Refigure: Recent Episodes
Lo Fi Arts
Chris and Rifa sift through their past week in the arts, tech, culture and diversity. Freshly ground in Brighton on the English south coast.
Chris and Rifa are in Paris to visit the Brancusi retrospective at Centre Pompidou and also stumble on the lost 1950s Parisian painter Requichot's abstract work. They also binge-watch season three of Sweet Tooth. Rifa is reading Katy Hessel's Great Women Artists substack and Chris is reading Adèle Oliver's essay Deeping It: Colonialism, Culture & Criminalisation of UK Drill, which is published as an Inklings edition. Thanks for listening.
Dipping into Brighton Festival, Rifa and Chris see Sunny Singh in conversation about her new book A Bollywood State Of Mind and watch Natalie Sharp's experimental solo mixed media performance Marra! connecting her heritage in Cumbria and the Seychelles. They also watch a bunch of Netflix stuff about coercive control. Rifa is reading Meiko Kawakami's Heaven and Chris is reading Roxanne De Bastion's The Piano Player Of Budapest.
Thanks very much for listening.
Chris and Rifa attempt to make it through Richard Gadd's controversial Netflix dramedy Baby Reindeer and enjoy Dunstan Bruce's Chumbawamba documentary I Get Knocked Down. Rifa goes to UXCampBrighton unconference. Chris is reading Richard Norris of The Grid's memoir Strange Things Are Happening, while Rifa is reading the Tate Magazine (again).
Thanks very much for listening.
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.
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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 review of our adventures in the arts, diversity and culture.
This week we watch unsettling low key film The Assistant, starring Julia Garner, which shows the entertainment industry normalising abuse and suppressing dissent. We also watch Beyoncé's vivid and arresting semi-abstract musical Black Is King on Disney+ made in response to her involvement with The Lion King reboot.
Finally, we venture on our first post-corona trip to a physical exhibition, donning masks for the Prince's Treasure exhibition at Brighton's Royal Pavilion, where priceless items originally bought for the Pavilion by George IV have been loaned back to the building by The Royal Collection.
Rifa is reading Glennon Doyle's memoir Untamed, while Chris is reading Layla F Saad's anti-racism workbook Me And White Supremacy.
Thank you so much for listening. Find us on Facebook and Insta.
Chris and Rifa's bitesize arts and diversity review show.
This week we watch Mrs America on the BBC iPlayer, starring Cate Blanchett and Rose Byrne, set in the 1970s USA, telling the story of the battle for the Equal Rights Amendment. We also bing-watch all three seasons of Sky dramedy Get Shorty, starring Chris O'Dowd as a gangster trying to break into Hollywood.
In What You Reading For? Rifa is still ploughing through bell hooks' trilogy about love, while Chris is revisiting Aldous Huxley's classic Brave New World, ahead of its major new television adaptation.
Thank you very much for listening. Find us on Facebook and Instagram, please leave a nice review and tell your friends.
Welcome to Chris and Rifa's bitesize arts, diversity and culture review show.
This week we watch the third season of Norwegian viking comedy Norsemen on Netflix. Then Rifa has an unexpectedly strong reaction to new film How To Build A Girl, starring Beanie Feldstein, directed by Coky Giedroyc and based on Caitlin Moran's comic fictionalised memoir.
In What You Reading For? Rifa has joined a book club and is reading Season Butler's novel Cygnet, while Chris is reading our old friend Kate Bulpitt's debut novel Purple People.
Thank you very much for listening. Find us on Insta and Facebook – and please leave us a nice five star review and all that jazz.
Welcome to Refigure with Chris and Rifa, a weekly podcast about the arts, diversity and culture.
This week we are both blown away by Michaela Coel's acclaimed new comedy-drama series I May Destroy You on BBC iPlayer. We also binge-watch the entire run of Danish/Swedish mystery thriller The Bridge, which we actually paid money for, as Rifa discovers her love for Nordic noir.
In What You Reading For? Rifa is still reading bell hooks' trilogy on love, while Chris is still reading Priyamvada Gopal's Insurgent Empire.
Thank you very much for listening. Find us on Facebook and Instagram.
Chris and Rifa's weekly bitesize review of the arts, diversity and culture.
This week we watched Will Ferrell's new comedy Eurovision, which sent us down a rabbit hole of watching Icelandic films and documentaries.
Then we watched the powerful new Netflix documentary Disclosure, about the history of how American TV and cinema has representated transgender people onscreen – and how that has impacted how culture sees trans people.
Rifa is re-reading bell hooks' All About Love (which she may have recommended before on an earlier series of Refigure), while Chris is reading Priyamvada Gopal's history book Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance And British Dissent.
Thank you very much for listening. Please 'like' and subscribe and leave a five star review and tell all your friends about us. You can find us on Instagram and Facebook.
Welcome to Refigure, Chris and Rifa's continuing home-based bitesize covid-avoiding adventures in the arts, diversity and culture. It's the fiftieth episode of Refigure but we're so hardcore we forgot to even mention it in the show. Yes please to cake, though, if you insist.
