The show takes its inspiration, in part, from sport. “There’s something about sport we can take some lessons from, in that everyone can engage with it in a way we struggle with in the arts,” she says. “Whether it’s deliberately or incidentally, we do engage with the arts. It’s all around us.”

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Benson previously hosted the ABC’s weekly Art Works, launched in 2021 and not continued this year. The presenter used her brothers, who are all into sport but know nothing about the arts, as examples. “And then I thought, masculinity, they’d click on that,” she says.

While Benson helms most episodes, guest hosts include drag queen Courtney Act examining masculinity and former MasterChef host Matt Preston on food.

Across 15 episodes, artists such as actor Yael Stone, singer/songwriter Emma Donovan and comedian Nazeem Hussain discuss their work and their life experiences. In the visual arts, people such as Del Kathryn Barton and Brook Andrew appear, as well as an array of international names, from singer Angelique Kidjo and historian Mary Beard, to the multi-talented Amanda Palmer.

In each episode, art historian Mary McGillivray looks at the visual arts. With a master’s degree in history of art and architecture from the University of Cambridge, she has clocked up 12 million-odd views on TikTok for her quirky, accessible takes on all things art and life.

Creator and executive producer Zoe Norton Lodge, whom audiences will know from ABC programs such as The Checkout, makes an appearance in The Art of Heartbreak episode. It’s a more personal approach for Benson as the host, who in one episode reveals how her Melanesian background has influenced her – with a surprising outcome.

Benson says that coming up with a list of the biggest questions in life and then paring it down was quite a process. The whiteboard was very full, initially, and there were over 100 ideas.

“Once you get started with an exercise like that, it really doesn’t end,” she says. “There are so many great ideas, some perhaps a bit more complex. We also wanted to keep them as topics ... that everyone could relate to. If we do get commissioned again we’ll be able to do a deeper dive into what it is to exist in the world.

“With previous art shows, it’s been more features and a magazine-style, more the who and the what – the artist and their practice.

“With these conversations, it’s a lot more of the why and the how.”

The Art Of… premieres on ABC TV at 9.30pm on June 4.

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