Time Sensitive

Dries Van Noten on the Meaning Found in Making

24 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Dries Van Noten’s lifelong fascination with craft and making runs deep. He grew up in a multigenerational family of retailers and tailors in Antwerp...

Felix Burrichter on Print’s Enduring Power in the Algorithmic Age

17 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Through PIN–UP, the German-born, New York–based editor, curator, and founder Felix Burrichter continues to expand the possibilities of what an arc...

Maria Popova on the Role of Chance in Shaping Our Lives

10 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Through her multifaceted work, the Bulgarian-born, Brooklyn-based writer, reader, and researcher Maria Popova, founder of the “free, ad-free, A.I.-f...

Sheila Hicks on Life as a Series of Portals

27 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For our latest “site-specific” episode of Time Sensitive, Spencer meets Sheila Hicks inside her courtyard in Paris’s Saint-Germain-des-Prés nei...

Valerie June on Joy as a Form of Resistance

13 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The singer-songwriter Valerie June has a gift for writing contemporary songs that feel timeless and as though they could also have existed at various ...

George Saunders on the Power of Fiction to Enliven the World

06 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The novelist, essayist, and short-story writer George Saunders—widely celebrated for his novel Lincoln in the Bardo (2017), which won the Man Booker...

Alma Allen on Connecting to the Primordial Through Art

22 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

There’s an animate quality to the biomorphic sculptures of the self-taught, Utah-born artist Alma Allen. His works, carved from wood, marble, and br...

Devon Turnbull on Elevating the Beauty of Sound

08 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

To be in a room with one of the artist and audiophile Devon Turnbull’s texture-rich Ojas hi-fi audio systems may be the closest one can get to being...

Shohei Shigematsu on Why “Memorable Space” Matters

25 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

According to the Japanese-born, New York–based architect Shohei Shigematsu, there’s such a thing as a building being too refined. What matters mos...

Lucinda Childs on the Dance of Everyday Life

11 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Over six decades and counting, the postmodern choreographer and dancer Lucinda Childs has built an exceptional, category-defining body of work grounde...

Hans Ulrich Obrist on Art as a Portal to Liberate Time

17 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Swiss-born, London-based curator, art historian, and Serpentine Galleries artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist moves through his life and work wit...

Jennie C. Jones on Time Traveling Through Art, Sound, and Space

10 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When the artist Jennie C. Jones listens closely to a piece of music, she’s particularly attuned to its pauses, in-between moments, and breaks. Widel...

Noah Horowitz on Art Basel as a Cultural Force

03 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As the CEO of Art Basel, Noah Horowitz has made it his mission to ensure that the international art platform is seen, valued, and experienced—far be...

Theaster Gates on Building and Bridging Culture, From Chicago to Japan

19 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past two decades, the artist Theaster Gates has poured himself into his multifaceted practice that spans pottery, painting, sculpture, urban ...

Jay Osgerby on Imbuing Objects With Meaning

12 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The British designer Jay Osgerby believes in designing rigorously simple objects that are deeply felt and, hopefully, appreciated for generations to c...

Michael W. Twitty on Honoring His Ancestors Through Food

05 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For the James Beard Award–winning writer and culinary historian Michael W. Twitty, kitchens provide a multitude of significant purposes that stretch...

Camille Henrot on Tapping Into a Boundless Imagination

29 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For the Paris-born, New York–based artist Camille Henrot, time practically never stands still. Across her work in film, drawing, painting, sculpture...

Alison Roman on Recipes as Time Capsules

22 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The cook and food writer Alison Roman frequently emanates and celebrates a certain spilled-milk imperfectionism. Her on-camera candor and laid-back co...

Olivia Laing on the Pleasures and Possibilities of Gardens

08 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For the British writer and cultural critic Olivia Laing, restoring and tending to their backyard garden has prompted complex questions of power, commu...

Oliver Burkeman on the Power of Embracing Imperfectionism

24 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The British author and journalist Oliver Burkeman has spent decades pondering what it means to live a meaningful life, both in his former Guardian col...

