Avatar Marionette Line

by bob schroeder

The digital drawing shows a placeholder avatar from the internet with a striking jaw, like that of a ventriloquist’s dummy. Behind the silhouette of the head, a roughly knitted, cheerful sock puppet peeks out.

The artwork is minimalist and deliberately striking. The colour palette comprises shades of lilac, violet and blue. The consistently simple design style is reminiscent of a comic strip illustration. The mood of the image is cheerful. 'Geh nie mit leeren Händen,' bleckte Herb, die strampelnde mechanische Witwe fest in seinem Klammergriff fixierend. 'Seit das Datenzentrum leckt, ist die mittelbare Außentemperatur um mindestens drei vertikale Einheiten erhöht; hätte ich die rote Markierung nicht vorsorglich entfernt, der gesamte Bezirk hätte sich längst automatisiert geflutet.' Er hielt inne, überlegte. 'Wer ersetzt mir jetzt den Meißel?' I nodded thoughtfully and arranged the remaining mobile ring spanners in ascending order according to their stamped size. In the event of an emergency, every tool could be vital to survival, with no alternative. In recent weeks, we had already lost our spatulas and fine-tooth rasps; only the endangered data centre could now calculate how the ever-compacting earth could still be worked at all. The billionaires in charge had long since abandoned the communal system and were content to provide us with oversized motivational billboards sporadically launched into the atmosphere, along with incomprehensible instructions on autonomous farming.