Name: The Search for Lost Letters - Gymnastics
Uploaded: 2021-09-01T09:15:36.000+02:00
Duration: 284 s
Description: Some letters never reach their destination, whether by accident or design. This missing mail is brought back to life thanks to artist Adrianna Wallis. In a high tech world saturated by data, has the art of letter writing definitively died?

Gymnastique

Flick Flack

The Search for Lost Letters

Las cartas perdidas

W poszukiwaniu straconych listów

Alla ricerca delle lettere perdute

Some letters never reach their destination, whether by accident or design. This missing mail is brought back to life thanks to artist Adrianna Wallis. In a high tech world saturated by data, has the art of letter writing definitively died? 

program_content

Cultural Brain Stretching

Gymnastics

Some letters never reach their destination, whether by accident or design. This missing mail is brought back to life thanks to artist Adrianna Wallis. In a high tech world saturated by data, has the art of letter writing definitively died? <br /><br /><br /><br />

In a high tech world saturated by data, has the art of letter writing definitively died?

program_playNext

Yurts, tipis, igloos: traditional homes are round, but most modern buildings are full of harsh right angles. In the 60s, influenced by science fiction, strange, curved creations started popping up in France. But it was a brief movement that fell out of favour.

In the 60s, influenced by science fiction, strange, curved homes started popping up in France

Why Live In a Bubble House?

California, 1962: as counter-culture boomed, Corita Kent created her first pop-art paintings. The nun and art teacher mixed Jefferson Airplane, Pepsi and Bible verses in her work. But her activism and political convictions would force her to hang up her habit.

How a nun became a counter-cultural icon thanks to her art

Corita Kent, the Pop Culture Nun

Stadiums filled with raving fans, millions of dollars in contracts and fierce competition: esports is no longer a fad, and could even be headed to the Olympics. A look back on how it all began.

Esports is now mainstream. We take a look back at where it all began

Esport: Born in 1972?

The trolley problem asks, is it better to let 5 people die or choose to kill only 1? And now that problem is more pressing than ever with the advent of self-driving cars. Do they think? And what role should morality play in their decision-making process?

A self-drivng car won't just get you from A to B, it'll make crucial decisions in those life-or-death moments right before a car accident

Are Self-Driving Cars Moral?

A 1960s icon and a martial arts legend, Bruce Lee is still beloved as the king of martial arts the world over. But Quentin Tarantino may have committed the small crime of lese-majesty in his latest film. He asks: was Bruce Lee even really that good at fighting?

Was Bruce Lee even really that good at fighting?

Was Bruce Lee Actually Good at Fighting?

A tribute to nature and a classic coming-of-age film, Bambi is not just a cute Walt Disney cartoon. It first started off as a novel by Austrian writer Felix Salten, which was banned by the Nazi authorities in 1936. So why did the story of this harmless deer draw the ire of the facist censors?

Why Burn Bambi?

Statues are silent observers of our everyday lives... and most of the time they go unnoticed as city dwellers bustle from one destination to the next. But now statues are having their moment in the spotlight. When we look at the stories of the people we put on plinths, we discover painful histories and shameful, forgotten truths.

When we look at the stories of the people we put on plinths, we discover painful histories and shameful, forgotten truths

Why are Statues Controversial?

These aren't doodles: Art Spiegelman or Marjane Satrapi's books are pieces of literary art. Without boxes or bubbles, the graphic novel is now a major genre in publishing. Graphic novels have an unlikely origin story: the genre emerged from woodcutting.

These aren't doodles: Art Spiegelman or Marjane Satrapi's books are pieces of literary art

The Origin Story of the Graphic Novel

White noise to better concentrate at work, pink noise to put baby to sleep, brown noise to meditate... After ASMR, this is the latest trend catering to a society in burn out. Tune in to a sound with a tune, melody, or rhythm.

White noise, pink noise, brown noise: tune in to a sound with a tune, melody, or rhythm

Relax, Listen to Noise

Birds have inspired many great composers, and like all self-respecting performers, they improvise and only sing when they are happy. But can you call them musicians?

Birds have inspired many great composers, but can you call them musicians?

Are Birds Musicians?

