Art Worlds takes you on a journey to a multitude of countries — from Cambodia to the Democratic Republic of Congo, from India to Algeria — to help you forge a truly international perspective of the many thriving art worlds.
In each episode artists, patrons, gallerists, museum directors, and curators transport us to their art world, throwing light on their unique context, and sharing their struggles and triumphs.
The @artworldspodcast Instagram account has plenty more information, including articles and artworks.
Written and hosted by Dr Cleo Roberts-Komireddi
Produced by Phil Havard
Design by Sthuthi Ramesh
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This special edition of Art Worlds comes to you from Venice during the 61st Biennale Arte 2026. Amin Jaffer is a curator and art historian focused on South Asia and the cultural intersections between Europe and Asia. His research has seen him mount an exhibition exploring the complex furniture trade in colonial India at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Lately he has been an artistic director for the second Islamic Arts Biennale and currently directs The Al Thani Collection, which stretches across cultures from the ancient world to today.
Amin's appreciation for historic art traditions has informed his curation of the India pavilion at Venice this year. Five artists (Alwar Balasubramanium, Ranjani Shettar, Sumakshi Singh, Skarma Sonam Tashi and Asim Waqif) each using methods and materials that have been deployed in India over great lengths of time, transform the pavilion into a haptically rich environment that considers the notion of home. Amin spoke to me from Venice, in the final run up to the pavilion’s opening.
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18 Mar 2026
Art Worlds: Hong Kong
Art Worlds episode 43 moves to Hong Kong and meets Jaffa Lam, an artist who creates sizable, mixed-media works, often formed from materials discarded in the city. Crate wood, stones from the city’s shoreline and abandoned metal are some of these finds that are worked up into subtle forms that delve into Hong Kong’s history and heritage. She has created sprawling canopies from disused umbrellas and almost stained glass-like panels that dwell on elements of cultural life that are disappearing over time and as the city develops.
For Jaffa, the process of making is often as meaningful as the final artwork. She has undertaken collaborations with a range of people including members of the Hong Kong Women Workers’ Association. Jaffa spoke to me from her studio in Hong Kong about this form of production and her new solo exhibition at Axel Vervoordt.
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3 Feb 2026
Art Worlds: Qatar
Series 5 begins with artist Wael Shawky, an artist best known for his epic, narrative films that explore and toy with common ideas about history. Whether using puppets or people for his cast, his work looks beyond the historical canon and brings to the fore lesser known events from the past.
Extending his artistic practice, Wael founded and ran MASS, an independent educational space in Egypt’s Alexandria. Since 2024, he has been the artistic director of Fire Station, a creative residency space in Doha and last year was named the inaugural artistic director of Art Basel’s first art fair in Qatar.
Wael spoke to me from his Doha office just ahead of the fair’s launch.
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15 Oct 2025
Art Worlds: London Special
This special edition of Art Worlds comes to you from London during the week of Frieze art fair. Cecilia Brunson is a London-based, originally from Chile, gallerist and advisor who has dedicated over two decades to championing Latin American art on a global stage. Beginning her career as a curator in America and then founding a residency programme in Santiago, her move to London in 2009 led her to establish Cecilia Brunson Projects in Bermondsey.
The gallery, which is attached to her home, has become a beacon for Latin American art in the capital. Cecilia has uncovered overlooked Latin American artists’ estates and supported contemporary talent from the region, often introducing artists that have never been shown before in Europe. She joined me from her gallery to discuss the artists she’ll be exhibiting at Frieze and in her space.
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17 Apr 2025
Art Worlds: Bolivia
Kenia Almaraz Murillo is an artist who seamlessly blends and balances references to her diasporic experiences. Born in Bolivia and now living in Paris, she creates wall-mounted sculptures that are hand woven from Bolivian yarns and antique French thread which often incorporate found urban objects and luminous LED lights. The effect is majestic and not only draws on but also honours the spirituality associated with her Andean ancestors.
