The Transmute Tapes by Maison Douce

The monster we fear. The monster we need. And perhaps, the monster we create. For over 2,500 years, Medusa has haunted our imagination. Once a terrifying guardian protecting ancient Greek temples, she later became a symbol of female rage, resistance, and transformation. But who is Medusa beyond the familiar image of the snake-haired monster? In the first episode of Beneath the Work, our new series...

Please note: this episode is mainly in French. English subtitles are available on YouTube. Dans cet épisode de Transmute Tapes, nous recevons l’artiste photographe française Psyché Ophiuchus pour parler de mythologie, de psychologie, de symbolisme, de rituel et de ce désir de « réenchanter le monde et donner du sens à la réalité ». Nous revenons sur son parcours de la psychologie et du mannequinat...

Some artworks don't simply ask us to look. They feel like doors. In the new Transmute Tapes, we speak with writer and curator Sarah Elizabeth about darkness, occult art, monsters, ritual, altered states, forgotten knowledge — and our very human attraction to things we cannot fully explain. We talk about the childhood fears that became fascination, the first artwork that truly spoke to her, artists...

ART BRÜT versteht Parfum nicht als dekoratives Accessoire, sondern als künstlerisches Medium: als Erinnerungsträger, als Atmosphäre, als kleine Bühne auf der Haut. Die Düfte bewegen sich zwischen Berliner Nacht, Melancholie, Übermut, Sehnsucht, Körper, Biografie und Gegenwart. Sie tragen Namen wie German Angst, Disko Disko, Weltschmerz, Chasing Ghosts oder Je ne regrette rien – und wirken wie olfa...

In this episode of The Transmute Tapes, we speak with Joanna Ebenstein, founder and creative director of Morbid Anatomy, about death as a creative force, memento mori, mourning, anatomy, fairy tales, ritual, beauty and the life-affirming power of looking into the dark. Joanna’s work explores the strange and fascinating spaces where art, death, medicine, mourning and culture meet. Her books include...

For this episode of The Transmute Tapes, we speak with Kim Trainor — a Canadian poet, teacher, and author based in Vancouver, whose work moves between poetry, ecology, memory, grief, and the ethics of attention. We first connected with Kim through a shared fascination with the Siberian Ice Maiden — the tattooed Iron Age woman unearthed from the frozen Pazyryk burial grounds in Siberia. In Kim Trai...

In this episode of The Transmute Tapes, we speak with Pam Grossman — writer, curator, and host of the podcast The Witch Wave — about witchcraft, art, ritual, and the quiet forces shaping creative life today. Our conversation begins with fairy tales, winter thresholds, and first encounters with witches, and moves into questions of how magic is learned, practiced, inherited, and performed. We talk a...

This episode is in German. Willkommen bei den Transmute Tapes von Maison Douce – unserem Podcast für Gedanken zur zeitgenössischen Kunst, Auszüge aus Performances und Gespräche mit Künstler*innen und Kreativen. In einem rund anderthalbstündigen Gespräch mit Frank Berzbach berühren wir unter anderem das Feine im Archaischen, das Gebet im Jazz, Fluxus, Handwerk versus Beseeltheit, zeitgeistige und z...

Diese Liturgie eröffnet eine neue Werkreihe von Maison Douce — ein Format, das nicht aus religiöser Überlieferung stammt, sondern aus der Gewissheit, dass Kunst ihre eigene Autorität hervorbringt.
The Liturgy of Saint Inbetween stellt die erste Heilige vor, die aus unserer künstlerischen Kosmologie hervortritt: eine Gestalt, geformt durch Geschichten, Performance und rituelle Praxis. In dieser Aud...

This liturgy opens a new body of work by Maison Douce — a format not born from religious tradition but from the certainty that art carries its own authority.
The Liturgy of Saint Inbetween introduces the first saint to emerge from our artistic cosmology: a figure shaped through story, performance, and ritual practice. In this audio recording, hagiography and spoken voice intertwine for the first t...

Elena Unger calls herself a painter of the apocalypse—not as spectacle, but as a lens for truth. A painter and installation artist, she works across sculpture, sound, film, and site-specific formats, building what she calls “extra-liturgical” spaces where her apocalyptic imagery can breathe. In our conversation we explore why collapse and revelation keep returning in her practice, how images arriv...

In this episode of Transmute Tapes, Maison Douce is joined by James Freeman, founder of the James Freeman Gallery in Islington, London. Known for championing contemporary approaches to historicism, James curates exhibitions that weave myth, ritual, and history into urgent conversations for today. We first connected with him in London at Slipping the Veil, an exhibition co-curated with Elena Unger...

Today, we have the honor of chatting with a true pioneer in the world of contemporary art and graffiti, a legend whose work has transcended traditional boundaries and left a mark on both the streets and the art world. Our guest today is none other than RISK, often hailed as the "Godfather of West Coast Graffiti." Find more podcasts and art on our website www.maison-douce.com

Today’s interview guest is Toons One, an international artist, style writer, custom painter, fine line pinstriper, and a pioneering graffiti artist since 1982. Find more podcasts and art on our website www.maison-douce.com

Discover the extraordinary life and artistic journey of Fulton Leroy Washington, aka Mr. Wash, the renowned self-taught artist. For this interview, Lotte Hauss and Marc Thaddaeus Suess visited him in his Compton-based studio, where every artwork tells a story of resilience and creative freedom. Find more podcasts and art on our website www.maison-douce.com

The Transmute Tapes bring you insightful commentary on contemporary art, immersive performances, and exclusive interviews with visionary artists and creatives. www.maison-douce.com