Refigure

Refigure podcast with Chris and Rifa returns for a 7th season of the homemade culture review show from the English south coast. This week, we're watching the TV series Shōgun on Disney+ and we went to Tate Modern to see Yoko Ono: Music Of The Mind. In 'What You Reading For?' Chris is reading the new Joel Morris dissection of comedy, Be Funny Or Die and Rifa bought Yoko Ono's little art book Grapefruit.

Thanks for listening.

To end 2023, Rifa and Chris reflect on their year in arts and culture, while drinking several glasses of the good stuff.

Chris and Rifa talk about Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé. Rifa is reading Angela Davis - Freedom Is A Constant Struggle and Chris is reading Aflo The Poet's new poetry zine Warm Up.

Please send us your questions for next week's Best Of 2023 episode, when we'll try to answer anything you throw at us.

This week Rifa and Chris dug into two 'end of the world' TV things: they watched Sam Esmail's Netflix movie Leave The World Behind, starring Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali and Ethan Hawke. They also watched the new TV series A Murder At The End Of The World, made by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij (creators of The OA) which stars Emma Corrin and Clive Owen. Rifa is reading Sultana's Dream by Begum Rokeya, a classic Indian feminist sci-fi novella from 1905. Chris is reading Isaac Butler's book The Method: How The Twentieth Century Learned To Act.

Hey, dear listener, in two weeks, our end-of-the-year Refigure will include an AMA. So send us your questions and we'll try to answer them. Thank you!

Chris and Rifa are annoyed by the Squid Game gameshow and inspired by Tate Britain's new major exhibition Women In Revolt. In What You Reading For? Rifa is reading Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall, while Chris is re-reading John Higgs' The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned A Million Pounds.

We didn't have a chance to review stuff together in the midseason break, so this week we chat about our own recent creative stuff. Chris chats about the minitour playing in the band with Jim Bob, as well as an album he's producing, while Rifa unpacks her current adventures in painting with acrylics. Rifa is reading Katy Hessel's The Story Of Art Without Men and Chris is reading Olga Ravn's short novel The Employees, translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken.

Chris and Rifa take the ferry to the Eye Filmmuseum in the north of Amsterdam, see an exhibition by film artist Janis Rafa, 'Feed Me, Cheat Me, Eat Me'. They also chat about Chila Kumari Singh Berman's works in neon, including new commission 'The Shining Lights Of Service', which is hung off the side of Brighton's Royal Pavilion. Rifa is reading Travis Alabanza's None Of The Above, while Chris is reading John Robb's The Art Of Darkness, The History Of Gogh.

Rifa and Chris are in Amsterdam, where they visit the infamous Sex Museum and check out Nan Goldin's major retrospective This Will Not End Well at Stedelijk.

In 'What You Reading For?' Chris is reading Zoe Gilbert's novel Mischief Acts, while Rifa is reading Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés.

Thank you for listening, it means a lot. If you're enjoying Refigure please tell your friends, or leave a nice review or something.

Chris and Rifa dive into two vaguely football related doc series, the Netflix show Beckham and the Disney+ series Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story.

Rifa is reading Regena Thomashaur's book Pussy: A Reclamation, while Chris is reading Ocean Vuong's debut novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous and also Vuong's award-winning poetry collection Night Sky With Exit Wounds.

If you're enjoying Refigure, please leave a nice five star review and tell your friends, because we don't have a marketing budget. Thank you!

A Brighton-heavy episode this week, as Chris and Rifa check out the exhibition Lee Miller: Dressed at Brighton Museum, then hang out at Embodied Realities, at The Old Market, as part of the new Dreamy Place festival. Rifa is reading a book about menopause and Chris is reading Julian Jaynes' classic The Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind.

Weekly bitesize arts and culture chat with Chris and Rifa. This week Rifa and Chris go to Eastbourne for the Turner Prize 2023 exhibition. They watch both Taylor Swift's new Eras Tour concert film and Talking Heads' remastered Stop Making Sense at the cinema. Rifa is reading the Black London guidebook by Avril Nanton and Jody Burton, while Chris is reading Kashmir Hill's investigation into facial recognition tech, Your Face Belongs To Us.

Welcome to Refigure, a weekly arts and culture conversation with Chris and Rifa. This week we saw The Creator in the cinema and also caught up with season two of Reservation Dogs on Disney+ ahead of season three's UK launch in a week or two. Chris is reading Naomi Klein's new book Doppelganger and Rifa is reading bell hooks' The Will To Change about masculinity.

Rifa and Chris chat about new Korean-American film Past Lives, the directorial debut of Celine Song, and check out blues-rock band The Jon Amor Trio in a village hall at a birthday party. Rifa is reading the British Museum's picture book Goddess, written by Janina Ramirez and illustrated by Sarah Walsh, while Chris is reading David Graeber's classic social history book Debt: The First 5,000 Years.

Chris and Rifa discuss the musical A Strange Loop with an annoyed sidebar about the state of The Barbican, and chat about Netflix documentary series Live To 100: The Secrets Of The Blue Zones. Rifa is enjoying coffee table books on the artist Hilma af Klint, while Chris is reading Katherine Rundell's biography of the 17th century poet John Donne, Super-Infinite.

Chris and Rifa talk about Tate Britain's permanent collection rehang, visiting Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris and the Black Brighton Market. Rifa is reading Hafsa Zayyan's We Are All Birds Of Uganda and Chris is reading David Grann's The Wager.

Chris and Rifa's weekly adventures in the arts, tech, diversity and culture.

This week we watched Kenya Barris' new sitcom BlackAF co-starring Rashida Jones.

Rifa also watched Ryan Murphy's Hollywood TV series, which Chris couldn't stand. We also talk a bit about watching ballet on the screen.

Rifa is reading Jen Sincero's self-help book You Are A Badass At Making Money, while Chris is reading Colson Whitehead's novel The Underground Railroad.

Thank you for listening!