It was July, there was wind and it was 24 degrees. The sun was shining. Ernst, who considers himself more of an image collector than a director, expected at least two heat waves, just like last year. And the year before that, and the year before that. Janine couldn’t tolerate more than 23 degrees since her hormonal cancer pills. The first years (from 2014 on) it was manageable with fans. But in 2018 he had bought an air conditioner. Based on air conditioning deployment, the climate is in flux. Yet there had been no heat wave by mid-August in 2021. However, so much rain fell in Germany and Belgium that entire villages were washed away instantly. Hundreds of victims. The images were heartbreaking and terrifying. And North Rhine-Westphalia is at most 300 kilometers away, just like Namur and its surroundings.
He is 76 and feels 26 in his head. Not in his body. He is too fat and his condition is inadequate. He started to walk a few days ago. 4 kilometers a day. That helps. And in doing so, he also gains an eye for an answer to the question of why collecting images is a universal need. Who walks identifies images. If walking isn’t facilitated by the fitness industry with the help of a treadmill and a monitor, it happens outside. The images can be collected and relived if desired.
He wondered why he was collecting which images from all the possibilities. His answer was of an ecological nature. If happiness is the experience of being an active part in an ecological equilibrium, then the images provide the data from which that experience emerges.
So that the happiness experience of those who walk outside will differ from those who live in silico.