Episode 12 The Culture Show

Hello and welcome to The Culture Show, from the new home of the

University of The Central St Martins College of Art and Design.

This week we are talking self-help, sensational cinema and the bookies'

take on Man Booker Prize. Coming up: Untouchable. Old masters sidele

up to the young bucks at Frieze. The politics of self-help and the

latest odds for this year's Man Booker Prize.

First up. Based on the true story of an unlikery friendship between a

quadriplegic French arristow accurate and his carer from Arabic.

Having recently opened here in the UK, will it have the same effect on

British audiences of its box office hit in France? Ununsun the tale of

Dris, played by OmarSye who finds a an escape from his past with a

quadriplegic rich Parisian, living a deeply unhappy life.

Goldie, welcome to The Culture Show. You and I both saw ununlast week. I

think you enjoyed it more than I did, you laughed your head off.

Did I? I was the person sitting next to you, sitting more quietly!

You know what? The silhouette. I came in at the death as the titles

came on. Tell me what you thought about the

film, why you liked it so much? fell in love with it. Number one,

the French have this odyssey with great films and an obscure

soundtrack. Straight into Cool and the Gang and then Earth Wind and

Fire. I thought it very unFrench if you like.

One of the scenes that is being played is when Philippe has this

music being played and Dris says he has had enough and gets his iPod

and puts it on and starts to play Cool and the Gang. Tell me about

that scene? You loved that, right? I think, LOL, mate if you come from

where we have come from. Come from that area. Looking at the age of me.

Looking at Dris, the age that he is. He is older than the normal street

cat. His brother. He has done what his brother has done. Been on the

hustle. He is inbetween getting his life sorted. He is a little wiser,

we are there. That sum it is up. We are back in the day. He is

celebrating. He is showing a two little foot shuffle. Boy, does he.

Why couldn't it fall down that scene? He is busting great moves.

The director, the first question he should have said was, "Can you

dance well?". He told him to give him the lines. He smashed it to

Reconnaissance man, Goldie, works across the cultural spectrum from

graffiti artist and drum and base pine year to classical conductor.

Untouchable plays off the clash between the two worlds between the

interaction between the low-borrow Dris and the cultured Philippe.

How close is that experience to anything you have Experianed, doing

Maestro, you have not been classically trained, yet you get

out there and understand the music as well as, if not better than most

of the people you are surrounded by? I remember doing Beethoven. A

violinist turned around and asked me if I wanted forte Messier. I

thought, what does he mean? It was the volume being down or up. So

thought, why not tell me that. Why not say down or up. Why gets fancy

about it. I was just trying to learn something.

Well, this guy is a conductor! is disgraceful, he can't even read

music! You are a natural. You literally laughed out loud for

most of the film. I think what surprised me was I thought it was

fine, but I thought it was kind of sensemental. It felt it had the

rough edges taken off. I this it is really spot on, man. I

think it really is. To be honest, although I am laughing on the

outside, there are moments that were touching for me.

You have experience of the two worlds. How convincing did you find

the film? I think as an artist, you know, I remember looking at

abstract painting, thinking, what are you talking about? You are

having a laugh. I did abstracts. It is only when you have gone through

art that you understand what it means. The process. I have been

there as a hard-core graffiti going, that is a pile of rubbish. That is

thrown at the canvass. I think it could not have hit the nail on the

head better. Man, I never liked olives when I was a nipper. Have a

taste for green olives now it does not mean you are better than anyone

else. It just means you now have an understanding of the art. If you

can do growth well, you can do absolutely anything.

So, theing it thing about this, from my position as a snot-nosed

critic, doing this 20 years, my verdict is it is OK. It is not

great, but it is OK. Your verdict, however is must-see? Have to. I

said it my wife, I can't wait until it comes out. I have to see it

again. It is a feelgood film. We don't have them. We have the

fantasy of all ant asis, hanging from the plane at 30,000 feet. I

don't want to see that. The French hope that Untouchable

will be nominated for the Oscars. It sounds like your money is on it

being an award contender? My money would be on it. If I'm gumless this

time next year, you will realise I put my gold teeth on it. I think

that this movie should be not just in the tick the box token gesture.

I think that this movie desetbacks to be a winner.