Sara Imari Walker on Making Sense of Life, the Universe, and Ourselves

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As the physicist and astrobiologist Sara Imari Walker—the author of the mind-expanding book Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life’s Emergen...

James Frey on Designing Your Life to Bring Joy

25 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2003, when the author James Frey published his first book, A Million Little Pieces—a gut-punch account of his experience with addiction and rehab...

Molly Jong-Fast on the Fleeting Nature of Fame

18 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Through her sharp and biting political commentary—whether as host of the podcast Fast Politics, as a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, or as a ...

Alicja Kwade on the Absurdity of Being Alive

04 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Few artists aim to make sense of the subjectivity and complexity of time and space quite like the Polish-born, Berlin-based artist Alicja Kwade. In ea...

Thomas Keller on Cooking as a Pathway to Happiness

21 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

With one small, clever—and now-trademark—idea in 1990, the chef Thomas Keller turned not only the notion of the ice-cream cone on its head, but th...

Billy Martin on Finding Harmony in Rhythm and Life

14 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The drummer and percussionist Billy Martin, whose name many Time Sensitive listeners may recognize—he created the Time Sensitive theme song—defies...

John Pawson on Minimalism as a Way of Life

30 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For the British architect John Pawson, minimalism isn’t just a design philosophy, but a life philosophy—with his 1996 book, Minimum, serving as a ...

Lina Ghotmeh on Ruin and Regeneration in Architecture

16 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Through her “archaeology of the future” design approach, the Lebanese-born, Paris-based architect Lina Ghotmeh has firmly established herself as a...

Leonard Koren on Life as an Aesthetic Experience

02 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For as long as he can remember, Leonard Koren has been searching for beauty and pleasure. Throughout his career, the author and artist—he prefers th...

Pico Iyer on the Pleasure and Profundity of Silence

26 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Since publishing his debut essay collection—Video Night in Kathmandu, featuring far-flung reportage from 10 Asian countries—in 1988, the prolific ...

Faye Toogood on Creation as a Form of Connection

19 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Faye Toogood is perhaps best known for her Roly-Poly chair, among the more famous pieces of furniture to come out of the 2010s and take over the zeitg...

Malcolm Gladwell on Finding Freedom in Abandoning Expectations

18 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Malcolm Gladwell may be one of the most widely read—and, with his Revisionist History podcast, listened to—journalists of our time. A New Yorker m...

Richard Christiansen on Bridging Horticulture and Popular Culture

11 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Richard Christiansen believes that the true definition of luxury is having one’s senses on full blast—seeing, tasting, smelling, hearing, and touc...

Marcia Bjornerud on the Profound Wisdom of Rocks

20 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

To the majority of humankind, rocks may appear to be static, timeless objects, but not to the geologist Marcia Bjornerud. In her mind, rocks are rich ...

Nachson Mimran on Leveraging Privilege for Good and in Service of Others

13 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With great privilege, believes the humanitarian and entrepreneur Nachson Mimran, comes great responsibility. Brought up in a family that operates one ...

Jonathan Lethem on Novel Writing as a Memory Art

30 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Perhaps best known for his novels Motherless Brooklyn (1999), The Fortress of Solitude (2003), and Chronic City (2009)—or, more recently, Brooklyn C...

Lindsey Adelman on the Transformative Nature of Light

23 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

To the lighting designer Lindsey Adelman, light is at once ubiquitous and precious, quotidian yet miraculous; it can be easily overlooked or taken for...

Paul Goldberger on Architecture as an Act of Optimism

09 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the eyes of the architecture critic Paul Goldberger, a building is a living, breathing thing, a structure that can have a spirit and even, at its b...

Francesco Clemente on Painting as Poetry and Performance

25 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The artist Francesco Clemente may have been born and raised in Naples, but—having lived and worked around the world, including in Rome, India, New Y...

Sarah Lewis on “Aesthetic Force” as a Path Toward Justice

18 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In her new book, The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America (Harvard University Press), the historian and Harvard professor Sarah Lewis unpa...

Rita Sodi on Food as a Reflection of Home

04 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For Rita Sodi, cooking isn’t so much an art or a science, but rather an intuitive way for her to channel her Tuscan roots and provide a profound sen...

