Santiago Calatrava - 169 - Alain Elkann Interviews Alain Elkann Interviews podcast

44:19

HUMANISE: A DEEPLY PASSIONATE MANIFESTO. Thomas Heatherwick is a British designer whose varied work over two decades is characterised by its originality, inventiveness and humanity. As the founder and design director of Heatherwick Studio, Thomas now heads a team of over 250 problem solvers dedicated to making the physical world around us better for everyone. This team wants to see a world where the buildings and places around us are radically more joyful, engaging and human. The approach driving everything is to lead from human experience rather than any fixed design belief. "I advocate for servant architecture." "Working with neuroscientists and researchers, I see that once you get to city scale you go into stress when it's plain, flat, shiny, serious, monotonous and anonymous." "It's a real challenge as an adult to keep connected to true common sense."…

1
Cécile Verdier - 227 - Alain Elkann Interviews 48:46

10 днів тому48:46

48:46

ART ELEVATES YOU EVERY DAY. Cécile Verdier is President of Christie's France. She graduated from Sciences Po and Art History at Paris IV, before spending 4 years at Christie's as Head of Valuations then moving to the 20th Century department, in parallel of taking the hammer for Christie’s France since the inauguration sale in 2001. From 2008 to 2018, she was heading the 20th Century Design Department globally at Sotheby’s and Vice President of the French office at the end of her tenure. In 2019, she came back to Christie’s as President for France. “An auction house is rightly called a house, not an auction company. We are a home.” “You can hear English being spoken all over the city. Paris definitely became more international.” “There are no bad questions. “How much do you think it will cost?” is always a good question to ask.”…

1
Professor Sheng Lim - 226 - Alain Elkann Interviews 54:47

17 днів тому54:47

54:47

RESTORING AND MAINTAINING EYESIGHT. Professor Sheng Lim is an internationally renowned ophthalmologist and consultant at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. He was trained in the UK and also spent one year as the International Glaucoma Association’s postdoctoral fellow at the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota. He was promoted to Professor of Ophthalmology (Glaucoma Studies) at King’s College London in 2020, in recognition of his contribution towards ophthalmology research. He is currently the head of ophthalmology research at St Thomas’, and founder of their KCL Frost Eye Research Department, one of the largest ophthalmology clinical trial units in the UK. “My ultimate goal, as a professor in glaucoma research, is to find a cure for glaucoma and prevent blindness.” “Vision is probably one of the most intimate and important sensory organs that a human being has.” “In the UK and Europe we have more choices, better suited for the patients, than they have in America.”…

1
Idarica Gazzoni Frascara - 225 - Alain Elkann Interviews 35:59

24 дні тому35:59

35:59

BEAUTIFULLY TRANSFORMING WALLS AND ROOMS. Idarica Gazzoni Frascara’s hometown is Bologna, Italy. After she studied with Van Der Kelen in his painting school in Brussels, Belgium, and learned the technique of faux bois and marbleizing she became a passionate artist, painting rooms and walls and ceilings in Italy and many other countries. In 2009 she founded Arjumand’s World and opened her first showroom for fabrics and wallpapers in Milano. “I fell in love with Arjumand because she was quite extraordinary and had all the details I was looking for.” “All the rules have changed.” “Being so small I cannot be like Zara Home, unfortunately!”…

1
Jonathan Reekie - 224 - Alain Elkann Interviews 33:30

4 weeks тому33:30

33:30

A CROSS DISCIPLINARY WORLD FOR YOUNG ARTISTS. Jonathan Reekie has been Director of Somerset House Trust in London since 2014. During this time, the renovation of the historic site with its grand Renaissance architecture has been completed, including the launch of Somerset House Studios for artist residencies. Reekie has established Somerset House as a home of cultural innovators and in 2025 Somerset House celebrates its 25th birthday, marking its extraordinary transformation to one of London’s best loved cultural spaces and home to one of the largest creative communities in the UK. “Thinking about how artists can help us make a better world” “Bringing artists back into a space in the centre of the city is very crucial if London wants to remain a creative centre.” “If I can help make a better environment for artists to work, think and thrive then I will always feel very fulfilled.”…