This week we binge-watch brainmelting Netflix high concept game show The Floor Is Lava (or 'The Kwiksave Maze') then we dug into South Korean oddball drama series The Mystic Pop-up Bar.
Rifa is playing with Louise Hay's 'Power Thought Cards', while Chris is re-reading Colin Ward's radical little social history book Cotters & Squatters.
Thank you for listening. Please leave a five star review wherever you get your podcasts – and tell your friends about us. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter and Insta. Lots of love. xxx
Chris and Rifa's continuing home-based adventures in culture, diversity and the arts.
This week we wear masks to a Black Lives Matter protest in Brighton. Then we watch Steve Carrell's new Netflix comedy series Space Force with John Malkovich and Lisa Kudrow, about a Trump-style military run space initiative.
Then we disagree about Spike Lee's new film Da 5 Bloods – also on Netflix – starring Clarke Peters and Delroy Lindo, following a group of African-American Vietnam veterans as they return to Ho Chi Minh City to search for the body of a fallen comrade.
In What You Reading For? Rifa is just starting Ta Nehisi Coates' essay collection We Were Eight Years In Power and Chris is reading Bhanu Kapil's poetry book How To Wash A Heart.
Thank you for listening, please leave us a nice review. Find us on Instagram and Facebook.
Chris and Rifa's continuing adventures in the arts, diversity and culture.
This week we watch Mark Cousin's epic cinema history series Women Make Film, narrated by Tilda Swinton, Jane Fonda and others.
We also binge-watch the fifth series of tearjerking Netflix makeover show Queer Eye.
Then we fall into a difficult, not necessarily successful conversation about the removal of statues of slave traders.
In What You Reading For? Rifa is deep into blogs and information site about supporting #BlackLivesMatter, while Chris is reading Robert Pinsky's writing guide The Sound Of Poetry.
Thank you very much for listening. Find us online at Facebook and on Instagram. Please leave a 5* review and tell your friends about the podcast.
Chris and Rifa's weekly adventures in arts, diversity and culture.
This week we binge-watched two drama series, doing each complete series in one late night, so we treated them more like a long film. First we watched Alex Garland's sci-fi drama Devs, made by FX but we saw it on BBC iPlayer. Then we did Netflix drama Unorthodox, a German production written primarily in Yiddish, directed by Maria Schraeder.
Rifa is reading some Albert Camus essays, while Chris joined the Poetry Book Society and with his membership got sent Will Harris' debut collection Rendang.
Thank you for listening. Find us on Facebook and Insta.
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!
Chris and Rifa's weekly home-made adventures in the arts, tech and diversity.
This week we're entranced by Midnight Gospel, Pendleton Ward's philosophical, psychedelic animation series on Netflix.
We also dive into the work of Mindy Kaling, we were meant to be chatting about her new Indian-American teen coming-of-age comedy series Never Have I Ever, also on Netflix, though it got a bit hijacked by binge-watching Kaling's previous (and similarly good but problematic) show The Mindy Project.
Rifa didn't read a book this week, instead she listened to the Dissect podcast series about Beyoncé's Lemonade, while Chris is re-reading David Eagleman's Sum.
Thanks so much for listening! Please leave a five star review and 'like' and subscribe, etc.
You can also find us on Facebook.com/Refigurepod and Instagram @refigureUK.
Rifa and Chris continue their bitesize adventures in culture, the arts, diversity and tech.
We watch two seasons of brilliant Korean Netflix historical drama Kingdom, which turns a costume drama of 15th century feudal taboos into a horrifying march of the undead. We also watch the much discussed ITV three-parter Quiz, based on the real-life events around Charles Ingram's infamous attempt to cheat the TV show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, with Michael Sheen playing Chris Tarrant.
Rifa is reading N.K. Jemisin's short story collection How Long Til A Black Future Month?, while Chris is reading Oliver Gray's latest travel memoir Polly In My Pocket.
Thank-you so much for listening. Give us a 'like', subscribe and please leave a five star rating and a nice review. That stuff makes a huge difference for the show. Find us on Insta and Facebook.
Chris and Rifa's Refigure Check-in continues our locked down adventures in culture, tech and diversity.
This week we chat about the plethora of livestream performances during the quarantine period. Then we binge-watch the whole of season four of Korean-Canadian sitcom Kim's Convenience.
In What You Reading For? Rifa is enjoying Ben Okri's latest short story collection Prayer For The Living and Chris takes a break from Hilary Mantel to dip into Neil MacGregor's compendium for the British Museum and BBC's epic radio series, A History of The World In 100 Objects.
Thank you for listening. Please 'like' and subscribe and leave us a nice five star review. Please tell your friends. We don't have a marketing budget. You can also find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Refigure returns for series #4, the Check-in Season, several weeks early, as Rifa and Chris find ways to resume our tinkering in the arts, tech, culture and diversity, from the safety of our own house.
This week we binge-watch The Great British Bake Off (the early years) and swap tips for fun apps and games to download and play, while you're quarantining. In What You Reading For? Rifa recommends Shonnetta's Divine Tarot on YouTube, while Chris is having a logistical problem with Hilary Mantel's barnstorming new historical novel The Mirror And The Light. We also loved J.B. Morrison's latest novel A God Awful Small Affair.
