Before the Masks Angelina Kuznetsova Yoan Bondakov he year 2020 burst in and the world quickly retreated online. Under the pressure of new evolutionary laws, we lost our limbs and torsos, and turned into digital avatars. The mass migration of the workforce into cyberspace and the cancelation of social events left the streets barren. We felt naked without our masks and flagged all physical displays of affection, gratitude, or courtesy under the same antisocial etiquette. This might as well be the most large-scale alteration of human behavior that our species has experienced. But in our bag of crises, calamities, and atrocities, the celebration of the good times has always been a human quality immune to change. A couple enjoying the view from the Buda Castle. Photo courtesy of Angelina Kuznetsova. The year is 2019, it’s August in Budapest, Hungary. Among the buffet of diverse architecture, we see Gothic, Baroque, and Romanesque buildings dominating the urban landscape. In the old Jewish quarter, the ruin bars, nested into previously abandoned buildings, are crammed full with young people drinking stout and pale lager. It’s raging hot. The remote cobblestone streets welcome the stream of pedestrians coming from the main arteries of the city - their final destination is the Danube’s riverside. We see ferries, fishing boats, and cargo liners passing beneath the 19th century Liberty Bridge. A boy running through the Interactive fountain. Photo courtesy of Angelina Kuznetsova. However, as much as we cherish the scenery, we cannot help but focus on what we are most deprived of – strangers. The petri dish of hugging and kissing people that the cities once were, is no more a reality, and the daily hiccups we had with our fellow strangers quickly turn into romanticized anecdotes. Luckily, as COVID-19 approaches its first anniversary, the concept that strangers are vectors of disease and not human beings fades away. The past feels a little bit closer. A man on the Széchenyi Chain Bridge. Photo courtesy of Angelina Kuznetsova. 10 Fall 2020 | AUBG Daily
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