1
Alastair Buchan - 223 - Alain Elkann Interviews 1:02:36

6 weeks тому1:02:36

1:02:36

WORKING WITH THE BRAIN. Alastair Buchan is a British-Canadian doctor who specialises as a clinical neurologist. His main research interest is how to make neuroprotection a reality in the clinic. He currently holds the Chair of Stroke Research at the University of Oxford. From 2008 until 2017, he served as the Dean of Medicine and the Head of the Medical Sciences Division at the University of Oxford, and then from 2017 on as the university’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of Brexit Strategy. Working to maintain Oxford’s continued presence in Europe he brokered partnerships with the Universities and hospitals in Berlin and established the Oxford-Berlin Research Partnership, which includes an “Oxford in Berlin” centre for Oxford University in Berlin. “We are starting to learn how to work on brain failure, which results in dementia.” “Light is really toxic to the brain at night, and you do not want to be looking at a computer screen late at night.” “I would put the Universities in charge of health care.”…

1
Jussi Pylkkänen - 222 - Alain Elkann Interviews 45:49

7 weeks тому45:49

45:49

CHANGING TASTE AND VALUE. Jussi Pylkkänen is now an independent art advisor. After 38 years of service, his career at Christies culminated in the global presidency of the auction house. Among his many outstanding achievements, in 2017 he was the auctioneer at the sale of the world’s most expensive painting, Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, sold at auction at in New York for $450,312,500, a new record price for any artwork which is likely to stand for many decades. “Art is the esssence of humanity.” “As I brought the hammer down on Salvator Mundi I was conscious that that one last bid, at an extra $30 million, was the equivalent of the total price of the Van Gogh Sunflowers, the painting and price that had transformed the art market forever in 1987.” “I will be back auctioneering alongside my art advisory. The two will go hand in hand.”…

1
Andrea Wong - 221 - Alain Elkann Interviews 51:29

8 weeks тому51:29

51:29

PASSIONATE ABOUT HOW PEOPLE RELAX. Andrea Wong has vast experience in the leisure and entertainment industry on both sides of the Atlantic. Wong was President, International Production for Sony Pictures Television and President, International for Sony Pictures Entertainment based in London. Prior to that, she served as President and CEO of Lifetime Cable Networks. She now serves on the boards of Liberty Media Corporation, Roblox, QVC Group, and Hudson Pacific Properties. “Everyone knows what it feels like to fall in love, to date, to be dumped.” “ Dancing With the Stars was the most visually arresting show I’d ever seen.” “You have to do what you love. You have to do what makes you want to get up in the morning.”…

1
Priscilla Rattazzi - 220 - Alain Elkann Interviews 47:20

10 weeks тому47:20

47:20

BETWEEN WORLDS. Priscilla Rattazzi was born in Rome in 1956, attended Atlantic College in Wales, UK, and moved to the United States in the 1970s where she studied photography at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. The themes of her recent London solo exhibition, titled Between Worlds and at Robilant+Voena, offer a reflection of the photographer’s life, with an interlinking chronology, examining human relationships, and relationships between people and their dogs, while suggesting the increasingly profound reassurance of nature as an eternal point of reference, especially in uncertain times. “I have gone back and forth between worlds, not knowing who I am…” “I only tend to photograph things I love now, and I do my best work when I get upset.” “I’m deeply focussed on making sure that I’m a respected artist 20 years from now.”…

1
Giorgio Spanu - 219 - Alain Elkann Interviews 47:02

11 weeks тому47:02

47:02

CREATING A CULTURAL HUB. Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu are the co-founders of Magazzino Italian Art, a museum and research center dedicated to postwar and contemporary Italian art that is located in Cold Spring, New York. Magazzino opened in 2017 at the former manufacturing site of Cyberchron rugged military computer systems. The name Magazzino translates as "warehouse". “Magazzino made the step that has made Arte Povera better known today.” “Magazzino will never stop displaying the 13 heroes that we have in the group of Arte Povera, so the original ‘main building’ will always remain a museum dedicated to Arte Povera.” “The donkeys in Sardinia were on the verge of extinction and were under very strict protection with laws that would not allow their export outside Sardinia.”…

