PBS Newshour - Art Beat

Rachel Zucker reads her poem “wish you were here you are” from her new collection “The Pedestrians.” wish you were here you are time isn’t the same for everyone there is science behind this when you fly into space you’re not experiencing time at the same rate as someone tethered to Earth & someone moving quickly experiences time at a slower rate even on Earth so as I run through Central Park at a speed not much faster than walking but slightly I am shattering fields of time around me &...

Watch Video | Listen to the AudioSASKIA DE MELKER: Empty frames and faded imprints aren’t what you expect to see at an art show. But in this gallery they are among the most haunting images representing the fate of thousands of modern artworks stolen by the Nazis in the 1930’s that were destroyed or remain lost to this day. It’s part of an exhibit called ‘Degenerate Art’ on display until September at the Neue Galerie in New York that offers a new look at the assault on modern art by the...

Watch Video | Listen to the AudioJEFFREY BROWN:It couldn’t be simpler or, for most of us, more difficult. Twenty-six cubes designed to interlock and rotate around an axis that can be shuffled 43-quintillion ways. (That’s 43 with 18-zeros after it.) And yet, all Rubik’s Cubes can be solved in 20 or fewer moves. It’s puzzled, pained, delighted and challenged millions — from young children to this robot. PAUL HOFFMAN:I mean, it’s industrial strength. It normally paints cars on an assembly...

Photo of Dan Chaisson by Nicholas Chaisson Poet Dan Chiasson started working on his book “Bicentennial” after the death of his father, who left when Chiasson was 7 months old. While the two never really knew each other, that event prompted Chiasson to revisit his childhood in a series of poems that play with memory and a sense of time. “I feel like, almost in an H. G. Wells way, poems are like a time machine. You can go back and bring the past to life again. So that’s what I did, what I...

W. S. Di Piero photo by Beth WeberW. S. Di Piero never wants to hear again that his poems are intense. “You get tired of hearing certain things if they get said so many times about the kind of work you do. I don’t write poems that are discursive or casual sounding or stroke my beard deliberative. That’s not what I do,” Di Piero told Art Beat. Instead, the poet, whose recent collection “Tombo” was released in January, would rather think about his use of language. “I’d like to think that...

Mark BibbonsIn “They Don’t Kill You Because They’re Hungry. They Kill You Because They’re Full,” Mark Bibbins writes what he calls “persona poems.” One of his poems is in the voice of Pat Robertson, another in the voice of Medusa (although not necessarily the classic Medusa from Greek mythology). Sometimes, the voice of his poems changes more subtly, responding more to a mood or a perceived audience than channeling a whole different person. “We speak differently to a child then we do to...

Watch Video | Listen to the AudioRELATED LINKSWhat does (insert your race here) look like? Impossible to an impossible question Exhibit of war photography pulls between the aesthetics and horror of conflict On the road, photographers revist the American landscape HARI SREENIVASAN: Finally tonight, an artist examining history and her own times through photography. Jeff is back with our report. A woman sitting at a kitchen table, an everyday snapshot, perhaps, but this is carefully...

Watch Video | Listen to the AudioThe post Q&A with ‘All the Way’ playwright Robert Schenkkan appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

Watch Video | Listen to the AudioRELATED LINKSNobel Laureate, world famous poet Seamus Heany dies at 74 Remembering Argentine poet Juan Gelman Egyptian nobel laureate dies at 94 JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally tonight, we look at the seminal work in the life of author and Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Hari joins us again from our New York studio for this appreciation. HARI SREENIVASAN: His poetic words evoked love and longing, fantasy and fatalism, and worldwide admiration. Gabriel Garcia...

Watch Video | Listen to the AudioGWEN IFILL: Now part two of Jeffrey Brown’s look at Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma. RELATED LINKSInside Myanmar’s transition from isolation to openness What’s the future for Myanmar’s architectural past? Myanmar’s democracy transition marred by anti-Muslim rhetoric and violence After years of turmoil, the military government is moving toward political reform. But, as the country begins to open up to the outside world, there’s a new concern:...

