NOW JUMP, the festival’s title, originates in the punch line from one of Aesop’s fables: “Hic Rhodus, Hic saltus!” NOW JUMP is an appeal to not simply rely on past achievements: NOW is always the time to act and JUMP. This title is an invitation or call to action but also represents the ambition of the Nam June Paik Art Center to leap into the future through the NJP Festival.
 
NOW JUMP is organized according to the concept of ‘Stations’. This notion simultaneously encompasses a state of stillness and of motion or anticipation of motion. In our everyday experience this can be the place where trains or buses regularly stop; a broadcasting station; a power station; a research institute; a studio; a local headquarters; a habitat; social status or a posture. For this these buildings create shifts in mood and tone. Whereas before the works were in dialogue with the past and the contemporary present, here the dialogue ranges from domestic and introspective to imposing and controlled, reminiscent of being in urban space. In this context, the practices presented dwell on creativity as an ability to open lines of flight from apparent reductive definitions and restrictions.
 
Station_4 and Station_5 are spaces of transit offering temporary points of arrival, moments for reflection, and a place from which to embark on new departures. Respectively, they correspond to workshops, seminars and publications and to the establishment of the NJP Art Center prize.