1
Dr Virgilio Sacchini - 218 - Alain Elkann Interviews 47:14

12 weeks тому47:14

47:14

BELIEVING IN HOPE WITHOUT COMPROMISE. Dr Virgilio Sacchini is dedicated to caring for people with breast cancer at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He originally trained at Universita degli Studi di Milano (UNIMI, Milan, Italy) where he is Professor of Surgery, and cooperates with the European Institute of Oncology in Milan (IEO, Milan, Italy). Dr Sacchini is a 2023 and 2024 Castle Connolly America’s Top Doctor, the peer nominated group of the top 7% of all US practicing physicians. His goal is to achieve the best possible cancer outcomes and cosmetic results for his patients. “The new concept is to target only cancer cells.” “To cure someone and give him or her a miserable life is terrible, so the target in this moment is both better survival and better quality of life, less side effects.” “Once we prove that the combination of the medication with the Avacta technique works, of course it is approved and you can be cured everywhere in the world.”…

1
Michelangelo Pistoletto - 217 - Alain Elkann Interviews 30:01

14 weeks тому30:01

30:01

BREAKING THE MIRROR. Michelangelo Pistoletto is one of the most celebrated artists in Europe. Born in Biella, Italy, in 1933 and a leading figure of the radical Italian Arte Povera movement, Pistoletto created his first Mirror Paintings in 1961–62. These influential works earned him international acclaim and have become a hallmark of his oeuvre. Robilant+Voena’s recent exhibition in Dover Street, London, presented works by Pistoletto divided across two rooms: the first room showcasing black and white mirror pieces, and the second offering mirror works in bold colours. "I do not call it black and white because the mirror doesn't have the colour white. I call it light: light mirror." "You are already in the painting." "We have to decide if we want peace or war."…

1
James Snyder - 216 - Alain Elkann Interviews 45:19

15 weeks тому45:19

45:19

James Snyder was Deputy Director of MoMA from 1986 to 1996. He then led the Israel Museum in Jerusalem through 22 years of dramatic growth, securing its stature as one of the world's foremost museums. In 2023 Snyder became Helen Goldsmith Menschel Director of the Jewish Museum in New York, which has been located in the former Warburg Mansion at 1109 5th Ave at 92nd Street since 1947. The Jewish Museum maintains a unique collection of nearly 30,000 works of art and archeology, ceremonial objects, and media reflecting the global Jewish experience over more than 3,500 years...... "We are all foreigners, wherever we are. Even at home, we are foreigners." "....an important point about the history of the region is to understand how, during the Ottoman Empire, there were not countries but rather cultures...." "...there does not have to be a disconnect between your core identity and your cultural identity."…

1
Ai Weiwei - 215 - Alain Elkann Interviews 40:11

16 weeks тому40:11

40:11

COMPLETELY FRESH. Ai Weiwei is a contemporary artist, writer and humanitarian activist. Born in China in 1957, from 1981 to 1993 he lived in the United States. He currently has three exhibitions in New York: Child’s Play is at the Vito Schnabel Gallery at both 455 W 19th Street and 360 W 11th Street, and What You See is What You See is at Faurschou New York, 148 Green Street, Brooklyn. Ai Weiwei’s exhibitions run to late February 2025. “I don’t belong to anywhere at all or to any group, and I’m still trying to find out what is left, as a human and as an individual.” “Prison is one kind of human condition.” “You have to act out what you believe and make some actions, not just to change the world, but it’s really self-teaching to change yourself. I change daily.”…

1
Sir Norman Rosenthal - 214 - Alain Elkann Interviews 53:22

17 weeks тому53:22