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 #138: Resident Philosopher speaks with William about power as both a mental construct and physical thing @ Stephen Street Gallery
Timestamps:
- 00:10: Introductions
- 01:00: Exploring the idea of Power
- 02:30: Power and institutional structures vs. individual power
- 03:45: Power as a mental concept. The power of the ideas people share
- 07:15: Imagination and Prestige
- 10:00: Culture from the top, but should we accept tyranny? Follow the leader as a foundational human concept
- 12:45: Diversity, consensus, and truth
- 14:15: Trending towards consolidation of power as a result of crisis
- 15:45: The difficulty of re-capturing power