-- Deserves to be a winner. We will get in touch and see if you

were right. I am tempted to think you may be right. It may be this

year's Artist. It did not hit me that way, but you have almost

convinced me. Thank you for coming. Thank you very much. Cool.

Now, from the moment that the Man Booker Prize shortlist was

announced last month, Will Self and Hilary Mantel have been jockeying

for the position as the bookies' favourite. Both have form, but will

the going be good on the day? Tim Samuels weigh up the odds and the

outside bets. The race for Britain's most

prestigious literary prize has begun. The bets are on.

Six finalists have been chosen. There can only be one winner.

Predicting who is going to scoop the �50,000 prize has become

something of a sport. Each year the bookies offer their odds for the

shortlisted six novels. Having a flutter on the Man Booker has

become very popular. Anybody want to bet? Anyone want to

oblige? Who are the bookies backing this year. The favourites are

Hilary Mantel and Will Self. Meant Mantel's follow up to Wolf Hall

continues her account of the tumultuous events at Henry VIII's

court. Wolf Hall won a Man Booker three

years ago, can Mantel do it a second time? Anybody want to bet?

Will Self's Umbrella, is the story of a sleeping sickness epidemic

after the First World War. A man is woken after 50 years in a cat tonic

state. Alison Moore, the The Lighthouse is

battles it out for fourth. The The Garden of Evening Mists is a story

of love and guilt, set in Malaysia, after the Japanese occupation of

the sword, by Tan Twan Eng. Alison Moore's the The Lighthouse,

centres on a middle-age man's journey into his past. Fifth is

Deborah Levy's Swimming Home. It is the unsettling account of two

middle-class families, holidaying in France, whether a stranger

arrives in their midst. At the bottom of the odds board with all

of the bookies, Jeet Thayil with Narcopolis.

The bobbing reflects the history of India through its changing drug

culture. Anybody got any money? Come along.

Pop it in. These all-important odds are put

together by rather bookish bookies. How do you go about selecting the

odds and pandemicing the -- picking the favourites? It is a case of

getting in the heads of the panel that is difficult. Then getting in

the heads of the people to have a bet. We knew that Will Self would

be popular. Lots of people would want to back him. Lots of people

backing Hilary Mantel as this is a second win possibly. You see on

Twitter who is excited about the books, what is the buzz. We get

there in seconds. That is good for us to turn the odds around quickly.

You get some indication before the long list is out as people call you

to fancy such and such a book. You think somebody is talking about a

book and they fancy it, you lock it away. See if it is on the long list,

when it comes out, you have checked the reviews, you have a feeling for

the authors that are Man Booker- style winners and those that are

not. You put the odds together and basically that represents your

opinion until the time when the great British public get involved

and distort it all for you? Do you read the books yourselves to make

literary judgments? I used to make the mistakes of reading the books

before doing the odds, but I realised before you read the book

it distorts your own view of the chances of it winning the event. If

you enjoyed the book you think to yourself that must have a good

chance. Why? I'm not a judge. I prefer to read the books after.

Have you have stinkers over the years? I got it badly wrong when

Cloud Atlas was fancied. I thought it was one of the best books I had

ever read. It was well turned over. So I stopped us winning a lot of

money. You were allowing your only personal feelings to come into it?

I was. It feels that you guys, setting the

odds has become a part of the theatre of the Man Booker? It is.

As soon as the lists are produced. The question is who is the

favourite? Who is your personal favourite? I would opt for The

Lighthouse. Narcopolis is the one that I enjoyed.

The biggest outsider of them all, it is 8-1.

Back it with me, I will give you 10-1.

They are off. Looking at their past form, the

bookies have not always got it right. Howard Jacobson with the

Fink ler question, was a rank outsider. These were long shots,

but they got it right last year with Barnes brns' Sense of Ending

and in 2009 when Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel was the most better

read book in Man Booker Prize history it ended up costing the

bookies a small fortune. Now the race for the Man Booker has entered

the final furlong. The winner is to be announced in less than a

fortnight. Twil be a favourite, or can an outsider -- will it be a

favourite, or can an outsider come through and pip them to the post?

Well, we will find out the winner of this year's Man Booker Prize on

the 16th October. Now, Frieze London, the annual contemporary art

fair kicks off next week alongside the first edition of Frieze Masters.

The masters work from the ancient era to the late 16th Century. Does

this offer a unique perspective on the old and the new, or is it is

cunning way it make a quick buck? Alastair Sooke investigates.