Next week we'll talk about the explosion of music and theatre livestreams, plus something else.
Thank you SO much for still listening to us, four series in. It would be lovely to hear from you, find us on Instagram (refigureUK), Twitter (@refigurepod) and Facebook (facebook.com/RefigurePod). Please 'like' and subscribe and leave us a nice five star review. Thankyou!
Refigure is produced by Lo Fi Arts. @lofiarts
Happy new year! Chris and Rifa take one last Prosecco-fuelled look back at 2019 in the arts and culture, chatting over takeout about our favourite books, TV, art and music.
This is the final episode of Refigure Series 3. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. We'll be back in Spring 2020 (if the world is still turning) with a new podcast series for the new decade. Look out for us, wherever you get your pods.
Keep up with our adventures on Refigure Facebook, Refigure Twitter and Refigure Insta.
You can also find us individually: Rifa on Twitter, Chris on Twitter, Rifa's website, Chris on Instagram, Rifa on Instagram.
All the very best to you for a joyful and successful 2020. XXX
Chris and Rifa's latest adventures in culture, the arts, tech and diversity – or in this case, watching a load of festive telly with faces full of mince pies.
This week we watch the BBC's intense, new adult three part re-imagining of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, starring Guy Pierce, Andy Serkis and Tom Hardy.
We also binge-watch HBO's extraordinary new TV series version of Watchmen. starring Regina King and Don Johnson.
Rifa is reading the collected late blog entries of Ursula K. le Guin, which were published as No Time To Spare. Chris didn't read a book this festive week, instead he played through the 2016 horror platform videogame INSIDE by PlayDead.
Find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Please leave a nice review and a five star rating. Thank you for listening to us this year.
Chris and Rifa's weekly bitesize joyride around the arts, culture, tech and diversity.
This week we go to the cinema to watch Rian Johnson's acclaimed new whodunnit style movie Knives Out starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Daniel Craig and Chris Pine.
We also watch the latest David Attenborough series on the BBC iPlayer, Seven Worlds One Planet as it increasingly desperately highlights the impact of the climate catastrophe on the world's wildlife.
In What You Reading For? Rifa is enjoying Leonie Dawson's funky entrepreneurial handbook My Shining Year Business Workbook, while Chris is blown away by John McCullough's stunning poetry collection Reckless Paper Birds, published by Penned In The Margins.
Find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Please leave a nice review and a five star rating – and tell your friends. Thank you for listening!
Chris and Rifa continue their fun weekly dive into arts, culture, tech and diversity.
This week Refigure is a lo-fi episode, entirely taped onto iPhone. Back to normal next week.
We watch the second series of Netflix documentary show Abstract, which profiles visionary creatives working in different disciplines of design.
Then we introduce a special guest: our new Star Wars Correspondent, our friend and neighbour Rob 'Robot' Pearson. We go round Rob's house to watch the first two episodes of Disney Plus platform's flagship launch show The Mandalorian, set in the Star Wars universe a few years after the events of Return Of The Jedi.
In What You Reading For? Rifa is reading the Denise Duffield-Thomas money oriented self-help book Get Rich Lucky Bitch. Chris has got his hands on the new issue of Hampshire-based fanzine Weird Walk and also calls for contributors to help write a fanzine about potatoes.
If you're enjoying Refigure, please leave a nice review and a five star rating on whatever system you use. Ta! And you can catch up with us online – and check out some photos of the stuff we talk about on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Thanks a lot for listening. Cheerio.
Chris and Rifa's continuing bitesize adventures in the world of arts, culture, tech and diversity.
This week our intrepid duo check out the iconic new installation at Tate Modern's enormous Turbine Hall, Kara Walker's powerful reflection on slavery and empire Fons Americanus.
We also watch Eddie Murphy's sweet new Netflix film Dolomite Is My Name – a biopic of blaxploitation / comedy / hip hop pioneer Rudy Ray Moore.
In What You Reading For? Chris is trying to read Under The Radar poetry magazine from Nine Arches Press, while Rifa is digging into Richard Rumelt's business guidebook Good Strategy/Bad Strategy. Though we've mistakenly called him 'Rumlet' throughout the podcast – and even taken the piss out of his name, though it's wrong. Sorry, Richard.
Find us on Insta, Twitter and Facebook. Please give us a nice review and 'like' and subscribe etcetra etcetra.
Chris and Rifa's weekly bitesize review show about the arts, culture, tech and diversity.
This week Chris and Rifa argue about the first episode of the BBC/HBO's epic new TV series His Dark Materials, adapted from Philip Pullman's wildly acclaimed kids' fantasy novels.
We also go to the beautiful East Brighton venue The Spire – a spooky deconsecrated church – to check out Truestory Theatre's gothic production of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which runs to the 9th November.
In What You Reading For? this week Rifa enjoys Leonora Carrington's collection of surreal short stories The Skeleton's Holiday published for £1 as part of the Penguin Modern series. Meanwhile Chris is reading a Collins Gem classic mini guide on foraging called Food For Free by Richard Mabey (not Madeley).
