Press
A Matter of Freedom
This year we have chosen the theme A Matter of Freedom. But what is it exactly, that we call freedom?
Freedom. It's been almost 80 years since the Netherlands was liberated from the political oppressor. Dutch people live in a democracy, where we can go where we want and make our own choices. But does that mean that we are really free? Your freedom sooner or later will meet the limits of another person’s freedom, writes philosopher John Stuart Mill. And just because you might feel free, it doesn't mean the struggle for freedom is over. ‘’None of us are free until all of us are free’’, says writer and civil rights activist Maya Angelou. And how free are we really, if we are chained to our work and cannot live without technology? Freedom therefore also means lack of liberty. Freedom then, as should be clear, comes with many dilemmas. Could the same technology that holds us in a tight grip help us setting us free?
In the exhibition of STRP Festival 2024, national and international artists present 12 mostly new works. Two artworks were created through STRP Spacemakers, a month-long co-creation between artists and young people of different ages and backgrounds. All the works explore, through art and technology, the theme of freedom. Carrie Chen, for example, questions how free children are when their behaviour is monitored by technology. Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley explores the freedom of Black Trans persons in a game situation and Tom K Kemp wonders if there is also freedom in death. Bianca Carague takes you through a liberation ritual in which you can release your barriers. In Ling Tan's game, you learn to play with the rules of democracy with your own body. The artists use immersive, interactive technologies and games in which you can participate. You are invited to play along and thus determine the experience of the work. Come and join in and help start the dialogue about freedom. And ask yourself: what does freedom mean to me and the other?
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