Regent's Park is looking like a bit of a mess at the moment. This old

construction site is to become a part of the Frieze Art Fair it open

as week tomorrow it promises to transform the park into the

epicentre of the global art market. Frieze London is now in its tenth

year. It has grown into a massive event on the or the world calendar.

It draws huge crowds, desperate to catch a glimpse of the hundreds of

millions of pound of artwork up for sale.

Buying art has become fashionable. It is easy to forget why you are an

artist when you are there and are compared against all of these

incredible, expensive, strat fairic pieces of work. Frieze presents

itself as an important cultural event. It has been popular in the

past decade, but it is also at root a trade fair. The organisers set up

a huge marque and invite the business dealers to hawk their

wares to the biggest collectors in the world. All of them sharp

elbowed and ravenous to pick up and to collect the next big thing in

art. The whole point of Frieze is that

since it began it specialised in contemporary art exclusively, in

art created since the year 2000, but this year the organisers are

doing something different. They are looking in the other direction and

creating a parallel event here to be called Frieze Masters it will

showcase art, some of which is 4,000 years old.

In Frieze Masters it is art made before the year 2000. So 20th

century art, old masters, ancient art, tribal art. Every year we have

approaches from gallery who want to be a part of it, but Frieze is so

contemporary it does not make sense for them to be there. So this got

us think being the demand from everyelse around the world. I am

fascinated to see how it will work. The old masters in a separate tent

and the teenagers having fun in theirs? Frieze Masters will offer a

unique perspective on the relationship between old and new

art. A dialogue between the contemporary and the classic art,

but are there benefits to displaying art from different eras

alongside each other? This robot did carve that? It did in the

studio. Conrad Shawcross is a successful

British artist who wrestled with the question of the old versus the

new. He normally makes abstract work that explores science and

cosmology. This summer he displayed work at the National Gallery,

responding to the 16th Century paintings of Titian.

It was out of my normal comfort zone, but very liberating.

The whole idea behind Frieze Masters is similar. That we may get

the dialogue between the old and the new. Can that happen, back and

forth between the two different fairs? I think so it. Is a problem

with the old painters when you walk past that you are familiar with the

process. There is a sense that they have become a part of our lexicon.

We overlook them? Yes, it is difficult to look at them as

something astonishing. So a solution is to juxtapose them to.

Create new foils for them. Everything was once contemporary.

Everything once was pine yearing. As well as the curatorial

justification for including old masters at this year's Frieze, it

may provide those exhibiting, a chance to bring their rarified

world to a wider audience. The rational for your as an old

masters dealer to exhibit and show work at Frieze Masters is to cash

in, to take advantage of the glamour that is associated with

Frieze London? It is a huge world. My world, the world of late

medieval art is a small number of people. They almost all know each

other, the people that love. This whilst there is tens of thousands,

hundreds of thousands of people interested in contemporary art.

This is a good way for us to broaden out to access that.

Maybe I'm being cynical. Here is a fair way of you deliberately

bringing in old pictures it is like they help to validate the new stuff

it seems like a canny move on the part of Frieze, that this is a

clever business move as much as anything else. Is that fair? We are

a business. There is a commercial element to it. I think that make it

is exciting. I think that people will be really blown away at Frieze

Masters when they find out what you can buy at the fair.

So, what are you going to take and sell at Frieze Masters? Take for

sure, sale I will let you know after the fair. I am not a magician,

yet. I will build a stand cons straiting on the 14th, 15th and

16th Century. These are the paintings. Some of which we are

taking to Frieze Masters. Are you taking all of them? Yes.

Mere is a small selection. Maybe we can make a deal.

Let's talk prices and we'll see. What do we have here? Let's start

with this beautiful crucifixion. This piece is going to have a very

important place in the stand it is so modern it is timeless, this

piece. Of course, we have to talk prices...

Now we speak of the vulgar part. Forgive me! We are going to ask, I

don't know the perfect figure, but it is about 800,000 Euros, about 66

50,000. How much did you buy it for?

don't know. Of course you do? I forgot.

It is the business of a dealer. Including the frame how much is the

picture on the stand? We are asking about half a million pounds.

You want to make an offer? We can do a deal in front of the camera.

I'm trying to buy a new flat. I'm not sure I will have enough money!