Rituals are strongly evoked by Kenia’s works. At times she has integrated protective amulets and offerings, like corn blessed by shamans, into her weaving. She has also produced a temple-like room of sculptures that reference the animals significant in Andean cosmology. Kenia spoke to me from her Parisian studio about her evolving exploration of Bolivian culture.
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26 Feb 2025
Art Worlds: Madagascar
Episode 34 speaks to Margaux Huille, director of Fondation H, a Malagasy organisation dedicated to contemporary art. Margaux has spent her career championing artists from Africa and its diaspora. Having helped launch the endowment fund African Artists for Development and worked with 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, she has been deeply embedded in the continent’s various art worlds.
Fondation H, launched by patron Hassanein Hiridjee in 2017, operates in Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo and France’s capital, Paris. From permanent spaces in both locations, the programming foregrounds the development and structuring of the Indian Ocean art scene. This is realised through supporting artists with exhibition opportunities, workshops and prizes as well as focusing on increasing public access to art.
Margaux spoke to me from Antananarivo about the scope and value of these activities.
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15 Jan 2025
Art Worlds: Singapore
Magnus Renfrew, Co-Chairman and Global Director of The Art Assembly, shares insights on launching a pioneering art fair in Singapore and transforming the global art landscape.
11 Apr 2024
Art Worlds: Mongolia
Episode 29 meets Baatarzorig Batjargal, an artist based in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, who is revered for his fastidious paintings that capture the country’s shifting character and values. Drawing on the zurag style, associated with Mongolia’s independence movement in the early 20th century, his works evoke the contradictions of a nomadic society exposed to socialism now contending with rapid urbanisation and global capitalism. In scenes somewhat reminiscent of Tibetan Buddhist painting, a spectrum of figures including deities, intellectuals, warriors and cartoon characters jostle together.
Baatarzorig has exhibited widely and was included in the Bangkok Art Biennale 2020 and the Asia Pacific Triennale 2018 at the Queensland Art Gallery. He joined me from his studio to discuss how and why he converges spiritualism and consumption.
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8 Feb 2024
Art Worlds: Zimbabwe
Episode 27 meets Raphael Chikukwa, a curator based in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, who is the Executive Director of the country’s National Gallery. He first joined the institution in 2010 as chief curator, following ten years of working independently and instigating a range of exhibitions including at the Imperial War Museum North and Manchester Art Gallery.
Raphael’s commitment to enhancing the visibility of Zimbabwe’s artists saw him become the founding Curator of the Zimbabwe Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. He curated subsequent editions, up until 2019, when he became commissioner. During his time he focused on group shows that included Portia Zvavahera and Kudzanai-Violet Hwami. Raphael has advised organisations internationally, among them, Future Generation Art Prize and High Line Plinth in New York and written extensively about Zimbabwe’s contemporary art. He joined me from his office at the gallery to discuss his curatorial work and the grand plans he has for 2024.
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14 Nov 2023
Art Worlds: Egypt
In episode 23, Art Worlds meets artist and academic Huda Lutfi who integrates her specialism in Islamic culture and history with her multimedia practice. Having taught at the American University of Cairo, her work is suffused with historical references, including symbols from Pharaonic and Coptic cultures, that are recontextualised to highlight Egypt’s contemporary social and political issues. Female archetypes, like the image of the iconic singer Umm Kulthum along with found mannequin parts, often overlaid with Sufi calligraphic text, question gender roles in a patriarchal society. Lutfi’s work is internationally renowned and can be found in the collections of the Barjeel Art Foundation, British Museum, Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others. Huda joined me from her studio in Cairo to discuss her work and Egypt’s art history.
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22 Feb 2023
Art Worlds: Japan
Episode 21 meets Daisuke Miyatsu, a collector based in Japan, who has amassed an enviable art collection famously on his modest salary. Working in advertising by day and as a hotel receptionist at night, he has made art his life, collecting widely and inventively since the early 1990s. His collection is founded on the close relationships he’s built with artists and has been shared with public exhibitions at institutions including the Kasama Nichido Museum of Art and Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery in Japan and Daelim Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul. Now teaching and writing on contemporary art and its economics, Daisuke joined me from his extraordinary art home in Tokyo to discuss his idiosyncratic approach to collecting.
