Sunday 7 December 2014

What If? Metropolis: Travelogue

Travelogue

The city grabs your eye and twists it until it cannot bear to understand. The impossible setting is a sight none will sharply forget. It’s labyrinth of streets will lose the most organised of characters. The twist and turns of the simplest of alleys will take you somewhere untraveled. The city does not work too well with reason as it’s absurd architecture stands proud, towering over the lake. It’s intricate level of detail is indescribable as no exact set of words can evaluate what is happening. The city’s wavy skyscrapers and markets create the impression of being in a magical world. The city hides among a layer of fog and so cannot be seen by the approaching sailors. The lake is littered with debris, but they themselves manage to blend within the waves, it is a sight to behold.

The city is surrounded by an 8 eight foot high metal fence. It’s bar look near to full transparency from a distance, but once the city has been fully approached, it is clear that the city is imprisoned by itself. This creates the illusion, in the mind, of oncoming travellers that the city can be easily accessed, but as soon as you get close enough it grabs your attention and draws you in, and that is how you become a resident of this dark enigma of a city.

Upon reaching the entrance of this magnificent city, you begin to feel dizzy. The city is moving. You cannot begin to understand. Trying to put an explanation into what your eyes are gazing towards will lose you in a moment of near to insanity. We dare not question the city as the city evolves according to the seasons. During spring, the darkness of winter begins to fade and the buildings resume their ongoing growth towards the sky. The summer grabs the colour of the waves and splashes it onto the buildings ferociously. In the month of November, the extended summer concludes and welcomes the red breeze of autumn. The red, the yellows and the oranges all run at you screaming and so there is no way to escape this month long season. The robotic residents of the city adore the winter months. It is within this period where the city loses some of it’s colourful charm and replaces it with the white of snow. It covers every little piece of the city. The snow does not want you to begin to understand the city, it wants you to feel the cold wind hitting the back of your neck while you squint into the foggy distance. The winter months’ aim, therefore, is to make you want to escape it’ series of mazes.
There are no children in this city. People do not get raised in this city. People do not get married in this city. The people wake up, go to work and come home. It’s an 8am to 6pm routine 7 days a week. There is no moment to relax. The city need to run perfectly in order to maintain it’s mystery as without the mystery will begin to fade.

In the centre of this asylum of a city stands the Crooked Theatre. The pillars at it’s entrance lean into the streets, creating an obstacle for oncoming civilians. This theatre holds an obscure auditorium that has seats scattered all around the room in no understandable manner. There is no method in the madness of it’s organisation. It was built to make the viewer uncomfortable. The theatre wants you to build emotions before the actors walk on stage. The red stage burns within your eye and makes you feel dizzy. You need to sit down. You take a chair. That is when the play begins.
In the distance, you may just manage to make out the lighthouse, which stands alone amongst the rocks. The red and white building can be seen best at night. It’s extraordinary beam of light flies through your window and whacks you on the face, like a slap from the wind. It is at this moment where you feel warmth growing inside you and the pleasure of belonging to this magnificent city runs through your veins.

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