SEASIDE

“Take a new ballpoint pen. The simple one. The cheapest one. The most common one. Draw a line until the pen is empty. The length of the line is equal to the distance from the chair you sit in to the seaside.”, said a teacher to his students somewhere in Belgium. I took a new ballpoint pen. The simple one. The cheapest one. The most common one. I drew a line until the pen was empty. Working conditions were simple, yet sufficient. I needed an office desk, a chair and a lamp. Materials I used were paper, a ballpoint pen and a ruler. A repetitive task was performed. After two months, many hours later, the work was finished. While drawing a line I was remembering my childhood. Those summer, carefree days spent at the Adriatic seaside with my parents and my grandma. Friends that I would meet on the first day of the arrival. Heat. Taste of salt. Suncream smell. Wizened fingertips. Hedgehogs in gardens.