Find us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Please leave us nice comments and give us a good rating. You know the drill, you're our marketing team, so please 'like', 'subscribe' and tell your friends if you're enjoying the show.
Thank you! XX
Rifa and Chris chat about their recent adventures in the arts, culture, tech and diversity.
This week we catch up with our own recent projects, including Rifa's latest She Says Brighton event for Brighton Digital Festival, plus Chris going back on tour with his old band lineup, as backing band for Jim Bob from Carter USM.
We also go to Tate Modern to check out the new retrospective exhibition of work by Nam June Paik.
In What You Reading For? Rifa enjoyed the flawed but fascinating memoir by anti-corruption (anti-Brexit) legal campaigner Gina Miller, called Rise: Life Lessons in Speaking Out, Standing Tall and Leading the Way. Chris is reading Richard Powers' acclaimed novel Overstory.
If you're enjoying Refigure please do the usual things: 'like' and subscribe and leave a kind review.
Find us at Facebook, on Twitter and on Instagram.
Thank you very much. XX
Chris and Rifa's week in arts, culture, tech and diversity.
This week we played indie video game cult hit Untitled Goose Game. We also went to see DIY alt-rock veterans Sebadoh play live.
Rifa is reading Audrey Lorde's iconic essays The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle The Master's House, while Chris is enjoying rock writer Oliver Gray's music travel memoir Banjo On My Knee.
Visit us on Twitter @refigurepod, Instagram @refigureUK and join us on Facebook.
Thank you very much for listening. We hugely appreciate your support.
Chris and Rifa return with more bitesize chat about the arts, culture, tech and diversity.
This week our heroes discuss everything Jerry Seinfeld has ever done, which they've watched in full over the past two months.
They also get lost in a misty corridor, in Olafur Eliasson's major exhibition at Tate Modern.
Chris is reading TV critic Emily Nussbaum's essay collection I Like To Watch, while Rifa is reading some self-help book or other.
Find us on Facebook – RefigurePod, Twitter – @RefigurePod and Insta – @RefigureUK.
Thank you very much for listening, if you're enjoying our daft show, please leave a nice review and decent rating.
All our love.
XX
Chris and Rifa return with their bitesize weekly review show, covering culture, tech and diversity.
We check out the major retrospective of William Blake's work at Tate Britain and Rifa is down the front row of the cinema for J-Lo's new movie Hustlers.
Chris is reading Jia Tolentino's Trick Mirror and also enjoyed John Higgs' William Blake Now. Rifa is reading Poetry Review magazine.
Find us online at: Instagram.com/refigureuk, Facebook.com/refigurepod and on Twitter: @christt I @rifa I @Refigurepod.
Thank you for listening. XX
If you're missing your weekly fix of Chris and Rifa, since Refigure series 2 ended last week, here's a fast and loose bonus half-hour of some outtake conversations and arguments that we cut, either for time, or because they were a bit too bonkers.
Includes Dune's space worms, James Corden's lack of empathy and both our names on a plaque.
Enjoy.
It's the season two finale of Chris and Rifa's weekly review of culture, tech and diversity.
For this packed episode, we binge-watch the entire run of HBO's hugely acclaimed multi award-winning political satire Veep, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, to mark the occasion of that show finishing.
We also mooch up to Tate Modern for a preview of Danish/Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson's major new solo exhibition 'In Real Life', which, spoiler alert, is sensational.
And on Netflix we check out Aziz Ansari's new stand-up special Right Now, that inevitably reflects on his changed status after last year's accusation against him of sexual misconduct.
Rifa is reading New Philosopher magazine (which she actually bought for Chris), while Chris is reading Benjamin Myers' poetic non fiction work Under The Rock.
Thank you very much for supporting Refigure through our second season. We love you. Refigure will be back in autumn for season three but in the meantime you can still find us at: Facebook.com/RefigurePod, Twitter @RefigurePod and on Instagram @RefigureUK.
Nearing the end of season two, Rifa and Chris take their weekly bitesize chunk out of the arts, culture, tech and diversity.
This week we cleared our schedules, bought a pile of unhealthy snacks and settled in to spend the whole weekend binge-watching BBC live streams from Glastonbury Festival, enjoying full live sets by more than 25 bands, without the distractions of presenters, acoustic sets or annoying 'atmosphere' video packages over on the 'normal' TV coverage.
Our Glasto conversation ranges from the impressive BBC sound quality; via the improvement of diversity at major festivals; to Stormzy's sensational headline and the state of grime; via the genius of Lizzo, the tears of Idles singer Joe Talbot and the obligatory "oh god, Morrissey" sidebar. Icons as disparate as Sali Hughes and Darren Hayman get brief mentions.
In What You Reading For? Rifa is enjoying Kate Atkinson's Life After Life and Chris is blown away by Robert Macfarlane's Underland.
Thank you for listening. If you're enjoying Refigure please 'follow' us or give us a nice review and star rating on whatever podcast thing you use. You can find us on Twitter: @refigurepod Insta: @refigureUK and Facebook.com/refigurepod.
Next time will be the final episode of season two. XX
Chris and Rifa's weekly bitesize look back at their week in culture, tech and diversity.
