Tobias Micko

March 11, 2022

A message from New York

Hi, beautiful people!

This is Tobi, writing to you with a view of the colorful skies above Manhattan at the dawn of night, writing to you after quite some time, now slowly able to breath and feel and live again. New York is a rough city! The transition into a world full of the unknown comes with a heavy weight, one that you partly get used to, and partly take off as you settle down, both physically and mentally.


A lot has happened, as I am sure you can imagine, as lot has changed.

As a passive observer it is a fascinating exercise to watch me grow and grasp onto new identities, interests and approaches on life. It's fascinating how this slight perspectival shift changed (and continues to change) my relationship to our world and myself as a part of it. It's fascinating to see how I talk, dress, act, think and feel differently. What I read and eat and do, it has changed.

As an active pupil I've ventured into new realms of art and design. I am learning how to weld and  print and engrave and sew and paint and sculpt and think about all the above. Last week, someone bought a drawing of mine?! I am pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design and Technology, a field of study that is guiding me towards the intersection of art, science and technology, a crossing that has astonishing similarities to the work done at the Ars Electronica in Linz. I have no clue where this all will lead me, and can therefore only return to the role of the passive observer that is fascinated by what is happening.


But within all this fascination of a life in New York that brings, from time to time, these moments of glamour known only from movies, there is another side.

About a year ago I started this "blog" with an essay called Bye World (that I know)!. I said that I was scared of starting from scratch … and it was right to be so! I miss my friends. I don't like that I see important people twice a year when it used to be twice a week, or weeks on end. I miss nature, to feel the connectedness to the place I live at. Here it is concrete façades surrounding piles of trash surrounding spiked fences surrounding a few trees they call a park. I miss my family, the place I grew up at, our house, my home. Now it is more than a drive away. I miss Vienna, a city that felt peaceful and utterly relaxed when I visited over Christmas. I felt so peaceful and utterly relaxed. 

I have made wonderful friends here in New York. I've left the city for national parks. I travelled to see my friends and family and Vienna … but my experience with these things is suffering under the heavy weight of transitioning into this different life. Partly I got used to it, but it takes time to take off the the load, to settle down, to feel at home.


The skies have now fallen to their most possible extent. It's "dark" outside, and I am tired, so this is it. But I'll get back to you, with fascinating observations and active explorations of my life in New York.

Tobi