Launching a new podcast: Eavesdrop on Ideas gives listeners an ear to the arts and humanities

The University is launching a new podcast, Eavesdrop on Ideas, that captures the unique insights of artists, academics and authors on the big questions of the 21st century.

Eavesdrop on Ideas follows on from the success of its sibling podcast Eavesdrop on Experts which covers the insights and inspirations of researchers.

The new documentary-style podcast is hosted by former Triple RRR presenter Dr Andi Horvath and Centre for Visual Art (COVA) Coordinator, Dr Suzie Fraser who, along with guests, help navigate the trajectory of ideas.

A key theme of the podcast is the inseparability of the humanities and the arts from the world around us, connecting creativity and imagination across all disciplines.

Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, Professor Marie Sierra, said that what creative practitioners and researchers bring to the world is not always apparent, or rightly valued.

"But during the pandemic’s lockdown periods, where contact with others and movement to our favourite places was restricted, disrupting our patterns of knowing the world, it was creative practice and its outcomes that many turned to in order to feel connected," she said.

"Hearing the voices and ideas of others through a well written script or music score, seeing imagined worlds and new perspectives on what we thought we knew through art, or simply having the time to immerse oneself in making, brought home to many who may have either forgotten, or never realised, that creativity is our greatest point of connection to the world.”

Understanding connection and friendship, particularly in the COVID era, forms the basis of episode one of Eavesdrop on Ideas. Guests include: contemporary philosopher and feminist theoretician at Utrecht University, Professor Rosie Braidotti; author of On Art and Friendship from the University's Research Unit in Public Cultures, Professor Nikos Papastergiadis, and researcher on social connection from the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, Dr Katie Greenaway.

Dr Fraser said hosting and co-producing the podcast has helped to draw out links between the weird and wonderful, profound and profane and the exciting mixture of different disciplines and perspectives that “help us make sense of ourselves in the word.”

“Imagine the different revelations a sociologist, a psychologist and an economist bring to a particular issue. The juxtaposition of these perspectives is what makes this a podcast a refreshing exploration of the value of the Arts to Humanity,” she said.

The fortnightly podcast will be available on Whooshkaa, Pursuit and your favourite podcasting service.