Civilisations

Civilisations (2018)

EndedDocumentary showHistory

Civilisations explores the visual culture of societies from around the globe, revealing alongside the magnificent objects made in the West the wealth of treasures created by other cultures, from the landscape scrolls of classical China and the sculpture of the Olmecs to African bronzes, Japanese prints and Mughal miniatures.

Network
Scheduleevery Thursday at 21:00 (60 min)

Last Episode

The Vital Spark
Season 1Episode 960 min

The Vital Spark

Simon Schama begins Civilisations with this premise: that it is in art - the play of the creative imagination - that humanity expresses its most essential self: the power to break the tyranny of the humdrum, the grind of everyday. Art, then, makes life worth living; it is the great window into human potential. And societies become civilised to the extent that they take culture as seriously as the prosecution of power, or the accumulation of wealth. But in the century of total war and industrial slaughter was (and is) that enough? The cause of humanity went up in the smoke of the Nazi crematoria. Horror and terror brushed beauty aside and stamped on its pretensions. And in the modern world art has become increasingly commodified.

Simon's last programme explores the fate of art in the machine and profit-driven world. It looks at the rise of art as a tradeable commodity and turns on one central question: should art create a realm separate from the modern world, a place where we can escape and pull the ladder up after us? Or should it plunge headlong into the chaos and cacophony while transforming the way we see it and live in it? Using the works of both dead and contemporary artists of the 20th and 21st Simon seeks answers to these profound questions.

His conclusion is imbued with hope: despite all the travails of the present, by engaging with the here-and-now art still offers civilisation an insight into the incomprehensibility of the world and a way to transcend its horrors with the enduring creativity of the human spirit.

Mar 1, 2018

Recent Episodes

EpisodeNameAirdate
S01E09The Vital SparkMar 1, 2018
S01E08The Cult of ProgressMar 1, 2018
S01E07RadianceMar 1, 2018
S01E06First ContactMar 1, 2018
S01E05The Triumph of ArtMar 1, 2018
View all episodesView all seasons

Cast

View all cast

Characters

View all characters

Also known as

  • Civilizations (PBS) (United States)

Recently Updated Shows

Recently updated shows that might be of your interest.
Futurama
Running

Futurama

Futurama follows pizza guy Philip J. Fry, who reawakens in 31st century New New York after a cryonics lab accident. Now part of the Planet Express delivery crew, Fry travels to the farthest reaches of the universe with his robot buddy Bender and cyclopsian love interest Leela, discovering freaky mutants, intergalactic conspiracies and other strange stuff.

Pawn Stars
Running

Pawn Stars

Long before banks, ATMS and check-cashing services, there were pawn shops. Pawning was the leading form of consumer credit in the United States until the 1950s, and pawn shops are still helping everyday people make ends meet. Pawn Stars takes you inside the colorful world of the pawn business. At the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop on the outskirts of Las Vegas, three generations of the Harrison family - grandfather Richard, son Rick and grandson Corey - jointly run the family business, and there's clashing and camaraderie every step of the way. The three men use their sharp eyes and skills to assess the value of items from the commonplace to the truly historic, including a 16th-century samurai sword, a Super Bowl ring, a Picasso painting and a 17th-century stay of execution. It's up to them to determine what's real and what's fake, as they reveal the often surprising answer to the questions on everyone's mind, "What's the story behind it?" and "What's it worth?"

Moonshiners
Running

Moonshiners

The secret and illegal world of moonshining stretches all across Appalachia raking in a pretty penny for those who choose to shine. Moonshiners will go to unprecedented extremes in their efforts to hide their still sites and cloak their distribution networks, some can hide in plain sight. With new styles of shine being tested and sold there is a king's ransom waiting for those bold enough to grab it. But those who enforce the law are wise to shiner deceptions and more determined than ever to catch them red handed and in the act of making Moonshine. The day of reckoning may be around the corner, but don't sell the Moonshiners short. Each has a keen understanding of how to stay one step ahead of the law in their region, and in this ongoing cat and mouse game you never know who will end up in the trap.

True Detective
Running

True Detective

Touch darkness and darkness touches you back. True Detective centers on troubled cops and the investigations that drive them to the edge. Each season features a new cast and a new case.

True Detective is an American anthology crime drama television series created and written by Nic Pizzolatto. 

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan
Running

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan

Jack Ryan is a drama featuring Tom Clancy's popular hero Jack Ryan billed as a new contemporary take on the character in his prime as a CIA analyst/operative using the novels as source material.