Look around

Hello people from all over the world, be welcome and take a seat.

This week I'm going to show you guys some streetart. Streetart that was made in Turnhout-city, located in the exotic Belgium. I can imagine that if you're an eskimo reading this blog inside your iglo you never heard of Belgium, so, to give you an idea, you know those white beaches with cristal clear water, blue skies and palmtrees everywhere like in those bounty advertisements? Think the opossite of that and you pretty much know what it looks like over here. You can also get a small glimpse in the pics down below.

Ok, back to our subject, streetart. A guy I know was responsible for these and plastered them against the walls on a quiet night. Knowing that the Belgian weather isn't kind on this form of (thick paper) art, taking some pictures before they're vanished seemed wise.

While taking pics I also took a moment to observe the people walking by and even while these pieces are located at crowed places, not a single person noticed them. We recently had a sport event going on in the town so I stopped at a place where literally hundreds of people would pass an artwork, but, as expected, no heads where turned.

This got me thinking in sort of a rant that we usually are too busy with our own lives or are distracted with gadgets like tablets and smartphones, listen to music with earplugs in, that we don't really notice what's in our direct surroundings. You have a basic interpretation of your environment but the details are lost because you're still connected with your own world of interests that's sitting in your hands or ears. And practically, you're shutting yourself off from signals that would normally get your attention. Be it artwork, or just greeting someone who you cross paths with. More and more we are living in a individualistic society where the more we are connected to what's happening around the world the blinder we are to what's right in front of us. And it's the people who are the nearest to us who are affected the most with our distracted presence.
I already see this with the children of my sister, where I have to work for their attention (the youngest turns five soon) when there's a computer or tablet around.
We have a responsibility to teach our children what sort of connections are the most important in life, and a physical one will always win.

So when this stream of thoughts died down it was already getting dark and my wallet and shoes were gone. Talking about being aware of your environment, right? But that's Turnhout for ya.

There's another streetart project afoot soon which I will normally help set up so hopefully I can post about it in the near future. Btw, this is only a fraction of the streetart that can be found scattered around the city but it's more fun to discover it yourself, so put your electronic devices away, stop reading this blog, and look around.

With that said, what's more appropriate music this week than "Computer Love" (1992) from the Balanescu Quartet? After about a good minute into this piece you may hear a familiar melody. Indeed, Coldplay snatched this compostion and used it in one of their own songs. But, don't be mistaken, this Balanescu version is also a cover! Namely from Kraftwerks own "Computer Love" track.

And now just shut up and enjoy.

                                           Balanescu Quartet - Computer Love