The decade that followed 9/11 witnessed a radical regression of communal energies, forcing us to live strictly in individual spheres; the fear and control society in the guise of a war on terror, the tendency of nation-states to impose their ideological agendas onto everyone and everything under their control and the conflicts and collaborations of a global consumerist economy that urges the rapid privatization of public goods have all taken a toll on the common values of human societies around the Globe. The commons that we need to regain entail a broad spectrum. They range from ecological unbalances, which result from the privatization of natural resources, to the ‘de facto’ privatization of judicial systems, which has led to the degradation of a justice that is common to all.
Meanwhile, the ever-popularizing digital media, beginning with the Internet itself as a common resource, has been a major source of inspiration in revitalizing the idea of the commons. More specifically, the capacities offered by new media have helped to re-understand that information is a “common” as well as the right to access information.
amber’12 selects as its theme “Paratactic Commons”: Can digital commons be an alternative platform to launch a political thought whose main aim is sharing, transparency, and freedom to access information? What can we learn from free software’s, copyleft movements, peer-2-peer systems, the logic of open source, and creative commons? Could the digital-commons help for the creation of another form of economy and ecology? Could humans share their common resources rather than exploit them? What kind of paratactic artistic strategies could digital commons consist of?
10 November 2012
Istanbul Technical University, Taskisla Campus, Conference Hall nr. 127
10.00 – 10.05 Welcome Speech
Ebru Yetişkin, Zeynep Gündüz, amberconference organizers
10.05 – 10.45 Keynote Session
“The Commons Rising: How Digital Innovation Is Transforming Politics and Culture”
David Bollier, author, activist, blogger and consultant, specialized in the Commons
11.00 – 12.00 Panel 1. Remixing the Uncommons
“Uncommons: Bestialities of Media Technology & Capitalism”
Jussi Parikka, Keynote Speaker, Winchester School of Art, University of South Hampton
“The Political Potential of Remixed Video”
Aidan Delaney, PhD candidate in the Arts Technology Research Lab, Trinity College Dublin
12.15 – 12.45 Panel 2. Naturally Common?
“Commons in Nature”
Günesin Aydemir, biologist, activist, and member of Bugday Association
14.00 – 15.00 Panel 3. Monetary Commons
“The Non-Space of Money
or the Pseudo-Common Oracle of Risk Production”
Gerald Nestler, visual artist and researcher
“Introducing Negative Money: Care Of Editions”
Gary Schultz, artist working in commerce and music
15.15 – 16.15 Panel 4. Designing the Commons
“From the production of commodities to the commoning of design”
Selcuk Balamir, Phd candidate, University of Amsterdam
“How do we trust each other as networking bodies?”
Karen Lancel, PhD candidate Delft Technical University
Hermen Maat, teacher media art at Minerva Academy Groningen
16.30 – 17.30 Panel 5: Tasting the Tragedy of the Commons
“Rage of the Swineherd”
Polina Dronyaeva, artist and video art curator
“Paratactic authorit(ies) and authorship in Skype enabled artistic cooking event: The Virtual Chef Project”
Nese Ceren Tosun, PhD candidate, University of Warwick
17.45 – 19.00 Panel 6. City Commons
“Mapping the Commons in Athens and in Istanbul”
Daphne Dragona, media art curator and PhD candidate, University of Athens
Pablo de Soto, architect and PhD candidate, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Aslihan Senel, architect, design tutor, and lecturer