The Reality Issue, 2020
Gold Coast: A Time to Dream in your Unique Paradise

In summer 2019 I moved to the city of Gold Coast in Australia, to experience first-hand what many refer to as “the closest definition of paradise on Earth”. The landscape of nature and the ocean are well beyond the human senses. Here, the sea is a familiar presence that accompanies every day and its scale is a constant reminder of the idea of immensity. 

The skyline would cause anyone to marvel at the technical wonders of men. Whilst the morning sun illuminates the scene like a window display, the dizzying height of its ultra modern buildings, unscathed by the winds of the roaring sea, show no signs of history, colour fading, or sedimentation.

This is a city that looks like a model, and a model that looks like a city. Nothing is out of place. There is no litter nor cigarette butts at the side of the road. Everything is immaculate with perfectly manicured green hedges and grey curbs with yellow bright lines. The streets are grand, regular tarmac ribbons sharply intersecting at 90 degrees with palm trees planted to a perfect regular pitch. There is no grit, no signs of aging, and no historical planning mishaps; which are all too familiar in the city where I was born. My mind surfs endlessly the glass facades, and like two mirrors facing each other, I find only an infinite repetition

While the natural landscape goes well beyond the capacity of man to understand, the city has a disconcerting  beauty – an absolute rightness of the Creator – a technical perfection that is both compelling and dangerous at the same time. 

I wonder if this feeling of suspension, being at the edge of one's understanding, is the very experience of Paradise. A place where we all contemplate the vast natural landscape together, yet alone, divided by the tiny walls of our balconies. 

- Danilo

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