© 2012 | amberTXT / BIS ISBN 978-605-88807-7-1

Olof van Winden
There is no right & no wrong
As part of the TodaysArt Festival 2012 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 2012 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 2012)
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