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 #104 Three Universität Otto von Guericke students (including Ioannis Armoutis) discuss ontology, cognition, and art
Timestamps:
- 00:10: Introductions
- 00:50: Getting started, how do feel, what are we about, where are we from?
- 02:40: Brainstorming on Art. What is Art for us? From the point of an Artist, we don't think about it and let the subconscious work, or we focus our intentions through Art.
- 05:00: An experience can stop us in our tracks. We absorb the forms and forget everything else for a moment. What happens in the relationship of Art vs Observer
- 06:30: Art is a language, beyond our written/spoken. It's a language of world-building. We skip the process of translating and overdoing
- 07:40: In the beginning, we think we're an observer, not an Artist, but perhaps there's no true differentiation between the two. Are we all Artists?
- 08:55: The creation process is pivotal. Part of being a creator is deconstructing. It's a healing process of taking away the toxic things we've been taught. When you step into the observer's shoes, you're deconstructing.
- 12:00: When we process art and make it, we have analytical vs creative perspectives. How can we merge them?
- 13:45: Creative mothers and fathers. Portals to step through via Art. It's a beginning for others to make their own meaning.
- 17:20: Artist vs Observer is not a static position. The strongest Art comes from observation. Look within as an observer and create based on those inputs.
- 20:30: Where does Art come from? Do certain regions exist in the brain that constitute the thinking that drives Art? Genes modify behaviors as seen in other animals, but does this apply to us and our relationship with Art?
- 25:20: Unbroken cultures, the Aborigines and their land. Art as a topographical map and representations of the land over years. Process of communal creation over years.
- 28:00: Religion and war tend to go together. We make art from ground zero. Beginning again as a regenerative process. Where we're at mentally changes us, does it change our bodies?
- 31:30: The institution of religion is about power, especially in Europe. In other regions, religion is different as a tool to connect and not so much dominate.
- 34:30: Religious spirituality comes from within, does not relate to power but more so personal growth. It's a language to connect us.