Lecture with Dr. James Madden | High Strangeness
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June 29 | 3 PM | FREE
Join us for a thought-provoking public lecture by Dr. James Madden, a philosopher based in Atchison, Kansas. Jim Madden lives in Atchison, Kansas, where he has taught philosophy at Benedictine College since 2003. He focuses his research and writing on the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of religion, philosophy of technology, aesthetics, and psychoanalysis. Jim is the author of Mind, Matter, and Nature, Thinking about Thinking: Mind and Meaning in the Era of Techno-Nihilism, and Unidentified Flying Hyperobject: UFOs, Philosophy, and the End of the World. He is currently working on Subjectivity and Its Discontent(s). The UFO question has become particularly interesting for him because it provides an occasion to pull all of his philosophical interests into a single conversation.
About the Exhibition:
High Strangeness: Encounters with the Unexplained in Kansas and Beyond
MAY 28-AUGUST 31, 2025
The exhibition High Strangeness: Encounters with the Unexplained in Kansas and Beyond at the Salina Art Center features the audio-visual installation Witnessing (2000) by the pioneering artist Susan Hiller (1940-2019), one of the fist contemporary artists to engage seriously with the topic of the paranormal. Alongside her work, the show presents photographs and multi-media sculptures by Kansas artist Hugo Zelada-Romero. While Hiller's audio recordings document encounters with the unexplained from all over the world, Zelada-Romero's photographs track UFO sightings and unexplained incidents in Kansas, a hot spot for such phenomena. Zelada-Romero's work also explores a history of uncommon metaphysical practices in the state and the role that pop cultural representations play in "high strangeness" lore. Both artists investigate in their immersive works what happens when we take first-person accounts of “high strangeness” incidents seriously, ultimately inviting visitors to interrogate our own ideas and approaches to trust, belief, and living with uncertainty.
Curated by independent curator Ksenya Gurshtein. Exhibition catalogue will be available for sale at the Salina Art Center.
High Strangeness: Encounters with the Unexplained in Kansas and Beyond was made possible in part by support from Vortex Companies, the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University, and Humanities Kansas.
Humanities Kansas connects Kansans with stories, ideas, and each other to strengthen our communities.
Join us for a thought-provoking public lecture by Dr. James Madden, a philosopher based in Atchison, Kansas. Jim Madden lives in Atchison, Kansas, where he has taught philosophy at Benedictine College since 2003. He focuses his research and writing on the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of religion, philosophy of technology, aesthetics, and psychoanalysis. Jim is the author of Mind, Matter, and Nature, Thinking about Thinking: Mind and Meaning in the Era of Techno-Nihilism, and Unidentified Flying Hyperobject: UFOs, Philosophy, and the End of the World. He is currently working on Subjectivity and Its Discontent(s). The UFO question has become particularly interesting for him because it provides an occasion to pull all of his philosophical interests into a single conversation.
About the Exhibition:
High Strangeness: Encounters with the Unexplained in Kansas and Beyond
MAY 28-AUGUST 31, 2025
The exhibition High Strangeness: Encounters with the Unexplained in Kansas and Beyond at the Salina Art Center features the audio-visual installation Witnessing (2000) by the pioneering artist Susan Hiller (1940-2019), one of the fist contemporary artists to engage seriously with the topic of the paranormal. Alongside her work, the show presents photographs and multi-media sculptures by Kansas artist Hugo Zelada-Romero. While Hiller's audio recordings document encounters with the unexplained from all over the world, Zelada-Romero's photographs track UFO sightings and unexplained incidents in Kansas, a hot spot for such phenomena. Zelada-Romero's work also explores a history of uncommon metaphysical practices in the state and the role that pop cultural representations play in "high strangeness" lore. Both artists investigate in their immersive works what happens when we take first-person accounts of “high strangeness” incidents seriously, ultimately inviting visitors to interrogate our own ideas and approaches to trust, belief, and living with uncertainty.
Curated by independent curator Ksenya Gurshtein. Exhibition catalogue will be available for sale at the Salina Art Center.
High Strangeness: Encounters with the Unexplained in Kansas and Beyond was made possible in part by support from Vortex Companies, the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University, and Humanities Kansas.
Humanities Kansas connects Kansans with stories, ideas, and each other to strengthen our communities.
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