Listen again to the 'Lisson... ON AIR' podcast series

24 March 2020

Lisson Gallery's 'Lisson... ON AIR' podcast series takes an in depth look into the life and work of various Lisson Gallery artists. Each episode includes contributions from the artists and insights from family, friends and collaborators, as well as an engagement with Lisson's extensive archive. ON AIR engages the various other aspects of the gallery's artists' output, ranging from music, poetry and creative writing to radio plays and composition.

Episode four explores the life and work of the artist, beatnik and monk, Dom Sylvester Houédard. Widely recognised as one of the leading theorists and outstanding international practitioners of concrete poetry, Houédard (1924–1992) is firmly rooted in Lisson Gallery’s early history. Also known by his initials 'dsh', the practicing Benedictine monk and noted theologian wrote extensively on new approaches to art, spirituality and philosophy, and collaborated with artists such as Gustav Metzger, Yoko Ono and John Cage. Houédard's collages and typewritten arrangements known as 'typestracts' reveal his linguistic mysticism and breadth of influences, from religion, spirituality and his far-ranging intellectual interests. This episode features contributions by Lisson Gallery’s Nicholas Logsdail, Matt O’Dell and Hana Noorali; dsh biographer and curator, Charles Verey; and Dr Nicola Simpson, an expert on Houédard and curator of our current exhibition ‘Dom Sylvester Houédard: tantric poetries’. 'Lisson... ON AIR' was created and produced by Hana Noorali.

The full series, featuring episodes with Spencer Finch, Susan Hiller, Laure Prouvost and others, can be listened to for free on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.