The Year The World Stopped

Life is fast; life is very busy, always needing some extra time, postponing seeing family or friends. For all these things was probably invented "tomorrow". Tomorrow we can see our loved ones, take care of ourselves, go to see “that" exhibition... One day we found out that tomorrow is no longer available. All the hurry, all the noise and indolent procrastination of "today" was shut down. From that day on, everybody experienced silence, life at a slow pace. We had to learn how to live in the space we called home without necessarily feeling it as such; we had to pay attention to the small gestures. Maybe we experienced mixed feelings about the people we had to live with. All the other men and women seemed so far away, since everyone was a sort of prisoner of one's house. The city was quiet. Nights were silent. Walking in the empty streets had something of a slightly illegal and softly dangerous situation. Air felt different, sun felt different, the little green leaves, the birds, everything that was outside felt and looked different to us, the dominant specie of the planet, forced into confinement by an invisible threat. For a short time we valued every breath of fresh air and every step took in the sun and mare scenarios about how people will change after this experience. A bit later we realized the truth: fortunately, people will never change.

Alexandru Rădvan, artist