Edwina von Gal on Gardening as an Antidote

26 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

To the landscape designer Edwina von Gal, gardening is much more than just seeding, planting, weeding, and watering; it’s her life calling. Since st...

Hiroshi Sugimoto on Photography as a Form of Timekeeping

12 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

While he may technically practice as a photographer, artist, and architect, Hiroshi Sugimoto could also be considered, from a wider-lens perspective, ...

Ramdane Touhami on Why He Will Never Slow Down

22 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Soon to celebrate his 50th birthday by journeying from Paris to Tokyo by car along the Southern Silk Road, the French Moroccan creative director, arti...

Viet Thanh Nguyen on the Need to Recognize Coexisting Truths

15 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

At age 4, following the fall of Saigon, in 1975, Viet Thanh Nguyen and his family fled Vietnam and came to the U.S. as refugees. Throughout the turmoi...

Thaddeus Mosley on Making Art to Be Appreciated for Centuries

01 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Born and raised in Pennsylvania, the 97-year-old Pittsburgh-based artist and sculptor Thaddeus Mosley has a deep and enduring obsession with wood. In ...

Adam Pendleton on His Ongoing Exploration of “Black Dada”

24 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Most widely recognized for his paintings that rigorously combine spray paint, stenciled geometric forms, and brushstrokes, the Brooklyn-based artist A...

Paul Smith on Imbuing Clothing With Joy and Humor

10 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The cheeky, happy-go-lucky spirit of the British fashion designer Paul Smith can be felt across everything he does, from his own clothing designs to h...

Lucy Sante on on Transitioning Into Herself at Long Last

03 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Three years ago, at age 66, the Belgium-born writer and critic Lucy Sante—known for her award-winning essays, criticism, and books, including Low Li...

Ilse Crawford on Creating Lasting, “Living” Spaces

20 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

To the cult British interior and furniture designer Ilse Crawford, interiors too often take a backseat to architecture. Through her humanistic, system...

Massimo Bottura on Ethics, Aesthetics, and Slow Food

13 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Italian chef Massimo Bottura may be a big dreamer, but he’s also a firmly grounded-in-the-earth operator. Based in Modena, Italy, Bottura is fam...

Helen Molesworth on Museums as Machines for Slowness

20 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

To Helen Molesworth, curating is much more than carefully selecting and positioning noteworthy artworks and objects alongside one another within a spa...

Annabelle Selldorf on Architecture as Portraiture

06 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In another life, the German-born architect Annabelle Selldorf might have been a painter or a profile writer. In this one, she expresses her proclivity...

Walter Hood on Connecting People and Place Through Landscape Architecture

29 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

To the landscape architect Walter Hood, “place” is a nebulous concept made meaningful only through the illumination of its history and the people ...

Min Jin Lee on the Healing Power of Fiction

15 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Min Jin Lee could be considered an exemplar of the old adage “slow and steady wins the race.” The author’s bestselling 2017 novel Pachinko—a N...

Mira Nakashima on Keeping Her Father’s Woodworking Legacy Alive

08 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In art and design circles, the name George Nakashima is synonymous with expert woodworking, exquisite furniture, and high-quality craftsmanship. Over ...

Ian Schrager on Consistently Capturing the Zeitgeist

25 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Behind every unforgettable space and every extraordinary experience is a certain je ne sais quoi. If anyone has an idea of what exactly that is, it’...

Sanford Biggers on Patching Together the Past, Present, and Future Through Art

18 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

To Sanford Biggers, the past, present, and future are intertwined and all part of one big, long now. Over the past three decades, the Harlem-based art...

Edmund de Waal on Pottery, Poetry, and the Act of Letting Go

04 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The London-based artist, master potter, and author Edmund de Waal has an astoundingly astute sense for the inner lives of objects. Each of his works, ...

Trent Davis Bailey on Finding Family and Community Through Photography

20 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The artist and photographer Trent Davis Bailey (our host, Spencer Bailey’s, identical twin brother) continually seeks to unearth the tangled roots o...

