Darling Killers is a podcast where we interrogate artists about a specific artwork they killed during the artistic process. Something with personal meaning to the artist, yet no commercial price tag, something they would not otherwise exhibit or sell.
In the podcast, we single out individual artists who plead guilty of killing a darling, we poke and prod to find out the circumstances, search for the motive and eventually, we strive to redeem the artwork in question through an online “Resurrauction”.
Darling Killers’ 1st season closes with a very special extended episode featuring the artist Melanie Bonajo in discussion with members of the Dead Darlings collective. We recorded in Berlin before our auction at Heimathafen with our twentieth anniversary show in W139 still months ahead, so the timing was perfect to dive deep into conversations about collectivity, authorship and collaboration, and discuss social activism in a backdrop of institutional restraint. We talked about what it means to choose the path less traveled by, yet still find ways to financially support your project and reach out beyond a limited periphery.
Melanie Bonajo tells us about their repeated (and failed) attempts to leave the art world behind, and about how they kept getting sucked back in, by an invitation to represent the Netherlands in the 2022 Venice Biennale for example. This journey took them from “rage-camp” to “cuddle puddle”, so tune in and find out how! In this episode the dead darling we discuss is a rejected proposal, therefore not the same work offered up for the last resurrection of Darling Killers. Instead we have a very typical Bonajo image, that happens to be rolled up in their attic and in need of a new home… The starting price as always: 1 euro. Need I say more?
18 Dec 2025
Darling Killers #08
Artist James Beckett discusses his ambitious public art projects and reflects on past work, including "My Friend Andre’s Grandmother’s Sawmill," in an interview with the host.
23 Oct 2025
Darling Killers #07
Artist Uta Eisenreich discusses her critically acclaimed books, A not B and AS IF, created with Julia Born, and how external circumstances led to production issues, making them unique and desirable in this interview.
18 Sept 2025
Darling Killers #06
Lieve Hakkers, Royal Award recipient, discusses her artistic method, use of paint, and the inspiration behind her large-scale and sexually provocative work in an interview about her distinct visual language.
21 Aug 2025
Darling Killers #05
Host [Host Name] interviews artist Ruth Van Beek about her transformative collage techniques and unique artistic process.
12 Jun 2025
Darling Killers #04
Artist Jacopo Calonaci discusses his transition from painting to sculpture and printmaking, exploring the inspiration he draws from a delirious inner world in this interview.
22 May 2025
Darling Killers #03
In this episode of Darling Killers, Aurélien Lepetit sits down with Jessie Gong. Their conversation touches on the technical, and practical aspects of his practice, the homage to a family tradition, and the moral implications of working with textiles and technology in terms of sustainability. Aurélien works at the crossroads of textile techniques, computing, and plant-based processes, transforming biometric and empirical data into a textile lexicon, where plant-based colours within digital frameworks converge on punch cards—historically associated with Jacquard looms and early data processing—as canvases for embroidery. (Did you get all that? No? Then listen to this episode where he unpacks it all in a sexy voice). Currently he researches recipes from old alchemical books and is making dye from food waste, medicinal plants and suburban flowers. The work Aurélien selected for our Resurrauction is a dead darling because it was made before that switch. This is a piece balancing on the precipice in its own contradiction-as are we. RGB is available at the symbolic starting price of one euro. Your purchase will support our podcast and the artist directly.
24 Apr 2025
Darling Killers #02
Charlott Markus didn’t so much kill this darling, as wish to resurrect it! Pygmalion is a work from her exam show at the Rietveld Academy, for all intents and purposes 'dead to the world' and buried in the past, yet already containing all the seeds for themes and patterns that keep reappearing and evolving throughout her work. Extended still lives, activism, textiles, memento mori, the colour blue and last but not least, the coded autobiographical references in her seemingly abstract works. Quite literally woven into the fabric of her oeuvre, are the people, the places and the ideas that left their mark on her. Informed by her background in psychology and theology, her work doesn’t shy away from spirituality. The spirituality contained within this beautifully constructed photographic composition is hidden yet palpable, and this archival print, this historical monument, has been generously offered up for auction by the artist at the symbolic starting price of one euro. By bidding you support Darling Killers and the artist directly.
27 Mar 2025
Darling Killers #01
Our first guest on Darling Killers is a young artist who wakes up every morning and gets to work. His “restless hand syndrome”, requires that he keeps his hands busy, and through embracing the ethos of homework on the kitchen table, he just keeps making work. Ink drawings in the morning, paintings in the afternoon, and intricate collage work in the evening. There is a lot of time and craftsmanship put into creating each and every elaborate vignette. The truth of the image, lies in the detail. Nature is very much his thing, and for our “Resurrauction” he is offering an incredible piece that took over two years to make, Autumn Garden (incomplete) is a rather typical specimen of his work, one however he has recently given up on. We urge you to pick up where he left off, and tell Autumn Garden: You complete me! The work is available at the symbolic starting price of one euro. By bidding here you support Darling Killers and the artist directly.
4 Mar 2025
Introduction
Hanna, Lina, Tania and Jessie, aka the Dead Darlings Collective, got together in Amsterdam to record a conversation about things to come! We talk about our origins, the ideas baked into the work we do, and we introduce Darling Killers, the podcast where artists are interrogated about an artwork they killed. This work will subsequently be available on our website, where anyone can bid for it at our monthly “resurrauction”. Follow, subscribe, stay tuned!
Who has been a guest on Darling Killers
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
James Beckett
Uta Eisenreich
Lieve Hakkers
Ruth Van Beek
Jacopo Calonaci
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
15 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 24 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
29
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
51
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Guest appearances
Books guests
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