Intersections: The Art Basel Podcast

Rapper, songwriter, and record producer Kim Nam-joon, better known as RM, has made his name as leader of K-pop sensation BTS. But beyond that, he’s also become an established name within the artworld as a collector and influencer. Recently, BTS surprisingly announced that the group’s members will be focusing on solo projects. But according to their management, they plan to remain active in “various different formats". Without a doubt, this development casts Namjoon’s highly reflective comments in this podcast episode - especially those concerning personal legacy and solo projects - in a different light.

RM speaks to Art Basel’s Marc Spiegler about everything from meeting Eminem as a teenager, the formation of BTS, and their rise to global fame to the first artwork he ever bought and his plans to open a public space where his collection can be viewed. Collecting, he says, “really gives me the standard to live as a better man, as a better adult, and [as] an artist. I just want to make music like the timeless pieces that I admire.”

Can tech change social structures, or does it just amplify them? What role can NFTs play in activism? And will the volatility in the crypto markets stabilise? These are just some of the questions answered in this podcast featuring three pioneers in the NFT and Web 3 worlds: the artist Olive Allen, the NFT studio founder Melissa Gilmour and the head of Pace Verso Christiana Ine-Kimba Boyle. By no coincidence an all-women line-up, the panellists conclude they remain bullish in a bear market and hopeful for change as a new, arguably more open-minded, generation of collectors rise through the ranks.

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In this special episode, journalist Anny Shaw investigates some of the most important findings from the Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report 2022. She speaks with Chief Economist of UBS Global Wealth Management Paul Donovan and collector Amitha Raman about the impacts of the current economic crises and Brexit on the art market and collecting habits, as well as the effects of globalization versus localization. “Online art fairs gave a lot of transparency,” Raman notes. “We were able to view a lot of work and understand pricing for a lot of artists in a very efficient way.” The three also address the ways in which buzzwords like ‘sustainability’ and ‘diversity’ have—or have not—been practically applied in the market sector. Plus, Shaw asks, what’s in store for 2023?

He opened for acts like Sufjan Stevens, James Blake, and Solange even before releasing his own album, but Moses Sumney is much more than a musician. He is a film director, a visual artist, a creative multi-hyphenate. He’s a storyteller who has mastered a variety of media to express his narratives. In this episode, the California native speaks about branching out from the music world to use different sets of tools to express himself, his appreciation of isolation, and his belief that “artists are channels for something bigger and a lot more esoteric than words can describe.”

The podcast “Talk Art [is] about is encouraging people to switch lanes, to take up space, and to embrace your interests,” says cofounder Russell Tovey. Since 2018, Tovey and Robert Diament have cohosted Talk Art, producing over 175 episodes with guests across all fields of art, from Jeff Koons to Radiohead to Lena Dunham. Here, the trained musician and actor talk about how they met (nerding out on Tracy Emin’s work), collections as self-portraits (“you can pop-psychoanalyze an individual by the things they have in their house,” Tovey says), the fight to break down elitist structures, and their fundamental beliefs that no one should ever apologize for enthusiasm or be afraid to ask questions, and that is never too late to learn. “Our motto,” Tovey says, “is ‘art is for everyone.’”