This week, we chat about three recent TV drama series that we binge-watched, all of which try to make us think about the state of reality, right now.
We watched season five of Charlie Brooker's Netflix show Black Mirror, Russell T Davies' new BBC series Years & Years and NBC's Chicago legal drama The Good Fight.
In What You Reading For? Rifa talks about the epic blog entry she has written with collaboration from some of Brighton's experts on creativity.
Meanwhile Chris read Jody Rosen's long article in New York Times Magazine about a warehouse fire in 2008 on the Universal Pictures lot, which is now revealed to have destroyed tens of thousands of music's most important audio masters, from the greatest artists of all time.
Thank you for all your support this season. We're on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Chris and Rifa's weekly bitesize show digging through their favourite arts, culture, tech and diversity.
This week is a Barcelona special, mostly recorded at Kino Café outside the Contemporary Art Gallery, over a big pile of patatas bravas. We chat about our weekend at Primavera Sound 2019 music festival, which had a wildly diverse lineup and booked more than 50% women artists.
We also talk about Catalonia's great architect and design genius Antoni Gaudí, walking around Sagrada Família and doing a tour of his extraordinary, unique house Casa Batlló.
In What You Reading For? Chris is reading Tina Jordan's essay in the New York Times about the disappearance of Agatha Christie, while Rifa just finished Toni Morrison's first novel The Bluest Eye, from 1970.
If you enjoy Refigure, please give us a nice review or rating where you listen to pods, consider subscribing – and please tell your friends about us. You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram and connect with us on Facebook.
Thanks a lot.
After a mid-season hiatus and a bit of overseas travel, Chris and Rifa return for another bitesize munch on culture, tech and diversity.
This week the show is taped in our Barcelona hotel room. We would've recorded it on the roof terrace but there were noisy Brits. We chat about new Netflix drama series Dead To Me starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini.
We also talk about visiting Brighton Museum's new archaeological gallery, with its excellent exhibition uncovering some of the earliest humans to live in Sussex, including hi-tech facial reconstructions from their original skulls.
It's a quick episode to ease us back into the habit of podding, so expect more soon. Hope you dig it. Find us at Facebook.com/refigurepod and on Twitter @refigurepod and on Insta @refigureUK
Cheerio.
Chris and Rifa dig into another week of arts, culture, tech and diversity.
This week we're both blown away by Icelandic indie film Woman At War starring Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir.
Chris is also watching Sky Atlantic's sobering true-life 1980s drama Chernobyl about the Soviet Union's great nuclear disaster – and we aren't convinced by buddy comedy Wine Country, directed by Amy Poehler, which is up on Netflix.
We also have starkly conflicting reactions to Malian photographer and DJ Fototala King Massassay's exhibition Iron Men, about iron workers and smelters in Mali's capital city of Bamako, which is at Brighton's Pheonix Gallery this month as part of Brighton Festival.
Rifa gets annoyed with the English edition of Flow magazine from the Netherlands, while Chris loves N J Stallard's short story The White Cat that won the Aleph Prize.
Let us know what you think about all the shiz we discussed over on Facebook and follow us on Insta and Twitter @Refigurepod.
Phew, we packed a lot in this week. Hope you dig it. If you do, please give us a 'like' / a nice review / five star rating, wherever you listen to your podcasts – that sort of stuff hugely helps us, without a marketing budget or anything.
Thank you. XX
Chris and Rifa take a marmalade-fuelled amble through some arts, culture, tech and diversity.
This episode, we go to the cinema with everyone else in the world to watch Avengers: End Game.
We also take part in the opening ceremony of Nwando Ebizie's glorious Distorted Constellations installation / exhibition at Lighthouse, as part of Brighton Festival. And we eat some Divine ginger thin chocolates (sort of biscuits) we got from Oxfam.
Rifa is reading Ruben Pater's The Politics Of Design and Chris is reading Kel Winser's horror/fantasy comic User, based on a screenplay by Anthony Melton, and also J.B. Morrison's as-yet unpublished fifth novel.
As always, thank you for listening. Do come visit us on Facebook and Instagram and follow the pod's new Twitter feed.
Chris and Rifa's weekly adventures in culture, the arts, tech and diversity.
This week Chris and Rifa head to Tate Britain to check out hot new exhibition Van Gogh And Britain. They also watch Beyoncé's new concert film Homecoming on Netflix, based on her headline shows at last year's Coachella festival.
Chris is reading Suzannah Evans' first book-length poetry collection Near Future published by Nine Arches Press, while Rifa is reading about the artist Daniel Minter in Womankind magazine.
Thank you so much for listening. If you're enjoying Refigure please leave us a nice review or a rating, it really helps us raise the podcast's profile. You can also visit us at Facebook.com/Refigurepod and follow us on Instagram.
Chris and Rifa swim in the balmy waters of the arts, culture and diversity. This week's episode comes from the Eastern Mediterranean sea shore.
We revisit the three British sitcoms that we reviewed at the start of the season, now they've each finished their six episode run, namely Derry Girls, Home and Fleabag.
We also went to the career retrospective exhibition of iconic Greek realist painter Valias Semertzidis at the Museum Of Greek Modern Art.
