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

Here, “public” denotes a passive
monitoring formula. On the one
hand, “public” designates the impossibility
of going beyond the internal
operations of the system; on the other
hand, it points to the possibility
of new types of communication with
other external systems. Hence, the
meaning and ideas produced by the
media do not actually represent the
opinion of the public.
In the 400th year of relations between
Turkey and the Netherlands,
why did “amberPlatform” opt for an
exhibition entitled “Commons Tense/
Müşterekler Zamanı” rather than a
conventional topic, privileged within
the rhetorics of geographical contexts
(such as tulips or bridges).
The rapid rise of the turbocapitalistsystem
resulting from the fall of the
iron curtain in 1989 and the cold
war, the loss of public commons as
a result of the privatization necessary
for “economic growth”, the crises
of participatory democracy, the
dilemma between transnationalism
and nationalisms, the decrease of
individual rights after 9/11 under
the banner of protection from terror,
religion wars, our irresponsible consumption
of world resources, financial
crises, bankruptcies emerging
from the management of democratic
states as private companies released
from social responsibilities, the diminishment
of working rights and
essential social structures of a society,
moving towards (social, political,
and economic) erosion as a result of
the growing gap between different
classes, in society: although we
may have become accustomed and
insensitive to the daily catastrophic
images imposed on us by massmedia,
we believe that this description of
our current situation is not exaggerated.
By connecting social media with discussions
on ecology, society, and participatory
democracy from a social
organizational perspective, “Commons
Tense/ Müşterekler Zamanı” establishes
an alternative platform for
re-constructing urgent societal questions,
to search for solutions to existing
and future crises, to advocate the
need for self-organization within the
hegemony of market economy, which
privatizes all aspects of everyday life.
Digital Commons are platforms offering
tools, information, theory, art,
and culture that are open for public
and are free. Commons are what
we share with others. Commons/
Müşterekler is a new form of expression
that goes beyond the hegemony
of the market and centralized modes
of control and, therefore, it is a kind
of language.
“Commons Tense / Müşterekler Zamanı”
designates a hypothetical language
that goes beyond local and national
data to discuss certain problems,
and to produce alternative options
within the current social, economic,
and political systems in which we
live in.
It establishes a foresight to think
beyond borders physically and intellectually,
within and without the
system.
36