Maja Malmcrona

About abstraction, Adam’s naked chest, Jesus Christ, universals and particulars, Kandinsky’s non–objectivism, sense data and classifications, Bertrand Russell, linguistics, Carl Jung, crow mathematics, puzzle—solving, modernism and Greek white boxes, octopus harassment, spiritual minimalism, fascist art, naked people and their cylinders, the spirituality of geometric shapes, dirty minimalism, abstraction to clarify (not obscure), circumambulation, eyeless wicker baskets, incomplete renderings, and — again — Adam’s naked chest. 

Maja Malmcrona (@majamalmcrona) is an artist from Sweden. Adam Nicholson is a PhD candidate in Philosophy at the University of Glasgow (United Kingdom). Recorded on September 10, 2021.

http://majamalmcrona.com

https://twitter.com/G_JuliusGeezer

About atheism, religion, the Word of God, truth claims, contradictions, the importance (or non—importance) of coherence, mental gymnastics, the value of storytelling, supernaturalism, organised versus non—organised religion, morality, Yuval Noah Harari’s “Sapiens”, community and shared values, spirituality, Émile Durkheim, dogmatism, meaning, and Kung Fu. 

Maja Malmcrona (@majamalmcrona) is an artist from Sweden. T is a software tester from the United Kingdom. They both live in Zürich, Switzerland.

Recorded in Zürich on August 28, 2021.

http://majamalmcrona.com

About religion, devotion, the world of science, non—religious religions, morality, Greek mythology, yoga, religion as a means to control, explaining the unknown, science as a language, science as a means to understand the world, Yuval Noah Harari’s “Sapiens”, religion as community, mysticism, ideology, communism and Soviet literature, supernaturalism, the act of praying, atheism, responsibility, and astrology.

Maja Malmcrona (@majamalmcrona) is an artist from Sweden. Emma Eglinton (@emmasyogalab) is a British/American yoga teacher. They both live in Zürich, Switzerland.

Recorded in Zürich on August 27, 2021.

http://majamalmcrona.com

https://www.emmasyoga.ch/

About art, philosophy, and the relationship between them, abstractions, hairy plague carriers, the act of thinking, shaving one’s beard, the empirical method, David Hume and Immanuel Kant, the tree of knowledge, aesthetics and the definition of art, Richard Wollheim, utilitarianism and function, whether or not art is fundamentally useless and silly (or functional and meaningful), playfulness and one’s creative faculty, the difference between games, the rules of art, Ludwig Wittgenstein, art with intent (or for its own sake), turning off your inner critic, the purpose of horror films, David Lynch, ghost stories, R.G. Collingwood, romanticism, Jackson Pollock and Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski and Stephen King, the democratisation of art (and its pros and cons) and habitual doodling.

Maja Malmcrona (@majamalmcrona) is an artist from Sweden. Adam Nicholson is a PhD candidate in Philosophy at the University of Glasgow (United Kingdom). Recorded on August 20, 2021.

http://majamalmcrona.com

https://twitter.com/G_JuliusGeezer

About art auctions, Rembrandt (and The Rembrandts), pretentiousness, the diamond industry, elitism, the value of an artwork, Thomas More’s “Utopia”, the difference between a £1000 and a £100 million work of art, exclusivity, Damien Hirst’s shark art, colonialism, the accumulation of skills, art becoming commodity, Jeff Bezos in his cowboy hat, philanthropy, the poetry of Charles Bukowski (not the serial killer!), uplifting garbage, Albert Camus’ “The Stranger”, Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Nausea”, and insanity. 

Maja Malmcrona (@majamalmcrona) is an artist from Sweden. T is a software tester from the United Kingdom. They both live in Zürich, Switzerland.

