The air travel chaos in Europe caused by ash from the Icelandic volcano coincided with the start of jury deliberations for Ars Electronica, a kind of “Nobel Prize” for digital culture.
The situation is paradoxical: being here in Linz, Austria, discussing the future of technology and the trends of network society while witnessing the nature–technology short circuit triggered by the dispersal of volcanic dust from Iceland.
And I say witnessing because the sense of powerlessness is total. There is nothing I can do to get moving.
The jury, divided into six categories, brings together more than 30 people who came to Linz and are now having difficulty returning home or continuing their journeys. Trains are packed, and for me, as for many other transatlantic passengers, it feels as though we have suddenly been frozen in space and time.
In an era like ours, when we have grown accustomed to easy travel and especially to the possibility of acting through communication media at moments when social crises intensify, the cloud of volcanic dust imposes a regime of slowness that is difficult to convey or explain.
Everything seems extremely slow. Website updates, tweets, posts, television and so on cannot keep up. No matter how much we talk, write or send messages, nothing changes, nor can it change the situation.
The cloud’s pace is more than slow. It is one of complete immobility.