‘WHAT GOES AROUND’ - THE TRUTH IN KNOWING NOW – THREADS IN TIME, PLACE CULTURE



Connecting people in an emerging global society by examining the threads of common experience across cultures and time.





The intent of the ‘What Goes Around’ exhibit is to instigate dialogue amongst artists and between artists and viewers that, ultimately, presents diverse ideas about what is involved in the development of a global society and culture. Based on the precept that we can predict the future by looking through the lens of the present to examine lessons learned, 'Time' is the overarching conceptual thread used to anchor the far-ranging responses I hope to elicit with this exhibit.



As the title suggests, there is a cyclical rhythm to our existence, a nod to the notion that history repeats. One path to understanding the development of a global society, then, is through past experiences of time, place and cultural standpoints that meet in the present.



In keeping with the San Francisco International Arts Festival’s annual theme: ‘The Truth in Knowing/Now,’ we evaluate the complexity of our impact – as individuals, as collectivities, as artists - on the development of an emerging global world. This involves a continuous re-evaluation of how personal value systems and identity are influenced by technology, mass media, social conventions and political policies. These variegated referents influence our individual framework of pre-suppositions (so called ‘life lessons’) that define our individual ‘truths’. Based on individual choices informed by personal ‘truths’ or ‘knowing,’ our ability (or willingness) to adapt to or affect the forces directing cultural change on a global scale is also how we locate the ‘threads’ that connect us.



Within the fabric of a larger global community, how can individual expression contribute to a greater understanding of an expanding shared cultural experience? To what extent does our ‘shared experience’ resonate differently from creative standpoints of race, ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality? What new questions emerge that point to how we create a future based on ‘lessons learned’ from the past? What are the images and art works that can guide a global vision, and foster a deeper understanding of our interconnections?



Curator: Matt McKinley