Turner's watercolours
Monday 11 June 2007 21:45-22:30 (Radio 3)
Gabriel Gbadamosi and critic James Malpas give their verdicts on a new exhibition of JMW Turner's watercolours, curated by the artist David Hockney. They find out if the show reveals Turner's work in a new light, or if, in fact, it tells us about more about David Hockney himself.
Playlist
David Hockney on JMW Turner
Gabriel Gbadamosi casts a critical eye over a new exhibition of JMW Turner's watercolours, curated by the artist David Hockney.
He finds out if the show reveals Turner's work in a new light, or if, in fact, it tells us about more about David Hockney himself. The critic James Malpas helps Gabriel give the Night Waves verdict.
Hockney on Turner Watercolours runs at the Tate Britain until 3 February 2008.
Academia and Power
In recent weeks the collision between academia and the government has been capturing headlines.
The Universities Union has voted to sever links with Israeli universities - whilst a recent Cambridge University conference on Islamic Studies garnered accusations of having been vetted for government approval.
Gabriel is joined by two academics to find out what happens when academia meets power.
Should academics be free to think what they wish, or do they have a duty to the state?
Are there historical warnings and crucially, what happens when things go wrong?
Gunter Grass and Petr Ginz
Night Waves also explores two very different retellings of the events surrounding the Second World War.
The first is the much-anticipated memoir of the celebrated German author, Gunter Grass, in which he comes clean about his youthful involvement with the Waffen SS, the combat arm of Hitler's paramilitary force.
The second is the diary of Petr Ginz, a Jewish teenager in 1940s Prague who died in Auschwitz, and whose secret diaries have just been translated.
The historian David Cesarani compares and contrasts these two distinct chronicles and finds out how far they go in reshaping our understanding of this period of history.
Peeling The Onion by Gunter Grass is published by Harvill Secker and The Diary of Petr Ginz is published by Atlantic Books.
Venice Biennale
Plus: a report from the Venice Biennale.
Following the hype surrounding Tracy Emin's contribution to the British pavilion, the critic Louisa Buck reveals the other artistic highlights showcased in this year's Biennale.
