The Wellcome Collection Podcast

About the podcast The Wellcome Collection Podcast

A podcast exploring health and human experience. Brought to you by Wellcome Collection, a free museum and library in London.

Categories

Arts

The podcast The Wellcome Collection Podcast is embedded on this page from an open RSS feed. All files, descriptions, artwork and other metadata from the RSS-feed is the property of the podcast owner and not affiliated with or validated by Podplay.

Report content

Season 1
Ecstasy
In the final episode of our podcast, Bidisha takes us on a journey through the highest of highs, from nightclubbing and the ecstasies of religion and drugs, to mania. Artist Harold Offeh shares his personal take on the connections between movement, music and bodies. Annie Macmanus (‘DJ Annie Mac’) speaks about the power of nightclubbing, how ecstasy and dance music go hand in hand and how she has managed to maintain her sense of euphoria and delight over the last couple of years. From taking MDMA in the 80s to the work of a religious professional, the vicar, musician and radio presenter Richard Coles reflects on his adventures with both chemical and religious ecstasy. Philosopher Jules Evans and drug science expert David Nutt talk about how people have sought to lose control throughout history, and how psychedelics are being trialled to relieve hard-to-treat cases of depression. Finally, Bidisha asks, can you have too much of a good thing? Psychologist and writer Kay Redfield Jamison talks about her patients’—and her own—experiences of mania as part of bipolar disorder. Presented by Bidisha Produced by Debbie Kilbride Sound design by Micky Curling Music by Sola Researched by Priya Jay Executive producer Emily Wiles
February 2, 2022
46 min
Joy
Bidisha explores joy, from the psychology of our earliest laughs to collective and solitary pleasures like comedy, food and performance. Hear historian of emotions Thomas Dixon describe and define joy, before listening to comedian Daliso Chaponda and developmental psychologist Caspar Addyman talk with Bidisha. They remind us to let our inner jester and inner laughing baby come out and play. Musician Sola shares her track ‘All Mine’ and talks about the pleasures of making music. Whilst enjoying ice cream, performance artist Travis Alabanza speaks with Bidisha about identity and defiance and the sheer delight they experience when they can be themselves on and off stage. How can joy be a collective experience? Bidisha finds out through speaking with Kemi Akinola, the founder of Be Enriched, a community kitchen in South London bringing people together over food and creating a place of comfort and joy for 4000 diners a year. Presented by Bidisha Produced by Debbie Kilbride Sound design by Micky Curling Music by Sola Executive producer Emily Wiles
November 24, 2021
47 min
Tranquillity
When was the last time you felt utterly tranquil? Moya Lothian-McLean searches for an oasis of calm, taking Wellcome Collection’s ‘Tranquillity’ exhibition as a point of inspiration. She visits St Bartholomew’s Hospital to experience the installation ‘Regarding Forests’ by Chrystel Lebas. Hear tips from staff and visitors as they share how they find a moment of peace in the middle of a bustling hospital. Moya speaks with three young people from RawMinds, Fawaz Sajid, Malika Sandover and Tahmina Sayfi and they talk about whether phones can ever help us to find calm in our busy, modern lives. Brain injury survivor and gardener Keith Emmanuel and environmental psychologist Dr Eleanor Ratcliffe talk with Moya about the importance of being in nature for our health and wellbeing. They meet in the garden at Homerton Hospital Mothers and Babies Ward where Keith volunteers. Even if you can’t escape to a green oasis, you have the right to rest wherever you are. Artist Rhiannon Armstrong has created a meditation to help you do just that. The meditation is part of a larger work called Public Selfcare System, shaped by Rhiannon’s lived experience as a disabled artist with chronic debilitating conditions that mean she has become an expert at resting in public. Presented by Moya Lothian-McLean Produced by Debbie Kilbride Sound design by Micky Curling Music by Sola Executive producer Emily Wiles Meditation by Rhiannon Armstrong @mlothianmclean @HeadwayELondon @el_ratcliffe @armstrongtactic
October 27, 2021
42 min
Resolve
Hello Happiness is the first series of The Wellcome Collection Podcast. In this episode, Bidisha chats to her guests about their personal experiences of resolve, and considers its complicated relationship to happiness. Psychotherapist Susie Orbach and broadcaster Jeff Brazier discuss the power and limitations of resolve in managing grief and mental health. Hear about the hurdles faced by champion athlete Yasmin Miller and how she works with coach Leah Dunthorne to overcome them. Artist and writer Scottee reads his specially commissioned text asking whether resolve is all it’s cut out to be. Storytellers and activists Elif Shafak and Hassan Akkad talk about individual and collective responsibility in a world of conflict and injustice. Hassan recounts his journey from Syria to a Covid ward in a London hospital, while Elif reflects on the power of stories and the positives of pessimism. This episode contains references to torture, sexual assault and suicidal thoughts. Presented by Bidisha Produced by Debbie Kilbride Sound design by Micky Curling Music by Sola
September 29, 2021
46 min
Hope
Hello Happiness is the first series of The Wellcome Collection Podcast. In this episode, Bidisha asks: What are our emotions and how are they made? She then attempts to pin down the purpose and uses of hope. Listen to historian Tiffany Watt Smith explain how our understanding of emotion has been shaped throughout time, from the ancient Greeks to our present-day obsession with wellbeing and productivity. Neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett speaks with anthropologist Kit Davies about how emotions are made by our brains and society. Black Lives Matter activist Ndumiso Peter Ndlovu (“Dee”) and climate change activist Daze Aghaji discuss how they hold on to hope for a future that is far more brilliant than our present-day reality. Artist and performer Selina Thompson reads a specially commissioned text where she explores hope, interdependence, trust and time travel. Presented by Bidisha Produced by Debbie Kilbride Sound design by Micky Curling Music by Sola Researched by Priya Jay Executive producer Emily Wiles
August 25, 2021
44 min
Trailer
Bidisha introduces a new five-part series from Wellcome Collection, exploring the meaning of positive emotions: hope, resolve, tranquillity, joy and ecstasy.
August 16, 2021
2 min

About the podcast The Wellcome Collection Podcast

A podcast exploring health and human experience. Brought to you by Wellcome Collection, a free museum and library in London.

The Wellcome Collection Podcast

About the podcast The Wellcome Collection Podcast

Categories

Ecstasy

Joy

Tranquillity

Resolve

Hope

Trailer

About the podcast The Wellcome Collection Podcast

Categories