In response to the planned obsolescence programmed by the giants of the web, artist Olia Lialina designs interactive works that revive old tech. Will she succeed in saving the Internet?

Meet the artist hacking the internet to revive old tech

Olia Lialina: The Artist Who's Saving the Internet

Mohamed Ali was aware of the power of image. A genius boxer and king of communication, he surrounded himself with the best photographers of his time and attracted the interest of the press, shaping his own iconography. So how did Muhammad Ali win the fight to control his image?

Mohamed Ali wasn't just a genius boxer, but a king of communication

Mohamed Ali: The Legend of a Fighter

Degas’s The Little Fourteen Year Old Dancer hit the headlines at the Impressionist exhibition because of its shocking hyperrealism. It's found to be an ugly and crudely done piece. But the real scandal wasn't the work's reception, but the life of the young dancer herself and the treatment of her peers. 

Degas’s The Little Fourteen Year Old Dancer has a sad history behind it

Degas, Backstage at the Opera

In 2019, Les Indes galantes was performed at the Opera de la Bastille in Paris, hip hop style. This baroque opera, composed by Jean-Philippe Rameau, is an ode to colonial exoticism, and its reworking is the brainchild of Bintou Dembélé, the first black woman to choreograph a ballet at the Paris Opera.

In 2019, Les Indes galantes was performed at the Opera de la Bastille in Paris, hip hop style

Operatic Hip Hop: Dance Decolonised

Would you attend a gallery exhibition with the paintings turned to face the wall? Probably not. And yet curators find a huge wealth of information about the painting based off of the clues left on the back of the canvas and its frame.

Would you attend a gallery exhibition with the paintings turned to face the wall? Probably not...

The Picture Behind the Picture

We've all experienced lockdown in the past year, but one artist has been doing his own self-imposed lockdowns for years. For Abraham Poincheval, confinement is just another form of artistic expression.

For Abraham Poincheval, confinement is just another form of artistic expression

Confined for Art

They cry, they cry and they faint at the Beatles or One Direction concerts: they are the fans. One might think that this isn't a recent phenomenon. In the 19th century, a pianist prodigy drew big crowds. His name: Franz Liszt. Long before beatlemania, there was "Lisztomania".

Long before beatlemania, there was "Lisztomania"

Franz Liszt, the First Rock Star

In many French cities, there are feminist messages hastily pasted across the walls, denouncing rape and violence against women. They come from a long tradition of feminist protest first sparked off by Oympe de Gouges.

In many French cities, there are feminist messages hastily pasted across the walls, denouncing rape and violence against women

Street Art Takes on Patriarchy

How can an artist unblock writer's block and free themselves of the fear of the blank page? Producer and musician Brian Eno has found the solution: a card game. Called Oblique Strategie", it gave artists inspiration when they had none. David Bowie composed his unforgettable Heroes thanks to this very strange game.

David Bowie composed his unforgettable Heroes thanks to this very strange game

The Game That Saved David Bowie

If Monopoly today is a cheerful celebration of capitalism, it actually didn't start off that way. Its creator, a working class woman who barely made any money from it, had devised the game as a way of denoucing the worst excesses of unfettered capitalism. 

Let's give credit where credit is due: the creator of Monopoly was a working class woman who barely made any money from it

When Monopoly Was Anti-Capitalist

Taboo since ancient times, periods are also taboo in art. But thanks to a generation of feminist artists determined to end the shame around menstruation, period blood is making a big splash in the art world - even if social media has yet to catch up. 

A generation of feminist artists are determined to end the shame around menstruation

The Art of Menstruation

Designer Erik Spiekermann explains how he created the map for Berlin's newly unified public transport network, just after reunification and the fall of the Berlin wall.

Designer Erik Spiekermann explains how he created the map for Berlin's newly unified public transport network

How a Map Healed Berlin

Federico Fellini is renowned for his extravagant productions. On the sets, there was often a mixture of creativity and chaos. But why did the filmmaker make his actors recite numbers and pasta recipes rather than scripts?

Federico Fellini's creative process was chaotic but legendary

Carbonara Alla Fellini

At the first hint of sadness, out comes the pints of icecream and the sad power ballads. But why is listening to sad music our idea of a good time? Does sad music make us happy?

