Lowell Nickel

MINGLE MANGLE
Gallery show, May 13 - June 17:
Asteroid Belt
Interactive ceramic modules (hanging impact/percussion objects). 2023

When a tree falls in the forest, and there’s no one around to hear it, does it make a sound? Well, if by ‘sound’ we mean vibrating air, then yes, when the tree falls, it vibrates the air around it. If we define sound as vibrating air, the falling tree makes a sound but if we define it as a conscious experience you would have to have at that moment been in that forest. Let that thought sink in… so in deep space when planets, meteors, asteroids collide, of course no-one is there to experience the impact, there is no air to vibrate to make sound. An answer may seem to be simple: it depends on how we define’ sound’ within a percussion less space. A primary philosophical question if there was nothing conscious, then nothing would be experienced. There would be nothing resembling anything we call existence. No sounds, no colors, no smells, no tastes, no touch, no sense of time, no sense of space.
Phenomenology as a discipline is distinct from but related to other key disciplines in philosophy. Phenomenology has been practiced in various guises for centuries, but it came into its own in the early 20th century in the works of Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre and others. Philosophy is of a mind rendering art with intentionality, consciousness, and first-person perspective.

More information on MINGLE MANGLE
More information on the June 3rd On-site Event


About the artist:
Currently I am a gravity challenged geriatric trying hard to make sense of my existence. As my eyes loose focus, food smells and tastes are diminishing, conversations and sounds are often misconstrued my life is not diminished much. I have art and the art making. Mixed up (not confused) media artist, I, my life, its wonders are to be savored, never solved.
P.S. Resumes only stagnate.

Social Media: Instagram


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