Rifa reads a tiny poem she saw on Twitter and Chris is re-reading Robert Macfarlane's Landmarks.
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You can find Refigure on Instagram @refigureuk and Facebook at Facebook.com/Refigurepod. Be lovely to hear from you.XX
Chris and Rifa take their weekly dip into the choppy waters of culture, tech and diversity.
This week we catch up with two iconic queer TV shows: the second season of makeover reality hit Queer Eye on Netflix and groundbreaking FX drama series Pose, about the underground trans ball scene in 1980s New York, which is on the BBC iPlayer. This expanded into a broader conversation about LGBTQI and QTIPOC representation, privilege and ally-ship.
Chris is reading David Grann's non fiction book White Darkness, about Henry Worsley's solo attempt to cross Antarctica, while Rifa's reading Oprah's new pithy advice quotations book The Path Made Clear.
Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you're enjoying Refigure, please help us grow our audience by leaving a nice review, 'following' us and sharing with your friends. Thanks a lot! We're in Greece right now, so next week's Refigure should have a distinctly mediterranean feel.
Rifa and Chris do their weekly dance of near-death with the all powerful octopus of culture, art, tech and diversity.
This week we reflect on Jim Bob's solo show at Shepherds Bush Empire (where Chris was part of the band). We then binge-watch the second series of Brit Marling's brilliant reality-bending mystery TV series The OA, which has gone up on Netflix. Finally we taste-test three different artisan vegan cheeses from Fauxmagerie, the deli in Brixton Market, while arguing if vegan cheese (or even normal dairy cheese) is a Good Thing.
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We made a BONUS episode of Refigure, in which we unpick our reactions to Ricky Gervais' new TV series After Life made for Netflix, which has had a pile of attention and wild praise. Too convoluted and lengthy a conversation to include in the main episode. Enjoy!
As always, please subscribe and 'like' and leave a nice rating and review. We're on Facebook and Instagram. Back next week with a normal Refigure.
Yo! Welcome to Chris and Rifa's weekly ramble through the arts, culture, tech and diversity.
This week we went to the pictures to watch Captain Marvel and we also did our first Tate Modern trip of the year, to check out Dorothea Tanning, Franz West and Pierre Bonnard, though he scarcely got a look in. We recorded the Tate segment in the members' café, so it's a lot noisier and harder to hear than usual.
Chris also recommends Njideka Akunyili Crosby's beautiful large mural Remain, Thriving above the entrance to Brixton Tube.
Chris is reading Evan Ratliff's excellent new crime non-fic The Mastermind, while Rifa is loving Jim Bob From Carter: In The Shadow Of My Former Self.
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Chris and Rifa's weekly dive into the arts, culture, tech and diversity.
This week, we watch a bunch of new and returning British TV sitcoms including Fleabag, Partridge, Home and Derry Girls.
Rifa goes on a bell hooks-inspired poetry workshop and mourns 80s youth telly icon Magenta Divine, while Chris accidentally uncovers an audio archive of his Great Uncle Reg's first-hand account of the trenches in World War One.
Chris is reading an article about chimpanzees in The Atlantic and Rifa is reading Matt Haig's Reasons To Stay Alive. We did watch HBO's extraordinary Leaving Neverland and were originally planning to discuss Michael Jackson but decided it was too heartbreaking.
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Please do all the usual things: like, subscribe, leave a nice review and tell your friends. Thank you! xx
Chris and Rifa's chaotic and giggly weekly dive into the arts, culture, tech and diversity.
This week we go to the cinema to see Spiderman – Into The Spiderverse ahead of The Story Conference (which Rifa organised and compered) where Justin K. Thompson, the film's production designer, gives a superb talk.
We also binge-watch the second season of Netflix fantasy show The Dragon Prince, making this episode a bit of an accidental animated special.
In What You Reading For? we try out some printed magazines we haven't seen before (purchased from Brighton's shop Magazine), including Australian feminist mag Womankind and the Flying Lotus takeover edition of Huck. None more hipster.
Let's hear your views at: http://Facebook.com/RefigurePod and follow us on Insta @RefigureUK. Please like, subscribe, leave a nice review. You know the drill. Cheers! X
Chris and Rifa return with a second season of Refigure, our weekly bitesize culture wig-out.
This week we binge-watched Netflix show Russian Doll, co-created by Natasha Lyonne and Amy Poehler.
Meanwhile Chris went to an actual cinema to watch National Geographic's BAFTA-winning climbing documentary Free Solo and Rifa fell in love with indie/hip hop/soul singer Lizzo, especially her current single 'Juice'.
In What You Reading For? Rifa is deep into University of Houston Professor Brené Brown's 'Daring Greatly', while Chris is reading the new collected writings of Mark Fisher, published in one huge volume as 'K-Punk'. Chris also finally made his start on Proust's 'In Search Of Lost Time' and recommended the article Amazon boss Jeff Bezos wrote on Medium, exposing the National Enquirer attempts to blackmail him. (Jeff that is, not Chris)
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Chris and Rifa's week in the arts, culture, diversity and tech.
Episode #15 – last in the current series.
