The second episode of Constant 1-on-1 The podcast is online now on Spotify or where ever you listen to podcasts! This four-episode series dives into Constant’s practice as an artist, his life and the context in which he operated and built his oeuvre. Ans Boersma and Thijs van Elten dig into the archive and question friends, art historians and contemporary artists about the relevance of a legacy like Constant’s in today’s world.

The first episode of Constant 1-on-1, Visionary, gave an introduction to Constant development as an artist until Cobra, we leave him at the beginning of the Fifties. In episode 2, Designer, we pick up where we left off: 1952, after Cobra. Constant is looking around him a wondering how different art forms can be synthesized to have a more pronounced and positive influence on the world we live in. His quest will lead him through a labyrinth of interesting collaborations and networks and eventually to the development of New Babylon. New Babylon, Constant’s design for the world wide city of the future, was inspired by the nomadic lifestyle of the Roma and Sinti people.

Interviewees

In this episode of the series, we explore how it all began and what he envisioned it to look like, by speaking to the following people:

Floris Alkemade: architect and former government architect
Laura Stamps: curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Kunstmuseum The Hague
Willemijn Stokvis: art historian and Cobra expert
Ronald Tolman: artist and friend of Constant
Ludo van Halem: curator of 20th Century Art at Rijksmuseum