If every crisis is also an opportunity, what opportunities are we missing thanks to our unwillingness to deal with changes? What we need is a more open point of view that allows us to see beyond the limitations of our habits, areas of expertise, and outdated ideologies and to picture the plurality and contradictions of our modern, networked globe. A new big picture, without any central perspective-one that is no longer projected from the center of a single power, but is instead a patchwork made up of a variety of stances.

The 2012 Ars Electronica collects examples from art and science that show, in inspiring ways, how the open-minded perspective allows us to see more of the larger whole and also brings new knowledge to light. How does this sort of big picture have to be constituted in our day and age, and what strategies are required to bring it about?