We argue about the latest TV version of a John Le Carré novel, Park Chan-Wook's adaptation of The Little Drummer Girl, starring Florence Pugh, Michael Shannon and Alexander Skarsgard.
We also binged on Netflix comedy Great News and compared it to the crop of similar shows like 30 Rock and The Good Place.
In What You Reading For? Chris has just finished lost children's classic 'The Tree That Sat Down' by Beverley Nichols. Meanwhile Rifa is ploughing through Michelle Obama's much hyped memoir 'Becoming'.
Thank you very much for listening to season one of Refigure. We'll drop a few one-off specials over the Christmas season and then be back in spring 2019 with season two.
Please subscribe, 'like' us, give us a nice rating or review and visit the Facebook page http://facebook.com/refigurepod and the Insta feed http://instagram.com/refigureuk.
Lots of love. Byeee!
Rifa and Christopher's weekly misadventures in the arts, culture, tech and diversity. Episode #14 – our penultimate episode of Season One.
This week we went to the cinema to check out Steve McQueen's intense new heist thriller Widows, starring Viola Davis. We also took another trip up to Tate Modern to look at Christian Marclay's wonderful 2010 piece Clock, built from cut up clips from throughout cinema history.
Rifa watched John Leguizamo's acclaimed one-man Broadway show Latin History For Moron's, which is now up on Netflix.
In What You Reading For? Rifa highlights Ayoola Solarin's Dazed Digital article 'Frida Kahlo Is Not Your Symbol' about the commercial commodification of a communist art icon. http://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/40259/1/frida-kahlo-is-not-your-symbol
Chris also read a magazine article this week; April Ryan's essay in the Washington Post, 'I'm A Black Woman, Trump loves insulting people like me.' https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/11/10/im-black-woman-white-house-reporter-trump-loves-insulting-people-like-me/?utm_term=.80a0d6c4dcd2
Thank you for listening. Please 'like', subscribe, leave a nice rating and review – and best of all tell your friends about us. We'd love to hear your favourite arts of 2018 for our end of year review – visit the Facebook page to contribute. http://facebook.com/refigurepod and you can also follow us on Instagram @refigureuk.
Cheerio.
Christopher and Rifa slowly open a creaky door onto the arts, culture, tech and diversity.
Episode #13. Unlucky for some.
Rifa manages to get a ticket for Bristol's hottest righteous rock band Idles at the Concorde 2. Meanwhile, still avoiding live bands, Chris checks out Truestory Theatre's imaginative production of Dracula at The Spire.
We also binge the new Netflix reboot of Sabrina The Teenage Witch, now called The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina.
In What You Reading For? Rifa gets annoyed with Gavin Strange's Do Lectures self-help book 'Do Fly' and much prefers Nikki Gattenby's book 'SuperEngaged'.
Chris is re-reading for the second time in two years Lewis Hyde's classic 'Trickster Makes This World', trying to think about it in the context of the rise of the trolling alt-right.
Thank you for listening. If you're enjoying Refigure please 'like', subscribe, leave a nice comment and rating and share us with your friends. You can visit our Facebook page – http://facebook.com/refigurepod and our Insta feed – http://instagram.com/refigureUK.
Rifa and Chris scrabble through the detritus of the week's arts, culture, tech and diversity. Episode #12 is meant to be a Netflix special but our fearsome pair stupidly ate a load of intense Thai takeout during taping, so the second half goes a bit loopy in a chilli-high haze.
Anyway, they watch the new Derren Brown special Sacrifice, in which Derren tries to solve racism by attempting to 'persuade' a (friendly) bigot to take a bullet for an illegal immigrant.
They also binge psychedelic multi-reality drama series Maniac, starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill.
Chris is reading Robin Ince's new non-fiction book about psychology, I'm A Joke And So Are You.
Rifa is still reading Arundhati Roy's The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness and feels differently about it now.
Thank you for listening, as usual if you're enjoying Refigure, please 'like' and subscribe and share with friends and leave us a nice review. We're on Facebook at http://facebook.com/refigurepod and Insta @refigureUK. Cheerio.
Rifa and Chris waffle on about their week in the arts, culture, tech and inclusivity.
Episode #11 is a bit more highfalutin than usual. Rifa gets invited to the Woman Of The Year Awards and brings home a bulging goodie bag, while Chris stays in with new Netflix' new Paul Greengrass film 22 July.
Then they also go to Convivial Tools one-day symposium, inspired by Ivan Illich, which takes place at the Design Museum.
In What You Reading For? Chris has gone back to Ivan Illich's classic 1970s books, in particular Tools For Conviviality. Rifa is reading The Kindness Method by Shahroo Izadi.
Thank you so much for listening. As usual, if you're enjoying Refigure please hit those 'like' and 'subscribe' buttons and share us with your friends.
Also, let us know what you think about any of the topics we talk about by hitting up the Facebook page: http://facebook.com/refigurepod and follow us on Insta @refigureuk. Thank you.
Rifa and Chris trample through the wreckage of their week in the arts, culture, tech and diversity.