Recorded in Zürich on August 8, 2021.

http://majamalmcrona.com

About escapism, curating your life, anxiety, school shooting drills, introversion, escaping reality as a coping mechanism, computer games, choosing your identity, healthy and unhealthy escapism, Lord of the Rings, world—making, imagination, YouTube rabbit holes, addiction, narcissism, paper architecture, Studio Ghibli, Joe Hisashi, evading real—world problems, and forest dwelling. 

Maja Malmcrona (@majamalmcrona) is an artist from Sweden. Emma Eglinton (@emmasyogalab) is a British/American yoga teacher. They both live in Zürich, Switzerland.

Recorded in Zürich on July 24, 2021.

http://majamalmcrona.com

https://www.emmasyoga.ch/

About death, fear of dying, Irvin D. Yalom’s “Love’s Executioner”, Christopher Hitchens’ “Mortality”, taking control of death, religion and the afterlife, atheism, consciousness, the transhumanism of Nick Bostrom and Anders Sandberg, the first human head transplantation, Switzerland’s assisted suicide programmes, stigma, the ethics of taking your own life, autonomy, the antinatalism of David Benatar, negative utilitarianism, life inside a thought experiment, Jordan Peterson & Stephen Fry, and the pitfalls of abstraction. 

Maja Malmcrona (@majamalmcrona) is an artist from Sweden. T is a software tester from the United Kingdom. They both live in Zürich, Switzerland.

Recorded in Zürich on July 17, 2021.

http://majamalmcrona.com

About melancholy, healthy crying, Carl Jung’s “The Spirit in Man, Art, and Literature”, Leonard Cohen on the violin, existentialism (and the purpose of anything), Camus’ “The Stranger”, Dostoyevsky’s “The Idiot”, nihilism, justifying art to non—art people, art and evolution, supernaturalism, David Wojnarowicz, art as therapy, Mark Rothko, selfishness, coherence amidst chaos, Cat Stevens’ “Father and Son”, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, interpreting art differently to what the artist intended, Anselm Kiefer’s balance of destruction and rebirth, Gerhard Richter, the purpose of the curator, and arrogance.

Maja Malmcrona (@majamalmcrona) is an artist from Sweden. T is a software tester from the United Kingdom. They both live in Zürich, Switzerland.

Recorded in Zürich on July 11, 2021.

http://majamalmcrona.com

About the purpose of art, Olivia Laing’s “Funny Weather”, justifying black squares to IT people, elitism in the art world, handprint art, Kurzgesagt’s “The Past We Can Never Return To”, the Lascaux cave paintings, art as necessity, art as self–expression, R.G. Collingwood’s “art proper”, abstraction & universality, Mark Rothko’s essence of a square, understanding the artist’s intentions, Charles Manson’s “The Love and Terror Cult”, finding a lost piece of your soul, the insufficiency of language, and art’s ability to bring people together.

Maja Malmcrona (@majamalmcrona) is an artist from Sweden. Emma Eglinton (@emmasyogalab) is a British/American yoga teacher. They both live in Zürich, Switzerland.

Recorded in Zürich on July 10, 2021.

http://majamalmcrona.com

https://www.emmasyoga.ch/

Olivia Laing’s “Funny Weather”: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/30/funny-weather-art-in-an-emergency-olivia-laing-review 

About friendship, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the difference between extraversion and assertiveness, compartmentalising your sociability, becoming more reserved with age (or as an ancient turtle), making friends because of insecurities, dad jokes heard a thousand miles away, bonding over stupidity, bridging the gap between disparate opinions, finding real friends in tough times, extroverts making friends with introverts (through adoption, usually), getting rid of insecurities, Robin Williams, deconstructing oneself through therapy (or just using your friends), psychoanalysis, “Love’s Executioner” by Dr. Irvin D. Yalom, psychological transference, the skill of asking questions, and the poetry of David Whyte. 

Maja Malmcrona (@majamalmcrona) is an artist from Sweden. T is a software tester from the United Kingdom. They both live in Zürich, Switzerland.

Recorded in Zürich on July 5, 2021.

http://majamalmcrona.com