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    / Interstate






They promised a growing number of ever-faster, ever-more-flexible transportation solutions. Ramped-up delivery options were proposed, with over 100 million items available for free next-day delivery and 10 million items available for free same-day delivery: but the infrastructure was caving in. The fastest service of all, the now two-hours-or-less service, was available in scores of locations from coast to coast, not only including all the major cities but also in dozens of mid-size and smaller cities. The ever-faster approach had made the earth erupt. They figured convenience would make us detained, a bait to make us click more and think less. ‘If we could only consume more,’ they fantasised. The transporters were lonely, apathetic and bored of the road, but they drove ever faster and became even more flexible.

He had come to a standstill just before midnight. He appeared to be precise but absent in an exceptional way; in a real sense, his being was transient. Though he was communicating, he had very little to say. They were making decisions for him. It was only in passing he was unfailingly interesting. Exhausted, the transporter’s strange, restless soul, was uneasy with the stagnation. He was not complex but knew the earth was in turmoil. The ground was trembling, falling in around him.

A prisoner, a parasite, an abuser, the victim —he was someone who decided nothing but applied ever-faster convenience. The series of bursts had fused the ground, and he realised he needed to alter his course. Vast numbers of drivers gathered ahead, gazing upon the deterioration as if they were not living it but observing it. Before them, a hole in the ground with edges slowly drying up in the sun, giving out a crackling sound. Turning away, he became unfixed, crawling ever slower, with difficulty.

They had made a bet on consumption and won, in a short time, convenience became the least understood force in the world. The constellation of easy was boring, but powerful and became the beginning of the end. With a promise of effortless efficiency, he had run the interstate until eventually, the transit itself had become toxic. At first, when easy was liberating, it was hard to see the domination. But the roads he travelled on rebelled against him. At a halt, he realised growing numbers of ever-faster, ever-more-flexible transportation solutions was a destination and not a journey, a tyranny serving no one but itself.


Text Lia Forslund
Video Franek Wardyński
Location: Cabinetlandia, Deming, New Mexico, USA.
2020