Franz Kafka
From his short, surrealist story, A Country Doctor. Although he died over a century ago, Kafka's novels and short stories predicted our modern alienation. The nameless, faceless, oppressive bureaucracies of The Trial and The Castle had the power to distort truth and perception, but never with the efficiency and thrall of the funhouse mirror we call "the internet."
"But there's no evil moustache-twirling villain controlling the internet! It's all just a decentralized experiment that we willingly choose to participate in."
All the better. Surely somewhere from the beyond, Kafka is slow-clapping.
In our illustration, we imagine an umbrella made of code, being used as a shield against the outside world. A solitary figure wonders when the digital winter will end, not recognizing that a bright, beaming sun rises just on the other side.
