Front Row Folgen

Twenty years ago this week, the artist Michael Landy famously destroyed every single one of his 7,227 possessions in an artwork called Break Down. The artist looks back on the 14-day event which took place on an industrial conveyor belt inside a disused department store in Oxford St in London, and considers how the process affected him.Since the now notorious Handforth Parish Council Meeting people have been imagining the film version starring Meryl Streep or Lesley Manville as Jackie Weaver, with cameos from Julie Walters and David Bradley, but films take forever to make. Already, though, people have been busy composing Handforth Parish Council, the musical, the opera, the sea shanty and the drill track, shooting videos and posting them online. Millie Taylor, professor of musical theatre assesses some of these almost instant offerings and talks to Kirsty Lang about what they reveal about creativity in lockdown.Cathy Yan joins us from New York, to discuss how her work as journalist in China informed her film, Dead Pigs. Based on a true story, the film focuses on the lives and connections of a disparate group of characters as thousands of dead pigs mysteriously float down the river towards Shanghai. Cathy will discuss what made her want to adapt the story for screen, as well as her experience shooting in China. How has the current situation affected plans for Coventry city of culture 2021, which is due to kick off on 15 May? Chenine Bhathena, creative director, discusses their plans, and how they've dealt with the challenges of lockdown and Covid.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Simon RichardsonMain image above: Vivian Wu as Candy Wang (Centre) in Dead Pigs. Image credit: MUBI

In April the artist Luke Jerram spoke on Front Row about his sculpture of the Covid-19 virus. Since then he has been ill with Covid and has created another sculpture - unveiled today - this time of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Jerram discusses his artistic engagement with Covid, including his piece In Memoriam, 120 flags made of NHS bed-sheets, commemorating those who have died. The Oscar-winning actor Christopher Plummer, whose death at the age of 91 was announced today, is remembered by the film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh.For our Friday Review, Larushka is joined by Carl Anka to discuss Malcolm & Marie, the black-and-white, made-in-lockdown relationship movie on Netflix starring Zendaya and John David Washington, written and directed by Sam Levinson. They also watch ZeroZeroZero, a new thriller on Sky unpicking the international cocaine trade based on the book by Roberto Saviano. Arts Foundation Futures Award winner Keisha Thompson discusses her past work as a theatre-maker and poet. She talks about how she uses her background in science and maths to inform her theatre practice, and why she is fascinated by taboo subjects in art.And to celebrate Welsh Language Music Day, the 19-year-old Welsh singer, composer and harpist Cerys Hafana joins us to explain how music and the Welsh language go hand-in-hand.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Jerome Weatherald Studio Manager: Giles Aspen

Hollywood star Sam Neill joins us from his home in New Zealand to discuss the perils of acting with sheep in his new film Rams, based on an acclaimed Icelandic drama about two estranged brothers and their flocks of a rare horned breed of sheep.A new colour blue has come onto artists’ palettes. Called YInMn it was discovered in 2009 by accident by scientists working on semiconductors but has only just become commercially available. Art critic Waldemar Januszczak looks at why this is significant and how artists have used the colour blue in painting.The next artist in our series #FrontRowGetCreative is Sarah Maple who will be exploring the art of collage. Using the idea of ‘negative space’, Sarah will be showing us how to create our own collage using text and imagery from magazines, newspapers and junk mail, the result of which will be a modern and striking image and a significant step up from what we were doing at primary school.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Julian May