As W.G. Sebald so masterfully speaks of time, memory and identity in Rings of Saturn"... it is frightening to realise how little we know about our species, our purpose and our end ...", there now appears a generation for the first time so completely and intimately connected with the entire world all at once (my own childhood was simply the street I played in, and the oh so precious boredom), global in every possible way, viscerally connected to all, and – rightfully – worried about everything from the most personal and intimate all the way up to our human condition and the planet.

The precious energy of twelve students from four art schools connecting for the RAY Triennial more than once reminded me of Mike Kelley's Educational Complex, where he made a combined scale model of all the art schools he ever attended, relying on what he remembered, and more importantly, relying on what he could not remember, re-filling those blanks.

Like The Protagonist travelling through time trying to recall an always escaping memory in the exquisite La Jetée, the 1963 photo novel by Chris Marker.

Instead of connecting to the present, it seems we spend more and more time desperately looking back or looking forward, amidst the blanks we construct along the way. But there is no escape from the present. It is all we have. As Sebald demonstrates, it might be prudent that we drop quotation marks and multilayer the narrative. Embrace complexity. Eschew simplification.

Our world desperately needs those that speak genuinely, and listen intently.

Anton Kusters