Night Waves has invited a number of leading writers across Great Britain and Northern Ireland to describe how a particular part of the country has influenced their writing. Tonight it's Louis de Bernières who will take you to the latest British landscape which now is the place where his imagination can unfold - Norfolk.
Czech Dream is the title of a spoof award-winning documentary - which even has Vaclav Havel's seal of approval. It tells the story of an elaborate hoax - the creation of a hoax advertising campaign for a non-existent supermarket chain. What does the film say about contemporary Czech culture - compared to the past. The former BBC correspondent in Prague and Czech affairs specialist Chris Bowlby reveals a surprising link with this hoax to 16th century Prague as you will discover when he will be discussing the film with Susan Hitch in this evening's Night Waves at 9.30 here on BBC Radio 3.
Presenter: Susan Hitch
Producer: Ariane Koek
Further details:
The (Mis)behaviour of Markets: A Fractal View of Risk, Ruin and Reward by Benoit Mandelbrot and Richard L Hudson is published by Profile books (£18.99)
Cecily Brown's first solo exhibition opens at the Museum of Modern Art Oxford on June 28th 2005.
Czech Dream - certificate 12A - opens at Selected Cinemas across the UK on June 24th.
Geek Chic is published by Thames and Hudson next month. Price
A Picture of Britain is happening across the BBC and at other venues.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/apictureofbritain/
