The New Abnormal
The New Abnormal podcast (which has over 250,000 downloads) focuses on 'Now / Next / Why'. My guests have include a wide variety of experts based in locations from Los Angeles to Shanghai, Rio to Beirut, and Helsinki to Melbourne. Those guests have included activists, creatives, writers, philosophers, strategists, psychologists, lecturers, futurists etc, and asking them to explain their views has led to some fascinating conversations. Re: my bio, I'm a futurist, public speaker, and author whose written two books - my first went to No1 in the business charts whilst my second was shortlisted for the 'Business Book of the Year' Awards. (I'll be writing a third as soon as time allows.) So, I hope you enjoy listening to the series - which was set up during the early days of Covid and is therefore divided into a series per year. All rights reserved. #TheNewAbnormal podcast series © Sean Pillot de Chenecey 2020.
The New Abnormal
Simon Armstrong 'The Culture Wars - and why everything interesting is happening at the edge'
Series One
In this early episode of #TheNewAbnormal, I interviewed Simon Armstrong, who has the incredibly enviable job of being the book buyer for The Tate.
He's a fascinating individual, with a background across an array of leading-edge cultural positions.
In this interview, he describes his journey from a working-class background in the North East, to running what many consider to be the finest art bookshop in the world.
(Where the subject matter of the stock includes Modern & Contemporary Art, Photography, Design, Fashion and Architecture, etc).
We discuss the highly divisive culture wars, the search for artistic authenticity (with an obligatory nod to Sartre), and why actively supporting counter-culture / sub-culture is so important, because - as ever - the most interesting things happen on the periphery 'where everything influences everything else'.
Finally, he emphasises how crucial it is to promote fresh thinking and to have 'thoughtful disagreements'.