Robert Wilson on the Wonder to Be Found in Time, Space, and Light

13 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For each and every performance the theater director, playwright, choreographer, and sound and lighting designer Robert Wilson creates, time isn’t ju...

José Parlá on Coming Back to Life Through Art

26 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Through his abstract paintings, the Miami-born, Brooklyn-based artist José Parlá explores themes ranging from memory, gesture, and layering, to move...

Tom Dixon on Designing With Longevity in Mind

28 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The renegade British designer Tom Dixon has long had a roving obsession with raw materials—everything from cast iron, steel, and copper; to clay, gl...

Jessica B. Harris on Making Vast Connections Across African American Cooking and Culture

14 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Jessica B. Harris is renowned as the grande dame of African American cookbooks. One of the world’s foremost historians, scholars, writers, and t...

Samuel Ross on the Art of “Awakening” Materials

07 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The term “polymath” is unquestionably overused, and often just plain wrong, but it suits the multi-hyphenate British designer, creative director, ...

Jelani Cobb on 50 Years of Hip-Hop and the Future of Journalism

24 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

To Jelani Cobb, reading, writing, and education are inherently acts of empowerment, and sometimes even ones of defiance. A staff writer at The New Yor...

Marilyn Minter on Pioneering Sex-Positive Feminism in the Art World and Beyond

10 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past 50 or so years, Marilyn Minter has been on a roving exploration of feminist, sex-positive thinking. In her art-making, she harnesses the...

Ari Shapiro on Finding Clarity and Connection Through Listening

26 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As the co-host of NPR’s flagship news program All Things Considered, Ari Shapiro is a go-to source for tens of millions of Americans for essential d...

Anders Byriel on Redefining the Idea of “Company Culture”

12 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Over his 25 years as CEO of the Danish textile company Kvadrat, Anders Byriel has turned what was once a small, fairly dusty family design business in...

Tina Barney on Photography as a Way of Marking Time Across Generations

05 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Across her 40-year-long career, the photographer Tina Barney has become internationally renowned for capturing her particular milieus—family, friend...

Nick Cave on Art as a Means of Working Through Grief and Trauma

29 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On this week’s episode of Time Sensitive—our first of Season 7—Chicago-based artist Nick Cave talks about his career-spanning retrospective, “...

Rerun: 23. Daniel Brush on Making Some of the Most Extraordinary and Exquisite Objects on Earth

01 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

From the archive: The late artist, jewelry-maker, and metalsmith Daniel Brush, who died on Nov. 26, 2022, at age 75, talks about memory (and interpret...

Ruthie Rogers on Cooking as an Act of Imagination

21 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For the American-born chef and restaurateur Ruth Rogers, owner of the Michelin-starred River Cafe on the north bank of the Thames in London’s Hammer...

Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen on the Profound Impacts of Humanitarian Entrepreneurship

14 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One small step for Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, one giant leap for mankind. So goes the story of several of the entrepreneur, philanthropist, and huma...

Hank Willis Thomas on Acknowledging the Multitudes of Truths Among Us

07 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The artist Hank Willis Thomas is a voracious reader, not only of books, but of the world around us—and particularly, of images. Through his practice...

Tina Roth Eisenberg on the Deep Value of Heart-Centered Leadership

30 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Swiss-born, Brooklyn-based designer Tina Roth Eisenberg has, over the past 15 years or so, built a cult following of creatives around the world wh...

Michael Bierut on the Enduring Power of Simplicity

16 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Across his four-decade-long career in graphic design, Michael Bierut has amassed an impressively robust tally of bold-faced clients. From The New York...

Eric Ripert on Finding Compassion in Life and the Kitchen Through Buddhism

09 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As the New York restaurant Le Bernardin celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, chef Eric Ripert humbly reflects on his three-plus decades there. O...

Brad Cloepfil on the Eternal Quest for Awe in Architecture

03 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The architect Brad Cloepfil views his work as less of a job and more of a calling. Sites speak to him. He listens with his eyes. When embarking on a p...

Annie-B Parson on Choreography as a Way of Life

26 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

To Annie-B Parson, choreography isn’t confined to the studio and the stage; rather, practically everything around us abounds with movement that’s ...

