A Conversation Between Nigel Cooke, Robert Macfarlane and Max Porter

In December 2022, Pace Live staged a conversation between Nigel Cooke, Robert Macfarlane, and Max Porter in London. Released to coincide with Cooke’s latest exhibition, How the World Became Natural at Pace’s New York gallery, this film captures their intimate conversation moderated by Mark Beasley. The trio discuss the influence of music, nature, and language across their individual disciplines that span painting, drawing, film, theatre, poetry, music, and writing.

Robert Macfarlane is the author of books about nature, place, language and people including Underland, Landmarks, The Old Ways and Mountains of the Mind. His work has won prizes around the world, been widely adapted for music, film, television, radio and theatre, and he has also written films including River and Mountain, both narrated by Willem Dafoe. He has collaborated with artists including Olafur Eliasson and Stanley Donwood, and with the artist Jackie Morris he co-created the bestselling books of illustrated poetry, The Lost Words and The Lost Spells. He has worked on songs and albums with musicians including Cosmo Sheldrake, Karine Polwart and Johnny Flynn, with whom he released an album, Lost In The Cedar Wood, in 2021. He is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge.