We were told freedom would make us artists. We were told freedom would set us free. But freedom made us consumers— scrolling, streaming, drowning in plenty.
Peak content. Peak noise. Attention—the last currency. And we are broke.
Then came the machine. Infinite. Bespoke. Frictionless. The tribe dissolved. The story fractured. Each of us— a society of one.
Do not mistake this for culture. Culture bleeds. Culture resists. Culture divides. This is mimicry. This is slop. Outliers cribbed, stripped, and rebranded before the ink dries.
This is the singularity. Not awakening. Collapse. Not tribe. Not ritual. The machine as tribe. Self-satisfaction—tribe enough.
But listen— creativity still breathes. Not to be seen. Not to trend. But to testify. To mark the ruins. To scratch in the stone:
Poem "Hier ben ik veilig" ("Here I am safe", 1994, Frida Vogels), published in the collection "De harde kern 3" ("The ******* 3" [part XII, Evaluation]), and in "Diary 1974-1976" (2013) - December 5th, 1976, Bologna
I want to go back, after turning my back, on all I know, trying to prove I could go, the distance, I put between us. I want to go back, before I left myself, in the dark, losing all sight of what I chasing, turning the lights out, with my own hand.