Safe home from Scotland, in episode #10 our fearless pair dive into mainstream zeitgeist telly to watch the smash hit opening episode of the new series of the BBC's Doctor Who SHOW INCLUDES MILD SPOILERS. They also visit TomTech's VR Lab at The Old Market in Hove and watch Jacques Tati's full-length animated film The Illusionist (from 2010) on YouTube.
Rifa is reading Bored Panda articles online and the November issue of Harper's Bazaar, which is a 'women in art' special. She also had a quick look around our nearest (and still quite new) community-run arts space, The Rose Hill in Brighton.
Chris is reading J. A. Baker's 1960s nature writing classic The Peregrine.
It's a big, messy episode, with opinions likely to offend at least some. Let us know what you think about what we think (any and all questions, comments and suggestions for future topics welcome): on Instagram we're @RefigureUK and on Facebook we're http://Facebook.com/RefigurePod. Cheers. XX
Chris and Rifa dig through their week in the arts, culture, tech and diversity.
Episode #9 is our Scottish Art Trip Special: we visited the freshly opened V&A Dundee to check out the Scottish Design Galleries permanent collection. The next day we went to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, where we were blown away by Rip It Up – The Story Of Scottish Pop. Along the way we ate at Dundee's Flame Tree Café and tried the Sicilian theme menu at Six By Nico in Edinburgh.
Also, Rifa is on a diversity course and has re-discovered a love for noisy boy bands, thanks to Idles and Youngfathers.
In WHAT YOU READING FOR? Rifa read The Medium Is The Massage by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore, while Chris planned to start J.A. Baker's The Peregrine but instead found himself ploughing through a proof copy of Jim Bob's new memoir Jim Bob From Carter: In The Shadow Of My Former Self.
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Chris and Rifa dig into their week in culture. This week we taped the show on an iPhone internal microphone, in a hotel room in central Edinburgh, so forgive us if the sound is a bit off.
We went to the V&A in London to check out the Video Games exhibition but got distracted by the even better Future Starts Now exhibition about how technology is reshaping all our lives.
We also checked out Danish company Makropol's intense, immersive (mixed reality) theatre production Doom Room at The Old Market in Hove.
Rifa is reading articles about how the UK Government is mistreating the Windrush Generation and Chris is digging into the new Haruki Murakami short story collection Men Without Women.
We're in Scotland because we're on our way up to Dundee to check out the new Victoria & Albert Design Museum that just opened. So next week's episode will feature this gorgeous new V&A and our short Scottish mini-adventure.
Welcome to Refigure, in which Chris and Rifa talk about their week in culture with their mouths full of Japanese food.
In episode #7 our team binges BBC America thriller series Killing Eve, as well as getting unnecessarily upset about the first episode of Hugo Blick's overwrought drama Black Earth Rising. Rifa chats about her latest She Says Brighton event and Chris recommends Saatchi in-house composer Alex Ball's YouTube channel. Rifa has also just dived into Arundhati Roy's second novel, The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness.
Rifa and Christopher unpack a week of culture, tech, reading and general nonsense.
In episode 06 Chris spends the week on a storytelling and virtual reality training course, while Rifa catches up with Netflix doc series Wild Wild Country and shows her cousin around Brighton. Rifa is thinking about an opinion piece in the Tate magazine, while Chris recommends a longread in The Daily Beast about the man who stole millions from McDonald's Monopoly.
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"When you buried us you didn't realise we were seeds." Chris and Rifa binged HBO miniseries Sharp Objects, starring Amy Adams and talk about inclusion and diversity advocate David McQueen. Rifa is reading Maya Angelou and Chris is reading David Grann's 'Killers Of The Flower Moon'.
Episode #4 – "It's not Adventure Time!" This week Rifa and Chris watch Reading Festival livestreams on the BBC iPlayer and compare two high-production podcast series, Slow Burn (Slate Plus) and Folk On Foot (Matthew Bannister). In 'What You Reading For' (yeah our book bit has a proper name now – and its own jingle) Rifa got through Dave Eggers' Monk Of Mokha (Hamish Hamilton/Penguin) in one day and she's bingeing Matt Groening's Disenchantment on Netflix, while Chris is ploughing through Zeynep Tufekci's book Twitter & Teargas (Yale University Press) and got emotional watching Michaela Coel's MacTaggart Lecture.
If you're enjoying Refigure please give us a 'like', subscribe, write a nice rating and especially tell your friends about the show. And let us know what you think about this week's topics over on Facebook (facebook.com/refigurepod). Cheers.
"James Brown's in it!" Rifa and Christopher recap their week in culture, including a day out to Tate Modern, the legacy of Aretha Franklin and whether The Blues Brothers film is any good.
Chris recommends N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy and (sticking like glue to the art theme) Rifa is reading the exhibition book of last year's Soul Of A Nation show, which was also at the Tate.
'Namaste' just means 'hello', yeah? This week Chris and Rifa talk about the demise of local radio, decolonising beauty and the annoying language of yoga.
"So who would Frida Kahlo choose as a pepper pot, if she was a salt shaker?"
Welcome to Refigure episode #01, in which Chris and Rifa sit in their brand new bed and recap their week in culture and silliness.