13. Long dark nights, blue screens

The sleepiness of winter and daydreaming our lives

Dec 17, 2022

A small town is a microcosm of the society it is a part of, but also of human life and its enduring characteristics. The one where I live is situated in the nook of a river, it’s almost an island, set between the hills that surround it, and it’s been inhabited for ever. Nowadays, far in time from its glorious antique and medieval history, it’s torn between modernity and the impossible competition with big cities, and the luminous but fading ghosts of its long history.

In the summer, the shadows of the past seem to be looming everywhere since even a short walk can lead you to the ruins left from another era. In winter, the town seems to be sleeping, like an animal hibernating in its nest in the river, but still, people live and work there, and it seems to me that the lengthening of the nights lead us to spend more time dreaming our lives than actually living them. But maybe it’s not the long nights, maybe it has something to do with the way we live.

The urge to tell stories to each other is the same as it ever was, but how compelling technology makes it! Storytelling was first made when there was an open fire for the tribe, then next to the hearth and the candles, then its was done through the airwaves, the tubes of television, and now with electronic pixelated screens.

Winter movies, long nights, dreams. Huddle together and forget about the grudges and hope for the sunlight to come again. Are there Fates, Moirai, Norns, spinning the threads of our fates, or is it puppeteers behind the wall? How many photos per second do you need for the illusion of movement to be created in our minds?

Fingers shadows puppet show, shadows on the walls of ours caves projected by the burning of the fat-burning lamps, computer screens, electronic projections.

Somehow we all dream this life one way or another, the question remains, is the dream ours?