The Heart
Listen at theheartradio.org
The Heart (Radiotopia) is a Peabody-nominated audio art project known for its elaborate narratives and whimsical worlds that evoke laughter, tears and transcendence in equal measure. From 2008 until today the show’s creator Kaitlin Prest and her artistic community create audio that follows the famous feminist precept: the personal is political.
listen to the trailer
Kaitlin Prest is an award winning artist working in audio, film, performance and installation. The New Yorker describes her work as “elaborately sound-designed productions, [where] she whispers, self-examines, and confides, blending re-enactment with verité excerpts of her real life.” In 2014 she founded The Heart (Radiotopia, PRX) which became a Peabody nominated institution for queer feminist narrative documentary audio, and the first podcast to win a Prix Italia (2015) . Her series about consent (NO) was listened to by millions and featured in a doc by Refinery29 and on WNYC’s Radiolab. In 2018 she wrote and directed The Shadows (CBC) a form breaking and award winning audio fiction podcast. In 2019 she founded Mermaid Palace, which she sometimes calls her ‘most ambitious work of performance art to date’. Through MP she financed and co-produced the hit podcasts Asking For It (CBC) and Appearances (Radiotopia PRX).
Her installation and performance work uses sound to make connections: between you and your community, you and your lovers, you and your friends, you and your own body. Featured at the AGO (Toronto), Dynasty Typewrtier (LA), de Brakke Gronde (Amsterdam) and the Danish School of Performing arts (Copenhagen), Union Docs (Brooklyn), and many DIY spaces along the way.
All of Prest’s work is driven by an anti-oppression queer feminist ethos rooted in the following principles: (1) no one is free until we’re all free. (2) Beauty is food for the soul. (3) Laughter is food for the heart. (4) Listening is our path to compassion. (5) Sound is our path to connection.
more independent podcasts from Radiotopia
