Signature Features
- CHANEL Connects Season 6 was recorded live at three internationally recognised cultural institutions: LACMA in Los Angeles, Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, and Fondation Beyeler in Basel.
- The season features Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk alongside celebrated artists Sarah Sze, Julie Mehretu, David Salle, and Linder Sterling.
- Five CHANEL Next Prize winners join the conversations: choreographer Andrea Peña, designer Bárbara Sánchez-Kane, and artists Ayoung Kim, Emeka Ogboh, and Pol Taburet.
- Yana Peel, President of Arts, Culture & Heritage at CHANEL, serves as host across all episodes.
- New episodes are released weekly from 14 July, available on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.
A Podcast That Travels
CHANEL Connects launched as a vehicle for substantive dialogue between artists, designers, musicians, and thinkers whose work intersects with the values of the Paris-based fashion house. Now in its sixth season, the podcast has moved decisively off-studio, with conversations recorded live inside the very galleries and cultural venues that shape contemporary creative life. That decision to record on location gives Season 6 a texture that a controlled studio environment rarely produces.
The three anchor venues tell their own story. LACMA, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, sits within one of the most culturally plural cities in the world, where Latin American, Asian, and Pacific influences fold into the broader conversation about what contemporary art means and to whom it speaks. Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, a former railway station turned museum of contemporary art, carries decades of post-reunification creative energy. Fondation Beyeler in Basel occupies a position at the intersection of the art market and artistic scholarship, set within one of the world’s foremost cities for watchmaking and design culture.
By grounding the season’s conversations in these specific places, CHANEL Connects moves beyond the format of the talking-head interview and asks instead what a location itself contributes to thought. For readers across the GCC who travel regularly to these cities, the series offers an informed companion to the cultural institutions they may already be visiting. The CHANEL universe has always extended well beyond fashion, and Season 6 makes that reach tangible.
The Voices of Season 6
Thomas Bangalter’s inclusion is the most immediately arresting element of the line-up. The French musician, one half of Daft Punk, has spoken publicly about his preoccupation with performance, identity, and the relationship between human creativity and mechanical or digital mediation. In the trailer, a brief reflection on Daft Punk’s use of robot personas frames their work as performance art rather than simply electronic music. That reading opens a rich vein for discussion, particularly alongside visual artists who explore similar tensions between the body, technology, and representation.
Sarah Sze, Julie Mehretu, David Salle, and Linder Sterling each represent different generations and disciplines within contemporary art, and their presence in the same season as Bangalter underlines an editorial ambition that goes beyond any single medium. Where Sze builds intricate sculptural environments, Mehretu works at the scale of abstracted history and geography. The contrast alone promises conversations that resist easy conclusions. Yana Peel, as host, brings a track record of institutional leadership that positions her to navigate these differences without flattening them.
The CHANEL Next Prize Generation
The five emerging voices featured in Season 6 are all winners of the CHANEL Next Prize, an initiative designed to support artists working across disciplines at a formative stage of their careers. Choreographer Andrea Peña, designer Bárbara Sánchez-Kane, and artists Ayoung Kim, Emeka Ogboh, and Pol Taburet represent a genuinely diverse range of practices and geographies. Their inclusion alongside established names is a deliberate structural choice: the season is as interested in where creative culture is heading as in where it has been. For collectors and arts patrons in the Gulf who track emerging international talent, this cohort is worth knowing.
Format and Access
CHANEL Connects operates simultaneously as a visual and audio experience. Episodes are published on YouTube in video form, allowing viewers to absorb the atmosphere of each venue, and distributed across all major podcast platforms for those who prefer audio. The weekly release schedule, beginning 14 July, creates a sustained engagement across the summer months rather than a single drop. Each episode functions as a self-contained conversation, which means listeners can enter the season at any point without missing essential context.
For the GCC audience, the podcast format is well suited to the rhythm of travel and commuting that characterises daily life in Dubai, Riyadh, and Doha. The production sits comfortably alongside the visual and editorial content that luxury audiences in the region already consume. The campaign film for the season is available to watch as the official CHANEL Connects Season 6 trailer on YouTube, offering a concise introduction to the series’ tone and breadth.
Why It Matters
For GCC readers who engage with CHANEL across its fashion, fragrance, and cultural dimensions, Season 6 of CHANEL Connects represents the house’s clearest articulation yet of its commitment to arts patronage as an ongoing, global practice. The presence of CHANEL Next Prize winners alongside figures such as Thomas Bangalter and Julie Mehretu signals a curatorial confidence that will resonate with collectors and cultural patrons in the region who look to luxury houses for intellectual as well as aesthetic leadership. The weekly format ensures the conversation remains open throughout the summer.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who presents CHANEL Connects Season 6?
Season 6 is presented by Yana Peel, President of Arts, Culture & Heritage at CHANEL. She hosts conversations recorded live at cultural institutions around the world, including LACMA in Los Angeles, Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, and Fondation Beyeler in Basel.
Which artists and creatives feature in CHANEL Connects Season 6?
The season features Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk alongside established artists Sarah Sze, Julie Mehretu, David Salle, and Linder Sterling, as well as emerging voices including choreographer Andrea Peña, designer Bárbara Sánchez-Kane, and artists Ayoung Kim, Emeka Ogboh, and Pol Taburet, all of whom are CHANEL Next Prize winners.
Where can listeners find CHANEL Connects Season 6?
New episodes of CHANEL Connects Season 6 are released weekly from 14 July and are available to watch on YouTube as well as on all major podcast platforms.
