Etruscan Wisdom, Los Angeles, Lost Dreams & Illusions - A Road Trip w/ CHIARA BARZINI

Chiara Barzini has spent her life navigating the literal and cultural fault lines between Italy and California. Today we will discuss her book, Aqua: A Story of Water and Lost Dreams, and her life as an artist living between two countries. In her acclaimed 2017 novel, Things That Happened Before the Earthquake, she wrote about arriving in the San Fernando Valley just weeks after a catastrophic natural disaster and the illusions of the '90s.In Aqua, she examines nature, the California water crisis and the broken dreams of the Hollywood machine. We talk about family, film, art as an act of faith and our collective ecological coming of age, where the end of empire meets the end of abundance, and the consequences of hypercapitalism and colonialism. What does it mean to stare our illusions in the eye and find the courage to imagine a better future?(0:00) Water as Power(2:17) The Necessity of Illusions(4:24) Aqua: A Reading - On Hollywood and Water(7:51) The Edge of Apocalypse & Writing(9:10) The Etruscans and the Art of Dying(13:13) Translation and the Creative Spark(14:38) Raising Children in a Crazy World(16:18) Poetry, Ruins, and The Waste Land(18:48) Scents and Sounds of Two Cities (Rome and Los Angeles)(20:43) The Connection with Animals and Nature(22:54) The Evolution of Love and Compassion(24:12) The Memory Museum(27:04) We are in this lifetime togetherEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

“I think first of all that in order to have disillusion, you need to have illusion and I really want to sort of take a stand in the name of being a delusional person, you know? I do think illusions are necessary to our sense of creativity, and we need to fall in love with extreme projects, and we need to have ideas that are sometimes unsustainable. We need to dream big in order to be creative and feel alive. The illusions that are a part of Aqua are larger illusions. They're illusions that have to do with my adult life. They're connected to nature and the presence or absence of water, the illusion that we can keep sustaining a city even though the water has run out.”My guest today, Chiara Barzini, has spent her life navigating the literal and cultural fault lines between Italy and California. Today we will discuss her book, Aqua: A Story of Water and Lost Dreams, and her life as an artist living between two countries. In her acclaimed 2017 novel, Things That Happened Before the Earthquake, she wrote about arriving in the San Fernando Valley just weeks after a catastrophic natural disaster and the illusions of the '90s.In Aqua, she examines nature, the California water crisis and the broken dreams of the Hollywood machine. We talk about family, film, art as an act of faith and our collective ecological coming of age, where the end of empire meets the end of abundance, and the consequences of hypercapitalism and colonialism. What does it mean to stare our illusions in the eye and find the courage to imagine a better future?(0:00) The Necessity of Illusions(1:40) Chiara Barzini, Author, Screenwriter(4:44) The End of Empire and Ecological Anxiety(12:15) The Allure and Cruelty of Capitalism(16:07)   Aqua: A Reading - On Hollywood and Water(21:02) Screenwriter Robert Towne and the Legacy of Chinatown(26:20) AI Consumption and Water Bankruptcy(30:23) The Edge of Apocalypse and Bombay Beach(33:41) The Etruscans and the Art of Dying(42:33) Translation and Creativity(44:28) Raising Children in a Crazy World(47:30) Poetry, Ruins, and The Waste Land(57:33) Scents and Sounds of Rome and Los Angeles(01:04:17) The Connection with Animals and Nature(01:07:35) The Evolution of Love and Compassion(01:09:17) The Memory Museum(01:13:00) We Are in This Lifetime TogetherEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

“Lincoln Center is multiple stages. I think probably over three dozen stages across 16 acres. It is a vast canvas in and of itself. And then we have this beautiful plaza that leads to this beautiful campus, and that’s the visual I think that most people have when they think of Lincoln Center is this beautiful fountain in the center and these three gorgeous buildings.It’s New York’s biggest plaza, and it feels very vibrant and beautiful. In the summer, we really take that plaza and we transform it into a dance floor. So this idea of also interrupting what people’s notion of Lincoln Center is because it’s a space that is very aspirational, which is a great thing.”Shanta Thake is the Chief Artistic Officer at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts—the nation's largest performing arts complex. Before stepping into this role, she spent nineteen years at The Public Theater, shaping the city's cultural landscape through Joe's Pub and expansive community initiatives. Today, she is tearing down walls—both the literal barriers separating Lincoln Center from its neighbors, and the figurative ones that dictate who belongs in our cultural spaces. She views the arts not as a luxury, but as essential civic infrastructure. We are pleased to have Shanta Thake to discuss her journey, the power of radical curation, and the future of public performance.(0:00) Reimagining Lincoln Center(2:27) Art and the Human Experience(4:40) The Curiosity of Childhood(5:44) Alvin Ailey and the Pivot(8:29) The Invisible Arts(9:06) The Power of Public Theater(17:03) Curation, Programming and the Art of Listening(23:42) San Juan Hill and The Wall(31:23) Art as the Oldest Technology(35:02) globalFEST: Music and Connection(38:20) Finding Universal Belonging(41:20) The Gift of Pause(54:27) A Collective CaretakingEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

