Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Art of Now

Documentaries exploring the latest worldwide cultural issues, trends, celebrations and rebellions.

Radio 4,74 episodes

Episodes

ListGrid

Hong Kong Artists
How artists in Hong Kong are coping with censorship and political repression.
28 Sep 2021,28 mins
Dreaming of Damascus
One artist's memories of Damascus, captured in minature.
09 Mar 2021,28 mins
Playing with the Dead
Jordan Erica Webber explores how video games can let us play with people after their death
27 Oct 2020,28 mins
A Life in Song
Singer-songwriter Sean Cooney explores the art of writing songs about real people.
10 Sep 2020,28 mins
Hearing Architecture
The story of blind architect Chris Downey, told in his own words.
16 Jun 2020,28 mins
The Gospel of Grime
From gospel to grime, Jesse Bernard explores the role music plays in black churches.
19 May 2020,28 mins
Berlin’s Nightlife
DJ Emily Dust explores the unusual ways Berlin's clubbing scene is fighting gentrification
14 May 2020,28 mins
Black and Creative in Scotland
Tomiwa Folorunso explores the experience of being a black female artist in Scotland.
12 May 2020,28 mins
Raw Meat
Susan Bright gets bloody and fleshy with artists who’re using body parts as a raw material
28 Apr 2020,28 mins
Mixtape For Zimbabwe
Songs and sounds from UK based writer Belinda Zhawi, dedicated to her birth country.
21 Apr 2020,28 mins
Out of the Wood
Stripping away trees to reveal the sapling inside – art that touches nature.
14 Apr 2020,28 mins
Christchurch
Artists reflect on their work after one of New Zealand’s darkest days.
15 Mar 2020,28 mins
Good Vibrations
Comedian and actor Isy Suttie, seeking relaxation, explores the world of sound therapy.
10 Mar 2020,28 mins
North Korea
Step inside North Korea's Art Studio
03 Mar 2020,28 mins
A Mathematician's Guide to Beauty
Mathematician Vicky Neale explores the idea of the beautiful in maths.
18 Feb 2020,28 mins
Recovery
A studio in London where survivors of torture are using art to help with their recovery
04 Feb 2020,28 mins
Filth
Emma Critchley meets the artists turning smog, landfill and sewage into challenging art.
28 Jan 2020,28 mins
The Algorhythms of Epilepsy
The screech of an owl, the howl of a wolf - the sound of epilepsy in the brain as art.
21 Jan 2020,28 mins
The Last Exposure
The end of the dark room - and a glimpse into the colourful world of Garry Fabian-Miller.
14 Jan 2020,28 mins
The Tides of the Staithe
Kevin Crossley-Holland reflects on the magic and the menace of the Norfolk tides
15 Dec 2019,28 mins
The Walking Dance
Stories of people with Parkinson's finding balance in the steps of the Argentine tango.
10 Dec 2019,28 mins
Innervisions
Visually impaired musicians finding ways to flourish in the age of the touch screen.
03 Dec 2019,28 mins
Playing Well: VERY LOUD SCIENCE
The investigation into music and mental health concludes with a surprising experiment
19 Nov 2019,28 mins
Playing Well: On the Road
Idles, Wolf Alice, She Drew the Gun and Bill Ryder-Jones talk mental health and music
12 Nov 2019,28 mins
Playing Well: Frightened Rabbit
Chris Hawkins examines the life and legacy of Frightened Rabbit's Scott Hutchison
05 Nov 2019,28 mins
Rwanda's Returnees
Artists from Rwanda’s diaspora are returning. Dr Zoe Norridge explores why.
03 Oct 2019,28 mins
Harlem's New Renaissance
Harlem's New Renaissance - 100 years of culture in Harlem introduced by Darryl Pinckney.
26 Sep 2019,28 mins
Bangladesh
Dhaka artist Dibarah Mahboob explores the flourishing activist art of Bangladesh.
19 Sep 2019,28 mins
Limbo Land
Northern Irish artists explore the complex relationship between memory, identity and place
16 Sep 2019,28 mins
Scandinavia
Louise Morris challenges Scandinavia's idyllic image through its radical artists.
12 Sep 2019,28 mins