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Olof van Winden There is no right & no wrong As part of the TodaysArt Festival <strong>2012</strong> in The Hague in September and October, the exhibition ‘Commons Tense’ will open at the Elektriciteitsfabriek, showcasing work from new media artists from Turkey. ‘Commons Tense’ is part of the ‘amber Arts and Technology Festival and Conference’, to be held in November <strong>2012</strong> in Istanbul, themed ‘Paratactic Commons’. As its departure point, ‘Commons Tense’ uses the urgent need to reclaim the public ownership of the commons. Realized in collaboration with TodaysArt, the works presented at the exhibition will offer various interpretations of this theme. The co-events, which consist of two workshops, artist presentations, and a seminar, will be held parallel to the exhibition. The exhibition will take place within the framework of NLTR400, celebrating 400 years of diplomatic relations between Turkey and the Netherlands. ‘Paratactic Commons’ is an exciting and adventurous theme which reflects on urgent and actual topics in our society. Own initiatives in public space, co-creation, and redefining ownership of common objects and spaces are topics that are vital to harnessing and further developing the creative potential of cities. These tools respond to both the needs derived from the ambitions of policy makers and municipalities, as well as the needs derived from urges towards societal transitions. Through the activities around these topics, hosted by the ‘amber Arts and Technology Festival and Conference’, I am looking forward to activating and inspiring outcomes. Today, there are many forms of expression, many media we can use, many different information flows. The speed at which we now consume information is unprecedented. We pick anything we like from the potpourri that is at our fingertips at every moment of the day. So what really matters in this enormous amount of content? How do we determine what is important? The only guiding principle in selection of content is our emotions. There is no right and wrong, no comparisons with what has gone before, or what is yet to come. All that matters is whether things resonate with you touch your emotions. We ‘like’ countless things that touch us, we ‘heart’ and ‘share’ each other’s discoveries, we build up an immense reservoir of inspirational bits of information. From it, we construct our identity, we fuel our dreams, we stimulate our imagination. We draw experiences to us, in search of inspiration and dreams. Over time, we have become more and more adept at collecting information, sucking it up at an unprecedented rate. What it all leads to, no one knows. But it is exciting to be a part of it, because it might lead to an epiphany, to new dreams, to new paradigms. Olof van Winden is director of TodaysArt Festival and Curator of Seoul International Media Arts Biennale (Media City Seoul <strong>2012</strong>) 11
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