“We are in the middle of a labyrinth which suggests to us many fake corridors. What's the superpower of literature? Literature is like an antidote against propaganda. Propaganda explains the world easily in a two-dimensional way.  Literature gives you a more complex explanation. Literature tells personal stories.”Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor.Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer’s patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia.(0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia(2:13) The Art of Translation(5:44) The Pandemic of the Past(11:30) Reading from ‘Time Shelter’(14:28) Death and the Gardener(19:34) The Translator's Calling(26:05) Cultural Rhythms of the Bulgarian Language(30:00) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling(34:30) Separating Personal and Historical Pasts(42:55) Storytelling vs Propaganda(47:19) Bodies, Animals and the Loneliness of the Minotaur(56:00) Reading ' Eight Minutes and 19 Seconds’(1:00:28) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning?(1:04:18)   Childhood, Memory and Imagination(1:10:38) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him(1:17:20) Education and the Empathic Imagination(1:23:25) The Museum of Memory(1:26:15) The Importance of Hugging and Empathy(1:28:02) AI and the Future of HumanityEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor.Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer’s patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia.(0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia(1:22) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling(3:53) Translating the Atmosphere(4:31) The Pandemic of the Past(6:37) Death and the Gardener(9:49) The Translators Calling(11:00) Slowing Down Time(13:14) Storytelling vs Propaganda(15:54) Translating the Atmosphere(18:19) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning?(20:56) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him(23:43) The Importance of Hugging, Empathy and StorytellingEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

"I really do believe that the arts are critical to how we move forward together, and live performance in particular, I think, is a way of us practicing how to move across our ideological boundaries and find one another and imagine these new worlds together and create together."Shanta Thake is the Chief Artistic Officer at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts—the nation's largest performing arts complex. Before stepping into this role, she spent nineteen years at The Public Theater, shaping the city's cultural landscape through Joe's Pub and expansive community initiatives. Today, she is tearing down walls—both the literal barriers separating Lincoln Center from its neighbors, and the figurative ones that dictate who belongs in our cultural spaces. She views the arts not as a luxury, but as essential civic infrastructure. We are pleased to have Shanta Thake to discuss her journey, the power of radical curation, and the future of public performance.(00:00) Reimagining Lincoln Center(03:09) A Collective Caretaking(03:47) The Technology of Human Creation(04:20) The Curiosity of Childhood(09:25) San Juan Hill and The Wall(14:20) globalFEST: Music and Connection(16:06) The Gift of Pause(17:20) A Collective CaretakingEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

For over a decade, technology has promised to make life easier. Social media was meant to connect us, we were told smartphones would simplify our lives, and now artificial intelligence promises to lift even more daily burdens. Yet these advances also raise an important question: when do tools enhance human creativity, and when do they replace the very experiences that give life meaning? While AI holds immense promise, many people face challenges coping with current technological advancements that ‘redefine’ human communication, work, education, and democratic values. Today, we examine societal and cultural impacts of AI, identity, inclusion, governance, education, and community well-being. And are speaking with Nacho de Gregorio, author of TheWhiteBox, one of Medium's most-followed AI analysts, for a level-headed conversation about both the remarkable potential and the real limitations of AI.(0:00) The AI compute gap and national security(1:56) The hidden risks of the AI debt bubble(4:40) Separating AI hype from job displacements(12:38) Shadow borrowing and the data center boom(17:19) Europe's missing infrastructure and tech sovereignty(21:52) The Jevons paradox and the demand for compute(26:37) Regulatory capture and doomerism(31:12) Why open source AI is the best path forward(42:19) The chess paradox and the future of human art(46:35) Unmeasurable domains and future-proofing your career(53:45) Tutoring and AI in education(1:01:48) Navigating the AI slop and information ecosystem(1:16:00) Finding beauty in the natural world(1:20:18) The pleasure of waiting vs. the hustle(1:35:01) Setting healthy boundaries with technologyEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

