Trafika Europe 14 - Italian Piazza

Piero Schiavo Campo

reason, he hadn’t wanted to show his face. But this was merely speculation on his part. The conversation had taken place in Goldbach’s virtual room, within the space reserved for CEPS. The recording of that conversation is still available on various sites. For those who haven’t seen it, this virtual space resembles the inside of a Renaissance church, with two aisles of different depths leading to rectangular windows revealing a landscape of green hills. The aisles are surmounted by cross vaults, with two-light mullioned windows framing a sky of perfect blue. Between the aisles at the center of this virtual space is a sort of raised sitting-room, mounted on a wooden platform. On this, there are a table and a book-case, with books, vases, and other objects. Two agents, represented as a peacock and an owl, strut beneath the platform on a floor of multi-colored tiles. The identities of Goldbach and De Ruiter are both certified by the system, as indicated by the Verified label appearing alongside their respective avatars. Throughout their conversation, Goldbach’s avatar manifests a complex mimicry of facial expressions and gestures. Instead, De Ruiter ’s remains immobile. The effect is bizarre, and gives the impression that the professor is part of the decor. It was only later that I learned that De Ruiter had always refused to use mimicry controls when

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