Saeed Jones on the Profundity to Be Found in the Grieving Process

19 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If there were a bard for our bewildering times, Saeed Jones would be a fitting choice. In his newly released collection of poems, Alive at the End of ...

Peter Saville on Capturing “Nowness” Through Design

12 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Peter Saville is a man of the moment—and has been, again and again, throughout the past five decades. Raised in Manchester, England, in the sixties—...

Roxane Gay on Using Her Voice for Good and in Service of Others

05 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Roxane Gay describes her wild trajectory as a multihyphenate writer-editor-publisher-professor-social commentator as “fairly bewildering.” And she...

Jamie Nares on Creating Space for Fluidity in Life and Work

28 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For the past five decades, the British-born, New York–based artist Jamie Nares has been capturing the passage of time, the physics of motion, and th...

Xiye Bastida on Why “Stubborn Optimism” Is Pivotal to the Climate Movement

21 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Xiye Bastida was quite literally born into environmentalism. Throughout her upbringing in San Pedro Tultepec, Mexico, and later in New York City, Bast...

Rachel Comey on Meeting Her Customers Right Where They’re At

14 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Fashion designer Rachel Comey has always done things in a tightly focused way—and on her own terms. For more than two decades, she has followed an i...

Céline Semaan on Why Slowing Down Is Essential for Our Collective Survival

07 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For Céline Semaan, the founder of Slow Factory, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing climate justice and social equity, no obstacle is too big—or too...

Baratunde Thurston on Humility as a Path to Wisdom

27 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For writer, comedian, and cultural critic Baratunde Thurston, host of the How to Citizen podcast, humility is a tool to connect with people—and to b...

Jhumpa Lahiri on Translation as a Path to Self-Discovery

13 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Author and translator Jhumpa Lahiri grew up in what she has called “a linguistic exile.” Born in London to Bengali immigrants who moved to the Uni...

Jancis Robinson on the Wondrous World of Wine

29 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Jancis Robinson wrote the book on wine. Literally. The author of the first four editions of the definitive Oxford Companion to Wine, she has also publ...

David Broza on Making Music That Transcends Borders

22 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Israeli singer-songwriter David Broza believes that music can unite people across cultures and has spent the past 45 years showing audiences how it ca...

Deborah Needleman on the Humble Joys of Making Baskets and Brooms

15 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If life is a garden, the writer, editor, and craftsperson Deborah Needleman certainly knows how to dig and cultivate it. Early in her career, she foll...

Bethann Hardison on Pushing Fashion Forward and Toward “Complete Diversity”

01 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Bethann Hardison has, with great finesse, risen to become among the most vital voices in fashion. A self-described “advocate” who currently serves...

Paola Antonelli on Solving the World’s Biggest Challenges Through Design

25 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There is perhaps no one on the planet with a bigger-picture view on the impact of design—in all of its manifestations—than Paola Antonelli. As the...

Alfredo Jaar on Bringing Reality Into Focus

18 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Alfredo Jaar illuminates truths that often escape popular consciousness. Through his work, the artist and filmmaker raises awareness about sociopoliti...

Dan Barber on How Seeds Will Revolutionize Our Food System

11 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Barber is on a mission to quite literally plant seeds for a better future. Around a decade ago, after learning that the nation’s largest food co...

John Hoke on Technology as a Co-Conspirator in Creativity

04 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

John Hoke, Nike’s chief design officer, intimately understands how to move design from an object to a feeling. At the company over the past three de...

Claudia Rankine on Confronting Whiteness Head-On Through Language

27 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Claudia Rankine cuts to the chase. She does not mince her words. The poet, essayist, playwright, and educator—whose recent body of work analyzes whi...

Kenny Schachter on Taking the Art World to Task

20 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Kenny Schachter has an insatiable appetite for all things art. The polymathic art dealer, curator, teacher, writer, critic, collector, and self-taught...

Reginald Dwayne Betts on How Freedom Can Begin With a Book

13 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For Reginald Dwayne Betts—a poet, lawyer, and activist who supports and contributes to prison decarceration efforts—reading and writing have a min...