When Canals Become Currents of Meaning
Amsterdam is a city defined by water. Its canals may appear as separate, winding paths, but each is part of a greater system: interlinked, managed, and ultimately flowing toward the same sea. This intricate balance is more than a marvel of Dutch engineering; it is also a metaphor for communication. At IBC 2025, where thousands of voices, stories, and technologies converge, we are reminded that no message truly exists in isolation. Each message is entangled with others, influencing, reshaping, and flowing together into shared currents of meaning.
A web of connection
“To be entangled is not simply to be intertwined with another, as in the joining of separate entities, but to lack an independent, self-contained existence.” Karen Barad
Entanglement is often spoken of as a mystery of quantum physics: two particles, separated by vast distances, yet linked so intimately that a change in one instantly affects the other. But entanglement is more than a scientific curiosity, it is also a metaphor for how we live, work, and communicate.
No individual, and no organisation, exists in isolation. Every story we tell, every message we send, is shaped by relationships that ripple outward, binding us together in ways both visible and unseen.
Communication as shared flow
Thinking of communication as entanglement shifts our understanding. It is not just a transaction — the passing of information from sender to receiver — but a process of co-creation.
When we work with our clients, their strategies, innovations, and decisions directly shape the narratives we craft. At the same time, those narratives reshape how their work is perceived, how they are positioned in the market, and how they evolve as organisations. Neither story is separate. Both become part of one shared flow.
This relationship goes beyond mere symbiosis, where what benefits one side happens to benefit the other. Entanglement is deeper. It means that the definition of each party is tied to the other, inseparably.
Content as a living entity
The metaphor stretches further when we think about content itself. Once released, content moves like water, carrying meaning into spaces we cannot fully predict or control. Sometimes it branches into new channels; sometimes it gathers momentum, surging into a wider current. It may nourish, connect, or reshape entire landscapes. And like water, content can also flood, leak, or erode if not carefully directed.
This is why the initial shaping of content matters so much. Just as Dutch engineers design canals and dikes with foresight, resilience, and precision, communicators must design content that is stable, coherent, and strong enough to hold its shape as it flows outward into the world.
How Xpresso navigates the flow
At Xpresso, we’ve built our craft around this idea of entangled communication. For over a decade, we’ve combined:
- Expertise: deep knowledge of technology and markets, but also of cultural and social contexts, allowing us to create narratives that flow smoothly across industries and audiences.
- Reputation: a network of trust and credibility that has been built patiently, like the canals themselves — not through speed, but through consistency and care.
- Digital fluency: the ability to translate human connection into digital spaces, ensuring that even in virtual channels, stories retain their depth and resonance.
Together, these elements help us guide and direct the flow of communication so that its entanglement with the wider world creates stability, reach, and meaning.
Entanglement at IBC 2025
As IBC returns to Amsterdam, the metaphor becomes strikingly clear. The trade show itself is a living demonstration of entanglement: companies, technologies, and ideas converging like canals toward the same sea. Each exhibitor may have its own booth, each story its own voice, but ultimately, all are part of the same ecosystem — one that shapes the future of broadcast and media.
For us at Xpresso, IBC is not just about announcements or networking. It’s about creating and nurturing the kinds of connections where stories intertwine, ideas ripple outward and meaning is co-created.
Because in communication, as in Amsterdam’s water management and in quantum physics, the most powerful outcomes are born not from isolation, but from entanglement. The canals remind us: even when channels appear separate, they flow together carrying us toward a shared horizon.
If you’re heading to Amsterdam, let’s connect at the IBC Show and create meaning together.