“ I'm a believer in this technology. I believe that the cheaper it is, the more people will use it. So, even if we assume that models will get smaller for the same level of intelligence, the demand to actually have more compute is going to be enormous. And the reason why you want to have the, the compute close to you is not only in terms of performance. As a national security threat, I'm not saying this will happen, but it could happen that, China or US or whoever decides to stop exporting compute to the rest of the world. If that happens today, Europe has zero AI at the scale of data the data center.”For over a decade, technology has promised to make life easier. Social media was meant to connect us, we were told smartphones would simplify our lives, and now artificial intelligence promises to lift even more daily burdens. Yet these advances also raise an important question: when do tools enhance human creativity, and when do they replace the very experiences that give life meaning? While AI holds immense promise, many people face challenges coping with current technological advancements that ‘redefine’ human communication, work, education, and democratic values. Today, we examine societal and cultural impacts of AI, identity, inclusion, governance, education, and community well-being. And are speaking with Nacho de Gregorio, author of TheWhiteBox, one of Medium's most-followed AI analysts, for a level-headed conversation about both the remarkable potential and the real limitations of AI.(0:22) The hidden risks of the AI debt bubble(0:55) Shadow borrowing and the data center boom(3:12) The AI compute gap and national security(5:40) Europe's missing infrastructure and tech sovereignty(8:13) The Jevons paradox and the demand for compute(10:25) Why open source AI is the best path forward(12:31) The chess paradox and the future of human art(12:53) Unmeasurable domains and future-proofing your career(14:00) Tutoring and AI in education(15:11) Navigating AI slop and the information ecosystem(16:24) The Pleasure of Waiting vs. The HustleEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

If you live in a city, you’ve probably had that moment in the middle of the night. You hear a scratching in the walls, or you catch the glowing eyes of a raccoon peering out from a dumpster, and for a second, the concrete world feels a lot less 'controlled' than we like to pretend. We’ve been taught to think of cities as 'biological deserts'—places where nature goes to die. But my guest today, Dan Werb, says that’s a myth we tell ourselves to feel safe. Dan is an award-winning epidemiologist and a musician, and in his new book, Our Wild Familiars, he explores the 'synanthropes'—the wild creatures that aren't our pets, but aren't quite strangers either. They are the coyotes, the bats, and even the octopuses that are learning to use our cities as laboratories for their own rapid evolution. He’s also the author of The Invisible Siege and City of Omens.(0:02) The unexpected biodiversity of urban areas and wild familiars(1:18) What is a Synanthrope?(4:15) The Myth of the Biological Desert(8:04) The Ancestral Bond between early humans, ravens, and foxes(9:15) Crows and Grudges(12:42) Stepping Stones in the Concrete(14:20) The Epidemiological Triangle(17:58) The Illusion of AI Connection(19:56) The Museum of MemoryEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

Today, we hear from writers Yann Martel, Carl Safina and David George Haskell on the practice of listening to the living world. Tom Chi discusses the dangerous volatility of a one-degree shift. Clayton Aldern explores how climate change alters brain health and behavior, while Ami Vitale,Osprey Orielle Lake and Martín Von Hildebrand remind us of the kinship we share with nature. Fred Pearce discusses 40 years as a journalist reporting on climate from around the world, while Richard Black of the environmental think tank Ember and Paula Pinho, European Commission’s Chief Spokesperson, talk about policy, hope and the radical empathy required to protect the planet for future generations.(0:00) Clayton Page Aldern – Finding awe and beauty in the world(0:40) David George Haskell – On consequences of humans tuning out the sounds of the living world(2:11) Yann Martel – How animals ask us to step out of our humanity(3:12) Carl Safina – The interior lives of non-human animals(5:08) Ami Vitale – Environmental collapse and human conflict(6:37) Martín von Hildebrand – Indigenous views of nature(8:00) Richard Black – Transition to clean energy vs. massive fossil fuel subsidies(10:01) Tom Chi – Climate destabilization(11:07) Paula Pinho – Europe’s vision for energy independence(14:04) Osprey Orielle Lake – Māori concept of "I am the river and the river is me”(16:08) Bill Hare – On limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees(17:19) Fred Pearce – Finding hope in nature’s resilienceTo hear more from each guest, listen to their full interviews.Episode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/pod@creativeprocesspodcast