talkPOPc's Podcast
talkPOPc (Philosophers' Ontological Party club), is public philosophy + cognitively-engaged art nonprofit founded by Dr. Dena Shottenkirk, who is both a philosopher and an artist. As a topic-based project (we are now on our fourth) talkPOPc sponsors one-to-one conversations between a participant and a philosopher (who always dons our amazing gold African king hat, along with our mascot Puppet!) These conversations are consensus-building conversations and feed back into Shottenkirk's related artworks and published philosophy. The conversations become collaborative acts of making both philosophy and art. Thus, each topic - #1. nominalism, #2. censorship, #3. art as cognition, and #4 power - has three "pillars" the associated artworks, the published philosophy book, and podcast conversations. Various philosophers participate (see our website talkpopc.org for the list of philosophers) and these conversations happen in various places. For example, we go into bars and have one-to-one conversations. We sit down next to the deli counter and hold a conversation with someone who has walked in to get a ham sandwich and walked out knowing so much more about their own thoughts. We go into the MDC prison in Brooklyn and have conversations. We set up in galleries where the artworks and the philosophy are also displayed. And we listen. Here are some of those conversations.
Change happens when people talk.
talkPOPc's Podcast
Episode #103 R.P. Sascha Benjamin Fink speaks in Magdeburg, Germany with students Bosse Schäfer, etc.
Timestamps:
- 00:10: Introductions
- 01:00: Initial thoughts on Art as Cognition, but what is Art? How do we define it? How do people make Art to show their perceptions to the world? Perceiving vs Thinking
- 02:50: What makes perceiving in Art different from just perceiving? Is Art special? It's intentional to start. Art takes a creative mind
- 04:00: The amount of sensory input from Art makes it different from conversation. There's an activation of the senses that makes the difference
- 04:45: Dadaism and the Fountain. Where's the intention that bridges the gap with Art and cognition? Right moment, right context. Removing the "Fountain" from the restroom makes it different.
- 07:30: Does Art have to be impractical? Or perhaps not accomplish a specific goal? Art is not about optimization and use, process over end goal.
- 09:00: If Art is impractical, why do we do it? Why do we seek it out? It's a way of expression and feeling different about the sensations in the world.
- 10:10: Non-sensational Art. How strongly are specific sensations associated with specific Art pieces?
- 13:30: Some things are done by the Artist and some by the Perceiver. A collaborative form. Almost a conversation between the artwork and the perceiver.
- 16:05: Reality is constructed, you need context. In a vacuum, things don't work.