Hello,
Let’s move closer to reality a little. Maybe even slightly hyper-real?
Venice, to me, is hyper-real. From the moment you step out of the train station, the midday view overwhelms you. At once beautiful and horrible at the same time, too much to take in, an authentic fake.
(But I don’t have a photo to illustrate this. My need to document is always secondary to [a] my personal safety, and [b] making sure I’m walking in the right direction. This usually means what I document on my camera and phone ends up to be a very selective viewpoint of the experience.)
You might want to imagine a display of advertisement billboards for Persol and Dolce & Gabbana, placed alongside, and over, facades of crumbly, stucco-ed palazzos, little jet boats zooming along the canal, the water a perfect blue…
I could only think of home — specifically our casinos and theme parks.
Out of fatigue I declared Venice a monstrosity and decided I wouldn’t like this place very much.
Venice is one huge tourist attraction, isn’t it? The locals, they must live underground — or maybe on a hidden island not shown on any map, where they have a hospital, a prison, and a supermarket. How ‘authentic’ is this gelato shop, compared to a street food stall in Bangkok? Do gondoliers really shop here? Will Venice’s demise be a simulation itself? Maybe the death of Venice will be a future fable — like a reverse of the Merlion’s tale.
— May
(Yes, the gelato is mostly real. Real good.)
