Closed city

Gesloten stad

Ongenaakbaar
in het geel
van de woestijn

Buitengesloten
lijken angst,
terreur en ontrederring

Doof
voor
de schreeuw
uit
de leegte

One of the fascinating concepts of the last decades is the concept of network society. One of the conclusions of Manuel Castells in his famous book on the Rise of the Network Society (1996, p. 469) is the importance of presence and absence in networks as sources of domination and change in our society.
These thoughts are more or less the background for this gouache and its associated poem. It shows a city in its complacency, deaf to the cries of those outside.