Eternity in a Week

Prologue

In the summer of 2021 I met in real life for the first time some online friends I made on Twitter and in virtual Interintellect salons. All of us gathered from different corners of the world – Germany, UK, Switzerland, USA, Canada, The Netherlands – to meet in a villa in a little village in Provence, France. Below is the letter that I wrote for the group right after spending ten life-changing days with them.

The word “remember” written down on the pages of my notebooks always wakes me up and reminds me to recollect, fast backward, push forward. These days spent with you all in Provence made me remember everything that matters and I want to keep revisiting what matters every day.

There are many things that came back to me, as I was transforming these photographs into the attached drawings: the colours of the garden, the details on the walls, the drinks on the terrace, the writing nooks, the kindles and iPads scattered in the living room, the smell of the home cooked dinners, the music, the light coming from the windows, the dancing, the pool, the tiles, the laughter, the hugs, the goodbyes, the loss.

These days in Provence made me remember how home feels like and what home truly is.

I think words fail me now to express how vital, meaningful, revelatory the experience of sharing dinner with you was. A feast of emotions and insights.

And even if in time we will not be able to recollect everything as in detail as now and we might start forgetting – we will always remember that time stood still in Provence. Eternity in a week.

Epilogue

Since then we constantly encouraged and supported each other in our individual and collective journeys. We applied for art grants to create art together (and we will meet again in this format in Berlin in April 2022 to work on an art project for ten days), talked about and worked on the group’s financial sustainability, shared art, stories, victories and losses, and showed up. Always showed up.