Are you hoping to attract a new type of buyer? Yes, I would love to

find a new buyer. Maybe young buyers. I am 35. I don't have a

customer of my age. Is it possibly because the prices

are too high? No, I think it is a problem of culture, a problem to

make them understand, the young collectors, that there is a changes

to buy also a masters. Good luck. I will be intrigued to

see if... We need it. Do you think that you do?

Especially now. Life is destiny.

Over the past decade, Frieze has been a rampant success. Popular,

visited by 60,000 people a year. Only time will tell if the sheen

will rub off on Frieze Masters. It does not surprise me in the least,

that all of the old master picture dealers are clamouring for the

chance to muscle in on the action. Frieze and Frieze Masters is in

Regent's Park London from the 11th to the 14th of October. Now, what

is the world of self-help to do with politics? These days a lot.

With conference season in full swing. It seems that all political

parties are trying to claim the Mantel of self-help and mutual

improvement their own. Is the mock genre of self-help finally becoming

respectable? Julian Evans investigates.

Hi, my name is Jules. I write self- help.

I started when I was younger. Just for fun. Pamphlets. I thought it

may help people. I didn't realise it was so shameful.

It is like when a book reviewer wants to trash a book.

The worst insult that they can throw at it is calling it self-

help.If You are writing self-help, everyone assumes you are a

neoliberal capitalist. I voted Lib Dem! The worst is that everyone

thinks that self-help is stupid. I think I should write something more

soberally acceptable. Like bondage porn.

Is there any more a maligned genre than self-help? Sure a lot is awful.

You can drown in all of that chicken soup for the soul. A lot is

badly written. Full of pointless acronyms. Books like the The Secret,

which claim you can get anything you want in life simply by wishing

for it, pretty pointless. But I think that self-self-help has

been unfairly written off. If you look at the origins, it is more

credible than you think. The roots of self-help lie in

ancient Greek philosophy. Socrates and followers insisted that

philosophy teaches to us take care of our souls to become the doctors

of ourselves. A century after Socrates, the stoics said that this

was a form of emotional they werey. We can change how we feel by the

way that we think. Stoics have the reputation of being repressed, but

they wrote stacks of books and letters, giving advice as to how to

overcome problems. In the 20th century, the Greek's ideas were

rediscovered like Dale Carnegie and Eckhart Tolle and by contemporary

psychologists, who used it as the foundation of cognitive behavioral

therapy. The inventor of cognitive behavioral therapy, Albert Ellis,

was inspired by stoic philosophy. Now governments are seizing on the

new scientifically credible form of self-help and are busy rolling it

out to citizens. In the UK the Labour and the Conservative parties

have gone on board the happiness train. When did politics get so

touchy Fehily? The Conservative Party has long had a tradition of

promoting self-reliance. Notions of people looking after

themselves, a notion of being dependant on the state and large

bureaucratic organisations is somehow not a good thing for people.

So, is David Cameron trying to move to a different type of self-help?

think that David Cameron wants to distance himself from the notion of

the Tories as the nasty party. He wants the Conservatives to be a

party who believe in a small state, but also believe in self-reliance

and collective self-reliance rather than individual it involves

charities, people using free time. Social entrepreneurs come up with

solutions to problems traditionally dealt with by the state. How about

Ed Miliband, how is he and the Labour Party influenced by self-

help? They are going back to the early days of the Labour movement

that rose from the outside of the state, in civil society at grass

roots level with things like Co- Operatives, friendly societies.

Things that were happening in a bottom-up way. One of the ways that

that it coming back is that there is discussion in the Labour Party,

the meaning of the good life. What does it mean to lead a good life

and to roll back the values of the what the common good could be.

Could the political emphasis on self-help abcover for cutting

public sectors? To be fair to the policy makers, clearly it is better

for the people themselves if they are not dependant on the welfare

state or the National Health Service or the Social Services, but

there are huge cuts being made to the size of the state. Lots of this

talk of civil society, charity, big society, so on, does provide a

figure leaf and is sweetening the pill of really harsh, economic

policies. But maybe there is a third way.

Where self-help groups work in partnership with the welfare state.

Self-help groups are not inherently libertarian or laissez faire. They

can genuinely help people. Self- help books can help people. Perhaps

one day, we can finally admit that at polite dinner parties up and

down the country that we write self-help books. Thank you.