Why is listening to sad music our idea of a good time?

Why Do We Love Sad Music?

In old paintings, the subjects never smile. Up until the 18th century, every figure was sombre and strict-looking, because smiling was considered uncouth. 

In old paintings, the subjects never smile

Why Do Old Portraits Look Grumpy?

The Dreamachine is a cylinder that generates a psychedelic light that triggers strange visions in the people who look at it: it's a drug-free high. Its inventors even thought it would replace TV.

The Dreamachine triggers a drug-free high in th people who look at it

The Dreamachine Trip

In a time before social media and dating apps gay people communicated their sexual preferences to one another with a subtle code of colour-coded hankies. What is left of this practice today?

The Secret Code of Love

From Baudelaire to Cocteau to Hemingway, artists have often chosen the company of cats. This artist-animal relationship has inspired many works. Why are so many artists so obsessed with cats?

Why are so many artists so obsessed with cats?

Cats and Artists, a Love Story

Yes, football is art! And we have proof. On March 26, 1952, the France-Sweden match took place at the Parc des Princes. This was the first artificially lit football match in France. A genius painter, Nicolas de Staël, was there in the stands. The scene sparked off something special. 

Football is Art

You've probably never heard of Pamela Colman Smith, but you have seen her work. Known as Pixie, she illustrated a deck of tarot cards that went on to become world famous, and are still sold to this day. But the artist herself, a woman and a person of colour, died penniless, her name whitewashed from history. 

You've probably never heard of Pamela Colman Smith, but you have seen her work

Pamela Colman Smith, the Tarot Card Artist

We all spent a lot of time looking out the window during lockdown, but the artists always have. From Flemish paintings to Hitchcock, how does the window feature in the history of art?

We all spent a lot of time looking out the window during lockdown, but the artists always have

Art and Windows

From the earliest days of culture, women have been presented as sinners, even demonic beings. Starting with the most famous of them: Eve. In the 20th and 21st centuries, many of them became scapegoats: none more so than Yoko Ono. 

Women have been portrayed as evil throughout the ages, from Eve right through to Yoko Ono

The Yoko Ono Effect

Their whole life is spent in front of an audience, but most actors and musicians sick with stage fright rarely talk about how their nerves impact them. How to explain this paradox? Does stage fright help them?

Is stage fright an advantage for actors and musicians?

Is Stage Fright Good?

It's a sound you know, a shrill echo from beyond the grave you can hear everywhere, from 'Amityville' to 'Poltergeist' to 'The X-Files'. A sort of deep, wavy creak that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. It comes from a strange, little-known, unique instrument.

It's a sound you know, a shrill echo from beyond the grave you can hear everywhere, from 'Amityville' to 'Poltergeist' to 'The X-Files'

The Soundtrack to Your Nightmares

Gymnastics - Cultural Brain Stretching

program_recommendations

Madeleines have become literary icons, all thanks to Proust. But it almost didn't happen: according to Proust's notes, the famous madeleine could have been a rusk or toast.

Madeleines have become literary icons, all thanks to Proust

Proust's Sweet Tooth

Cardboard is a material that in and of itself is usually just a means to an end: it protects some other more valuable material or object inside it. But Eva Jospin has transformed cardboard into minutely carved forests.

Eva Jospin has transformed cardboard into minutely carved forests

Cardboard Sculpture

When you go into space, you can exercise, play tennis, fly things, but also create art. So, are we more inspired by weightlessness? What if the next Leonardo da Vinci was an astronaut?

What if the next Leonardo da Vinci was an astronaut?

Art Conquers Space

A simple hut on the Côte d‘Azur shows all of Le Corbusier’s architectural genius.

Le Corbusier and his Cabin

With his Stetson on his head and a cigarette in his mouth, Townes Van Zandt (1944-1997), was a singer-songwriter of incandescent, beautifully despairing country songs. He was an artist plagued by demons, often under the influence of alcohol and drugs, but he nevertheless wrote some of the masterpieces of American song, including "If I Needed You" and "To Live is to Fly", and managed to climb to the top of the charts in spite of himself with the song "Pancho and Lefty", first popularised by Emmylou Harris and then covered by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. His song 'Kathleen' was recently covered by Tindersticks.
 Troubled Troubadour
Through concert footage, film archives and interviews, this remarkable documentary sensitively traces Townes Van Zandt's formative experiences and existential and artistic ups and downs - from the beginning of his musical career, inspired by early Bob Dylan records and legendary blues bard Lightnin' Hopkins, to his untimely death. His managers, his children, his three wives and numerous musician friends shed light on his personality and reveal the affection they had for this troubled troubadour.

