2nd Former West Research Congress, On Horizon: Art and Political Imagination

DO YOU remember the day before your first school field trip? It was a bit like that, strangely. Perhaps, because I was going to see my Gwangju 'summer camp' friends here in Istanbul during the conference. I happened to know about this conference because Arzu Yayntas, one of the curators for Antakya Biennial told me to register, since I would be visiting Istanbul anyway. After all, I, again, realized a lot of people in art scene are quite connected, (surprise, surprise) now I am writing about this experience of participating in this 'congress' with many scholars, artists, curators, and intellectuals.
     The first day started with Maria Hlavajova(the director of BAK)'s greetings. Of course, a lot of thanks, remarks, but importantly, there was a live streaming video online which you can watch even though you are not here in Istanbul.

     I am not going to talk about any content of this congress but this live streaming video you can watch online. This was quite a bit like the congress in Korea. There is a TV channel called congress TV which is a cable TV channel, but this shows not only the live streaming show of congress but also many other information we can get. I thought, at first, we can give so much influence on the congress if we can watch them, what they are doing, what they talk about, discuss, etc, but this wasn't what is happening, but I'd rather not give any attention on this channel.
    Honesty or bluntness gives such an unauthorized atmosphere, which is a part of psycological current we might get when we get this honest information through live streaming video, which can be the most clear thing but also which cannot be denied to be twisted some way.
    Things we see online can be super real and unreal. It also depends on what we believe and what we don't believe. Additionally, being inside of this live steaming video was like being inside of Truman show. Even though I am asking a question of what I want to ask, it still meant nothing but inside of the live streaming video. Of course, it is not, but it is in some way, amazingly.

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