The Voice of the Cicada
by Vasileios Vasileiou
portfolio shortlisted call 'URBANAUTICA INSTITUTE AWARDS 2020', 2020
Category: Anthropology and Territories
The Voice of the Cicada | Oh, tranquility! Penetrating the very rock, A cicada’s voice. | Matsuo Basho, Haiku | The way that we approach our everyday life, our habits and routines reflect more or less conscious choices. The constructed spaces, the human-induced alterations on the natural environment, as well as the objects that we use in our day-to-day activities, affect us in a more impactful way than we believe they do. Going beyond the achievement of mere comfort or wellness, these material parameters of our daily existence affect or even generate emotions and feelings, effectively setting up both the important as well as the trivial details of the stage on which we humans play our part. This circle of influence shapes our behavior, as we are engaged in a continuous pursuit of the ideal living conditions and, eventually, a state of happiness; a happiness, however, that is to be found here and now, in scenes lacking heroism and drama, rather than in the promise of few, scarce and elusive crescendos.