Portait of troubled Texan folk singer Townes van Zandt (1944-1997) who wrote beautiful and despairing country songs.

Townes Van Zandt: Be Here to Love Me

Ancient Greek statues are white, pure and classical, just like the marble they are carved from. False. These statues were painted in fabulous bright colours. Archaeologists and art academics have known this for centuries so why does the white myth endure?

Ancient Greek Statues Were Not White

program_bonus

Bonuses and Extracts

program_external

Discover more

program_categoryMostViewed

August 15 2021: The Taliban take Kabul. As the international coalition leaves after 20 years of intervention, there is chaos at the airport with Afghans trying desperately to get out. ARTE follows four Afghan civilians in the last few days before the fall of Kabul as their worst nightmares become reality.

Afghan Civilians in Danger

ARTE follows four Afghan civilians in the last few days before the fall of Kabul as their worst nightmares become reality.

Re: The Taliban in Kabul

From an incredibly varied selection of 19th century postcards, the Paris of the Belle Epoque (1871 – 1914) comes to life. Street-photography captured Parisians from all walks of life and conveyed the optimism and elegance of the period.

From an incredibly varied selection of 19th century postcards, the Paris of the Belle Epoque (1871 – 1914) comes to life.

Paris in the Belle Epoque

The historian Herodotus in the fifth century BC said that Egypt was "a gift from the Nile", and from the pharaohs to Nasser, the Nile has played a vital role in Egypt's fortunes. But Ethiopia now intends to remind leaders in Cairo that the Nile is not just an Egyptian river.

Mapping the World

Ethiopia wants to remind Egypt that the Nile is not just Egyptian

Geopolitics of the Nile

Stanislaw Lem is Poland's most famous sci-fi writer who predicted smartphones and virtual reality decades in advance. Yet his life is shrouded in mystery and full of paradoxes. How did he manage to survive the Holocaust? What were his true feelings towards communism? How did he manage to keep up with international science and technology with such outstanding accuracy - whilst living on the outskirts of Krakow, behind the Iron Curtain? And why did he write for the Catholic weekly “Tygodnik Powszechny”, while being openly atheist?

Autor Solaris

Stanislaw Lem is Poland's most famous sci-fi writer who predicted smartphones and virtual reality decades in advance. 

Stanisław Lem

After eight years of restauration, one of the greatest works of art ever made looks once again as its creators intended. The monumental tableau that is the Ghent Altarpiece, also known as the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, captures the viewer with its intense realism and complicated symbolism. A full immersion into this revolutionary work that looked forward to the modern world.

The monumental tableau that is the Ghent Altarpiece captures the viewer with its intense realism and complicated symbolism.

Secrets of the Ghent Altarpiece

25-year-old Sibel lives with her father and sister in a secluded village in the mountains of Turkey’s Black Sea region. Sibel is a mute, but she communicates by using the ancestral whistled language of the area. Rejected by her fellow villagers, she relentlessly hunts down a wolf that is said to be prowling in the neighbouring forest, sparking off fears and fantasies among the village women. There she crosses path with a fugitive. Injured, threatening and vulnerable, he is the first one to take a fresh look at her.

25-year-old Sibel, rejected by her fellow villagers, relentlessly hunts down a wolf that is said to be prowling in the neighbouring forest.

Sibel

With its grand churches, palaces and ruins, the Eternal City has a majestic architectural heritage that bears witness to its past grandeur. This subtle charm, which captivates millions of tourists from all over the world every year, is nevertheless a challenge for city planners and conservationists.
Can Rome become a modern metropolis while keeping hold of its glorious past?

Can Rome become a modern metropolis while keeping hold of its glorious past?