Elizabeth Meriwether is one of the people Madeline Schwartzman approached on the subway and asked to write a poem. Here she reads her work “Outpouring of My Emotion?” which was written on the 4 train between Nevins and 42nd Street on November 7, 2013. You can read additional poems at 365 Day Subway: Poems by New Yorkers. The post Subway rider reads original poem appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

Watch Video | Listen to the AudioIVETTE FELICIANO: Madeline Schwartzmanspends a good portion of her morning like many New Yorkers do, getting to work on the subway. Yet unlike many straphangers, her mission isn’t just getting to her final destination in uptown Manhattan…the journey itself is her goal…and her success all depends on the openess of strangers. MADELINE SCHWARTZMAN:Sorry to bother you. Can I ask you a question? I’m doing a project called 365 Days Poems by New Yorkers. You can...

Watch Video | Listen to the AudioJUDY WOODRUFF: This weekend’s elections in Afghanistan are expected to produce the country’s first democratic transfer of power. And in one sign of social progress, hundreds of women are running for provincial council seats. RELATED LINKSAncient Afghan poetry form adapts to tell story of modern life and conflict Amid push for talks with taliban, where do rights of Afghan women fit in? ‘Women, War & Peace’ highlights changing females’ roles in global...

Listen to the AudioTHESELE KEMANE: I grew up in difficulty, I grew up in poverty. There was a time when both my mom and dad didn’t work. But they always tried to make sure there was something on the table for us to eat. JULIE COEHN: Thesele Kemane grew up in a township in central South Africa called Galeshewe, with the same challenges confronting many of the country’s black communities – crime, poor access to health care and an unemployment rate of up to 70 percent. THESELE KEMANE: My...

Watch Video | Listen to the AudioJUDY WOODRUFF: Finally tonight: one of Africa’s most notable singers. RELATED LINKSAngélique Kidjo’s voice reflects her soul Mali’s Rokia Traoré mixes up musical influences for ‘Beautiful Africa’ In Haiti, ‘rhythm rests in our marrow’ Jeffrey Brown caught up with Angelique Kidjo here at George Washington University recently, where she called on the world to sing, dance, and lift up the women of her continent. JEFFREY BROWN: Angelique Kidjo dedicates her new...

Watch Video | Listen to the AudioJUDY WOODRUFF: This year’s recipient of architecture’s top award, the Pritzker Prize, has made his name not with monumental buildings, but with a humanitarian focus. RELATED LINKSChina uses copycat architecture to modernize, define and celebrate itself Architect Moshe Safdie uplifts the skyline and spirit of Kansas City Architecture for the masses Jeff is back with that. JEFFREY BROWN: Modest shelters for Rwandan refugees supported by paper tubes, an...

Watch Video | Listen to the AudioRELATED LINKSIn ‘Boy Detective,’ writer Roger Rosenblatt investigates his Manhattan childhood In ‘Little Green,’ an old, familiar character makes an easy comeback New Erdrich novel deals with crime and jurisdiction on North Dakota reservation JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally tonight: a celebrated Irish author picks up the mantle of an American master of crime fiction. Jeffrey Brown has our book conversation. JEFFREY BROWN: It’s been more than 50 years since the death...

Watch Video | Listen to the AudioGWEN IFILL: Finally tonight: The Spanish artist Joan Miro was one of the most renowned painters of the 20th century. RELATED LINKSTelling the story of ‘Monuments Men,’ soldiers who helped save Western civilization’s treasures How the recovery of modern art ‘defamed’ by Nazis will change the art world Lauder’s Collection of Cubist Masterpieces Bound for Metropolitan Museum of Art Jeffrey Brown takes us to an exhibition that offers the chance to see the...

Watch Video | Listen to the AudioRELATED LINKSBay Area poets turn reporters to tell story of vulnerable public housing residents Young Detroiters unlock their inner poets, claim authorship of their experiences Poetry program gives prisoners unexpected voice JUDY WOODRUFF: Now Jeffrey Brown has the latest report in a series we call “Where Poetry Lives.” He and U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey are exploring poetry in various corners of American life, seeking to connect those trips to...

Thinking about the Moon As a child I thought the moon existed only at night: there it was in the dark sky. When I saw it in daytime I knew it was the moon but it wasn’t the real one. It was that other one. The real moon had moonlight, silver and blue And the full moon was so big it seemed close, but to what? (I didn’t know I was on Earth). “Thinking about the Moon” is reprinted by permission from Collected Poems (Coffee House Press, 2013). Copyright © 2013 by Ron Padgett. Photo by John...