Ep 02: Art and Human Nature

Can flying a kite be art? Absolutely. Josie, Louise , and Christine discuss Alva Noe’s book Strange Tools: Art and Human Nature in connection with brilliant artworks by Ed Pien and others.

Is this the first time you’ve listened to this Lichen Lab Radio? We recommend starting with Episode 01.

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More Episodes

Ep 05: Art as Research Ep 04: Art and Technology Ep 03: The Gallery as a Social Space (part two) Ep 03: The Gallery as a Social Space (part one) Ep 02: Art and Human Nature Ep 01: Introducing Level 2: Lichen Lab

Show Notes

Featured in this episode:

Ed Pien
The artwork, Up In The Air, by Ed Pien opens this episode.

Also discussed is Ed’s exhibition, Liquid Being, which recently opened at the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery. Ed talks more about the exhibition in the video below:

Merrell-Ann S. Phare
Environmental lawyer specializing in water and land rights who collaborated with Ed Pien on Liquid Being.

Referenced in this episode:

Strange Tools: Art and Human Nature by Alva Noë

Philosopher, Alva Noë presents his theory of why humans make art and its role in shaping society through ‘level 2’ activities (part of the inspiration for the name of the lab).

Christian Marclay - The Clock

The Clock is a 24-hour video montage featuring scenes from film and television with clocks or timepieces that are synchronized with real time, effectively functioning as a clock. This image is of Orson Welles’ The Stranger, which is is shown at midnight.

Further Reading:
“As in Life, Timing Is Everything in the Movies”, by Roberta Smith
“THE HOURS: How Christian Marclay created the ultimate digital mosaic”, by Daniel Zalewski
“Killing Orson Welles at Midnight”, review by Zadie Smith
“NIGHT SHIFT WITH “THE CLOCK”, by Daniel Zalewski

Philosopher Peter Hacker

In this episode, we discuss similarities between art and philosophy, which prompts Louise to mention Peter Hacker, who argues that philosophy is an effort after understanding. To go deeper into this idea, read Dr. Hacker’s article “Philosophy: Not a contribution to human knowledge, but to human understanding”.