Panel Statement

Panel: Revolution of the Public Sphere

This presentation circulates through Dialogue as a revolutionary tactic and its relationship with technology – both the mediating effects and the successes of extending the voice and the self. The personal occupation of technologically mediated space can be a powerful energy source and inspiration to (r)evolution. The history of mediation is also the history of humans seeking to lessen the impact of raw nature and human aggression on their physical being. Language may be thought of as a primal mediating technology, and in that sense, the further mediatións imposed on communications between humans – those mediations that are more commonly refered to as technology, are merely additional obstructions to understanding that overlie language.
Nonetheless, in this moment, it is still possible to speak, and to listen, and to understand. ln the very same moment that mediation stresses our attempts of attentive presence with the 0ther, it becomes more imperative to engage in Dialogue and in the creation of spaces in which Dialogue might flourish. Dialogue stimulates genesis, transformation, and revelation in life – it is a revolutionary art itself when in critical juxtaposition to silence. Dialogue, as pure expression of heart and soul, is the core of all meaningful activism.

• John Hopkins (Iceland), Artist/Educator