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9 Dec 2022
Art Worlds: Algeria
Episode 16 visits Algeria to speak with Myriam Amroun and Khaled Bouzidi who established rhizome, an arts organisation in 2017. Their model has developed and now, with a space in a Haussmannian apartment block in downtown Algiers, they combine being both a commercial gallery and independent art entity. Rhizome’s programming focuses on supporting artists in Algeria and its diaspora with emphasis on intergenerational exchange. They’ve had a busy year showing at Art Dubai, Liste Art Fair Basel and Paris Internationale, among others. Myriam and Khaled discuss the challenges they’ve encountered and their long term ambitions.
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23 Nov 2022
Art Worlds: United Arab Emirates
Artist Maitha Abdalla is a consummate storyteller. Inspired by theatre, folklore, tradition and ritual, her multidisciplinary practice is underpinned by her fictional writing. Paintings, typically worked on with her fingers, feature fantastical creatures and figures often angst ridden and vulnerable. Maitha studied at the Zayed University in Abu Dhabi after which she came together with fellow artists to establish an artist-run studio and exhibition space called BAIT 15. Since then she has been part of the Abu Dhabi Art Fair’s Beyond Emerging artists showing at Cromwell Place in London, at the fair and in Venice. Maitha recently completed the An Effort residency in London supported by the Abu Dhabi Arts & Music Foundation(ADMAF). We spoke about studio life, the opportunities for artists in the Emirates and her plans to write a film script.
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23 May 2022
Art Worlds: Trinidad and Tobago
Art Worlds meets Adeline Gregoire, an artist and curator who co-founded CultureGo, a platform dedicated to showcasing art and design from Trinidad & Tobago. She’s made it her mission to amplify the work of Trinbagonian creatives and over the last year has been developing Hot Sun, an online community of Caribbean contemporary artists. On the website you’ll find artworks, recorded talks and articles. She talks about Hot Sun's inception and how she's energised by T&T's artists.
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16 Mar 2022
Art Worlds: Indonesia
Art Worlds speaks with ruangrupa, a collective founded in 2000 and based in the south of Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, who along with two other collectives, Serrum and Grafis Huru Hara, have formed Gudskul, a public learning space and educational platform. They see the project as an ecosystem and founded on the idea of collectivism, all resources are pooled and shared. This includes equipment, money and books. From their vast warehouse complex, ruangrupa’s Farhid Rakun, an architect and investigator, and Gudskul's Gesyada Siregar and Cella Kencana Putri talk about how they run their abundant activities and programmes.
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16 Feb 2022
Art Worlds: Cambodia
Vuth Lyno, a Cambodian artist, curator and educator, speaks about one of the country's significant project spaces: SA SA art projects that he co-founded in 2010 with the collective Stiev Selapak. SA SA oversee extravagant performances, city-wide festivals, innovative art history workshops and an artist residency programme. As they prepare to be a part of documenta 15, Vuth talks about the work the group do and reflects on the legacy bequeathed by the Khmer Rouge, which left a deep void in art historical knowledge.
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26 Jan 2022
Art Worlds: India
The brilliant and bold performance artist Nikhil Chopra speaks from his studio in Goa. Nikhil's practice is world-renowned, and he's been supporting performance artists in India with the residency space, Heritage Hotel Art Spaces, which he co-founded. But it might be his alias, Yog Raj Chitrakar, you're better acquainted with. The artist transforms into this starchy, upright gentleman—a Victorian throwback who would seem better placed in the Charles Dickens Museum than the contemporary art galleries, biennales, and museums he haunts. We talk about Nikhil's characters, their appearance, and extended stay at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as the very personal origin of this character's excessively colonial pursuits.
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Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 36 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
49
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
60
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