Episode 5

As ever, Arthur and Viv provide timely in-depth analysis – this week of all the goals, galas, and glory of the 2026 World Cup.The likely lads discuss the ancient Jersey tradition of arranged marriages, what colour the England Football Team play in, the cultural impact of of Hurling, the proper etiquette for bringing your own paella to the pub, Viv’s planned half-time football match at his next show, the similarities between a Grade 2 Drums Exam and Lionel Messi, and a toddler’s complete disregard for time and other bourgeois social constructs.Arthur has an upcoming exhibition at Palazzo Merulana, opening in Rome next week, 5 November 2026:https://www.instagram.com/p/DezeO3btaWh/Viv’s album release party for his new LP, Music For Moths, takes place in Berlin on the 12 November 2026:https://www.instagram.com/p/DfFkO1UNB8m/

Arthur and Viv dive in at the deep end, talking all things social media. This week that means Meta glasses, Brian Eno’s windows startup theme, Spotify drones, how to unfollow people on Instagram and still feel insecure, does keeping a list of your own contacts as an artist make you any better than the big corpos, oversharing, sending letters, touring through peoples’ living rooms, praying for peace in Paris, the artwork and ideas of Keiran Stiles, and Viv’s track ‘Social Medium’ from his upcoming album.Arthur has an upcoming exhibition at VRB Gallery, opening in Berlin next week, 9 September 2026:https://www.instagram.com/p/DcblMzcjal0/?img_index=1Viv is currently on tour throughout Europe and the UK, for the rest of September and early October 2026:https://www.instagram.com/p/DcglHaSDWn7/?img_index=1

Viv is krank, Arthur is good craic, who’s got the crack? Arthur discovers that he is Irish, endorses cultural stereotypes. Viv discovers that he is an anarchist, endorses violent protest. Ambivalence regarding the lure of cheap LAP coffee at the cost of Berlin’s soul reigns supreme. Arthur doesn’t explain his coffee rules. Viv cleans his piano keys with glissandos. Jörg Krieg provides sartorial inspiration for every artist working through a heatwave.

Viv and Arthur are close as they’ve ever been – as the crow flies – since rebooting the podcast.In practical terms that means Arthur’s at the airport, and Viv is in the forest. Viv eludes bicycle woes, Arthur falls into a landscape of possibility, as they discuss the financial perils of creative risk-taking. Bookended by the dulcet dirge of the BER Tannoy.

Viv and Arthur approach ten years in Berlin, ten episodes later. We got mosquitoes. We got showering with a bucket. We got banned from the gym. We got morning pages. We got unproductive guilt. We got an elephant that we eating one bite at a time. We got frogmen in a wakeboard park. We got an album release schedule. We got demos. We got a cumulative moment of success and perfection. We got birdsong. We gotta keep buggering on.

On Episode 9 of Postcards From Berlin, Arthur and Viv stumble through Arthur’s accidental Withnail and I holiday: a week of sideways rain, collapsing trees, and existential questions about whether Rudi’s nap time is for rest or forced genius. Viv discovers that one modest gig expands to colonise an entire week with rehearsals, merch-related tragedies, and three-hour train odysseys, while Arthur’s lovingly crafted bolognese recipe turns out to be mildly heretical for vegans, redeemed only by miso and Maggi. Between discussions of no-gimmicks art, gegen-glamour bass lines, and the dubious chic of living solely on buttered toast, they ask (not for the first time) whether this entire “creative practice” is just a highly elaborate joke that’s gone on far too long.

Your adopted East Berliners try recording from Arthur’s studio, testing the compression limits of your headphones with bad sound effects. Arthur & Viv explore the limits of a creative space, and how the physicality of a studio or artistic setting can compress or expand an idea. Arthur tries to say less, Viv has perfect good decent pitch, and together they have too much ego.

“I think it’s really the sound that tips people over the edge.”

Oh is that drugs? Sam, erstwhile host and impromptu automotive consultant, rejoins the podcast to give Art & Viv a dressing down regarding their lives and lifestyles. Art & Sam make a modest proposal, while Viv considers a more deviant solution.

269 weeks later, your punctual Berliners are back in the studio. Everything and nothing has changed, including your hosts, their hopes, our names, his dreams, and my fears.