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Hello Culture

Home | What is Hello Culture? | The grid | The interviews | Find out more | Credits

Culture now is all about how we think — that's its attraction. It's fresh, it's pop, it's newly minted. But what is our culture really? What is it made up of? What are the ideas in it and what does it say about us?

These are the questions tackled by art critic Matthew Collings in the five-part Channel 4 series Hello Culture. He links them to an exploration of Romanticism — the late 18th-century/early 19th-century artistic movement that included Lord Byron and the Marquis de Sade, Friedrich Nietzche and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and celebrated nature, excess, joy and depression, dreams and nightmares. But Romanticism didn't die out in the mid-1800s — it is still with us, but without the philosophy and values that once underpinned it.

This website maps our own cultural moment. Seeing what connects to what. Not tearing culture apart but going up to it and shaking its hand — saying hello.

• What is Hello Culture? Defines Romanticism and looks how it has been cut down to size to fit the priorities of today.
• The grid Over 160 entries in categories such as 'Heroes and heroines', 'gurus' and 'tribes', linked to the main themes of Romanticism. Links and books to help you explore further.
• The interviews Full edited transcripts of some of the interviews carried out by Matthew Collings for the television series — Robert Altman, Lily Tomlin, Will Self and more...
• Find out more Sources of information on Romanticism and modern culture.