I have discovered what has happened to my conversation with Bendor Grosvenor last week, which is that it has been interleaved into his Sunday morning weekly conversation with Waldemar Januszczak called Waldy and Bendy’s Adventures in Art (https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-s9cbp-fe443d). You have to listen nearly to the end, but the rest of the programme is, I think, well worth listening to as well – a couple of what Neil Cossins would call ‘grumpy fundamentalists’ ruminating and reflecting on their experience of the art world: the recent sale of an NFT (a nonfungible token for those like me who still think the NFT is where you go to see old films); the idea that Reading Jail might be turned into an art centre; the decision by Tate to postpone its exhibition by Philip Guston and the subsequent departure of Mark Godfrey, its curator (is free speech in museums still allowed ?); whether or not the Tate has now become like the French nineteenth-century Academy ruling the art world with its own political orthodoxies; and then me talking to Bendor about the potential refurbishment of the Saimsbury Wing, the role of architecture in the experience of art, the cost of modern conservation, and whether or not Tate should rely on Wikipedia for its knowledge of the lives of artists. I think I can recommend it, however much I hate listening to myself, always talking so much more slowly than I think I do in my head.
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
I look forward to it. “Waldy and Bendy” now. They stoop to conquer…
No, it’s very well done – funny and very well informed. I enjoyed the whole programme. Charles
Yes, it’s absolutely excellent. I tuned into it just now. Interesting, Bendy’s idea of you as Minister for Culture. One might vividly imagine you in ermine, wringing your hands at the agenda-ridden intransigence of your peers. I’ve always felt that a useful generalisation to start with, re galleries and museums, is that anything driven by committees is usually bad and anything driven by the enlightened and unhampered passion of an individual tends to be pretty good. Obviously there are exceptions, but not many.
I think Bendor might be a better candidate – a good old-fashioned, politically minded Tory. Charles
Yes. Inside every civilised Tory is an “independent” Whig wildly signalling to be let out. Robin
You’ve made it, Charles; being on Waldy and Bendy (like Steve Martin and Shane McGowan) is like being caricatured in Charlie Hebdo. For us it’s as much a Sunday pleasure as the poulet dominical …
I’m a convert! I could have been listening it all through lockdown. Charles