Steve Martin, Michael Beirut and Neri Oxman among stars of new BBC Radio 3 and MoMA series

A new collaborative programme series from BBC Radio 3 and Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York will interview the likes of comedian and actor Steve Martin, Pentagram partner and graphic designer Michael Beirut and MIT Media Lab’s Neri Oxman (who is also due to star in the next series of Netflix’s Abstract), about their interpretation of famous works of art. The Way I See It will run over 30 episodes presented by art critic Alastair Sooke, and explore “creativity, the look of art and the art of looking.”

Other interviewees include Yves Behar, Richard Serra, John Waters, Steve Reich, Roxane Gay, Margaret Cho, Liz Diller, Steven Pinker, Jason Moran, Doro Olowu, Zac Posen, Sarah Sze & Siddhartha Mukherjee and Janna Levin.

This is the first time the broadcaster has worked with MoMA, and hopes to analyse what it means “to see” – “How does an astrophysicist see Van Gogh’s Starry Night?” the broadcaster posits in a statement. “How does a jazz pianist see Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie? How does one of the first black women to write for Marvel comics see the difficult truths in Kara Walker’s sweeping image of African-American history? What does a top fashion designer see in the curving forms of a Brancusi sculpture?”

Radio 3’s Matthew Dodd says the team hopes the programme will “allow more people to discover that talking about modern art on your own terms is a natural and eye-opening way of enjoying its power.” The station’s sister, Radio 4, recently broadcast a rare audio interview with Cindy Sherman as part of a documentary on the photographer.

The Way I See It will launch on 14 October, running Monday – Friday at 10:45 pm – 11 pm on BBC Radio 3 and will be available to download on BBC Sounds, as well as international podcast outlets.