Gregor’s fantasy (Germany)
Gregor Gysi told me on the phone: "I was in the parliament the other day." He had to sign something important in his office. There, in the German Bundestag, he had been "pretty much alone". For a short time he had had the fantasy, he said, to sit down on the empty presidential chair in the plenary session — and simply decide a few things. That would probably not have been legally binding, he giggles. But nobody would have stopped him from doing so. (
Noted by Michael Schlieben, Die Zeit April 4th 2020)
Niklas (Bali)
When I first became aware of the New Emptiness, I thought: WOW, this is the world we live in — without us. At first I was captivated by the new aesthetics. But then it made me wonder. What a chance it is to see these spaces and to ask oneself: How did we „fill" them before? Did we really look at it, see it, appreciate it, protect this great realm that we were allowed to occupy? Did we handle it " fairly", make it more beautiful, and did we leave room for all those who exist next to us? — The crisis is a chance to catch our breath, not only for the planet to recover from us; also for us to reflect on what we might do differently if we were allowed to enter the empty spaces again. Will we then be better versions of ourselves? Are we going to look at our habitat with different eyes and redefine our relationship to it? Will we, after our wake up call, be able to make better decisions in a more awake consciousness about how to perform our mission to design the planet … ?
“Yet the void created by this crisis may be an unexpected gift. This emptiness presents to us a mystical and uncluttered view of life as we have been living it until a few weeks ago. Life will never be the same. Each day, it becomes more apparent that this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to consider a fundamental question about the spirit and morality of our way of living: Having emptied ourselves, what do we really want to fill our world with once it is time to rebuild?”
Sophia (Überlingen)
Empty spaces show me the potential of change.
Andres (Spain)
I don't want to live in a world where there aren't hurries, noises, craziness and cars fighting against each other in the streets of the city, at any hour. I never thought this could be possible, but I think we all have the same sensation. Human life needs humans, because you can't have a life on your own. You depend on people. And that's why this time is so difficult to pass. But it doesn't matter, because when we pass the A.C. -after Coronavitus- life will be different, but there would be the same beautifulness of enjoying life in every little thing. Even if there won't be cars, yells, or smoke anymore.
“It is surreal to walk through the streets and roads of my town not seeing, hearing or feeling the presence of anyone but myself. I am aware of my own foot steps and the sounds they make on the different surfaces, suddenly all of my movements and habits have become so loud and obnoxious. I feel myself wanting to slow down, become quiet and one with my surroundings. My thoughts have become whispers and my breaths shallow. I am automatically pulled into the moment that is present, forced to pay attention to all the details I would normally ignore or not even notice on a daily basis. I have had days where this has calmed me and brought a level of gratitude into my being, but I have also had days where this new situation has alarmed me and made me anxious and jumpy.
I wonder if when my senses are reawakened and the silent town becomes loud and full again if what I sense will be different and changed ?...”
Oliver (Spain)
Frenar, parar, dejar de correr, y respirar hondo...quedarse quieto. Mirar y pensar, y no soñar.
Ya son cuatro semanas de quedarnos en casa. ¿Qué ha significado eso?
Mis niños con clases on-line, yo intentando contactar con mis clientes, el teléfono como unión con nuestros seres queridos. Mientras tanto, los que estamos bajo un techo hablamos mucho más y vivimos más intensivamente juntos.
Finalmente, también yo lo he entendido. Paro quieto, estoy tranquilo. Luego seguiremos, aunque nadie sabe cómo y cuándo. Algo ha cambiado.
Escuchamos que la naturaleza se recupera de nosotros, lo vemos en internet aunque ya no vemos más allá de nuestra calle. Estamos desconectados de la naturaleza. ¿Podremos conectarnos nuevamente cuidándola?
Y observar cómo se transforma un capullo en una rosa.
“I don’t think anything is going to change, not at a significant scale. Countries will put the economy first the moment they can, possibly overriding environmental laws. The thing is the planet doesn’t care. It will be us who suffer the consequences...”
Aziz (Kuwait)
We all see the silent face of the planet, like mysterious thriller films. I had never imagined in my life that we would reach this stage of calm and the homogeneity of nature with itself in the busiest and most vocal cities. Space requires us to return to the depths of our imagination to ask the important question, and then what? Has the world changed our eyes? Is our life after this silence will be different? I think yes, and I have already started to change things that I have not looked at before on all levels, including habits, deeds, etc. Thank you to those who collected these great pictures, and thank you to those who created this space for filling that space.