Enchanting Rome

From Chur, Switzerland’s oldest city, to Tirano in Northern Italy, the Bernina Express winds its way through deep valleys and wild gorges, crossing some 196 bridges and going through 55 tunnels in its journey through the Graubünden Alps. A journey to discover one of the most spectacular railway lines in the world and an audacious feat of engineering.

A Train through the Alps

 A journey of discovery on one of the most spectacular railway lines in the world, and an audacious feat of engineering.

The Bernina Express

This documentary, co-written with the chairman of the parliamentary commission of inquiry, Georges Fenech, looks back on how lives could have been saved if decisions made at the head of French police and the government had been different.

On the horrific night of 13th November 2015, French bureaucracy contributed to the terrible death toll

Bataclan: The Paris Attacks

There are an estimated 1,500 active volcanoes on Earth and in the 20th century, 437 of them erupted in places like the United States, Russia, Indonesia and Japan. Both a blessing and a curse, they have shaped our world on land and at the sea.

A World of Volcanoes

20 years later, the survivors of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York are still deeply scarred by their experiences. This report meets these forgotten people as they struggle to overcome the trauma of that tragic day.

Arte Reportage

20 years later, the survivors of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York are still deeply scarred by their experiences. 

USA: 9-11 Survivors' Long Struggle

284 Russian soldiers are still missing in Afghanistan from the Soviet-Afghan War, a conflict that ended in 1989. ARTE Reportage goes in search of these lost red army soldiers

ARTE Reportage

Afghanistan: Lost Soldiers of the Red Army

In 2016, Colombia the country signed a historic peace treaty with the FARC rebels. This was intended to mend the deep rift in Colombian society, which has long been divided into two extreme camps: on the one hand the Marxist revolutionary guerrilla, on the other the ultra-conservative right and paramilitary militias. But the violence that has shaped the recent history of the country is far from over.

Colombia is still struggling to control violence from extreme groups and drug cartels

Colombia: A Nation in Revolt

Welcome to Afghanistan, the land of the magnificent mountains of the Hindu Kush and a country of great ethnic diversity. Its complex history is characterised by an almost permanent state of war.

Afghanistan - A Troubled Country

Nobody captured the atmosphere of 1990s Berlin better than him. German photographer Daniel Josefsohn, who died in 2016 at the age of 54, made his mark in advertising with his irreverent aesthetic and punk sensibility. It was his spontaneous, imperfect images shot for an MTV campaign in 1994 that first made him famous.

Nobody captured the atmosphere of 1990s Berlin better than than German photographer Daniel Josefsohn.

DJ Punk - The Photographer Daniel Josefsohn

20 years ago, on September 11, 2001, 3,000 people died when al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes. Mapping the World looks back on the 20-year struggle against Islamic terrorism, from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda to the so-called Islamic State, Boko Haram, and other jihadist organisations.

Mapping the World looks back on the 20-year struggle against Islamic terrorism

20 Years of War against Terrorism

Report from a dogs’ home that specialises in unmanageable and dangerous hounds. Dog trainer Vanessa Bokr knows better than most how aggressive some breeds of dog can be. She works tirelessly to retrain unwanted dangerous dogs in the hope that they can find new homes rather than be put down.

Abused Dogs Learn to Love

Report from a dogs’ home that specialises in unmanageable and dangerous hounds.

Re: Hellhounds

In Greece, the coastguard has taken to pushing back potential asylum seekers towards Turkish waters. That's despite the fact that once in Europe, these people have a right to apply for asylum and to have that application processed. But while this tactic is against EU human rights law, the Greek government have a promise to keep to its electorate: reducing the flow of migrants.

In Greece, the coastguard has taken to pushing back asylum seekers into Turkish waters, in violation of EU law

Greece: Illegal Pushbacks of Asylum Seekers

Since 1989, the Visa Festival has been an unmissable event for photoreporters around the world. It's a chance to visit exhibitions, discover new projects, and meet with the photographers themselves. They tell of their work, what drives them, and their sometimes traumatic experiences in the field.

War photographers explain what drives them, and their sometimes traumatic experiences in the field

France: War Photographers at the Visa Festival

The Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and its new musical director, the French violinist Renaud Capuçon, perform Bach's first two violin concertos, Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony and Arvo Pärt's Tabula Rasa.