Let Art Startle and Change the World

The Straits Times

04 February 2015

Farish A. Noor

TO STATE that we live in a complex and challenging world would be a cliche, for the world has always been a complex place, and complexity is not about to disappear.

Notwithstanding the yearning for peace and quiet that some of us may harbour, or a retreat to a place of safe isolation, it should be admitted that no such place exists today.

Though we are assaulted daily by news of violence and turmoil, it is not as if the world has suddenly grown more unnerving: The causes of anxiety and irritation have always been present.

But the global communicative infrastructure that we have created, and which now binds the globe together, has brought complexity into our lives, to our living rooms, and even to our fingertips via smartphones, at a speed and on a scale unprecedented in modern history.

…The writer is associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.

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Last updated on 01/12/2015