City as Element

TULUBAIKAPORIA & Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS (1927)

~

Primordial soup of concrete, metal, and glass fills the surrounding space of this chaotically ordered universe and takes shape as walls, ceilings, floors, staircases, windows, benches, poles, stretches of tarmac.

[…]

Upwards it grows
downwards it burrows
      as wires and pipes and metro mole-tunnels.
outwards it swells and scatters
      to an infinity infinitely large
      until the little human within
      finally recognises himself as
            an infinity infinitely small.

[…]

— awe before civilisation’s new element:
            earth, water, air, fire, aether…
            city.

[…]

The ancients built pyramids for egoists; we raise them for thousands of souls to make birds envious, pharaohs dead jealous, and children of tomorrow marvel at our grandeur.

[…]

The city throbs, breathes, digests its tenants, and gently mocks its guests.

[…]

Soon, winds will lift human spores up in the air and disperse them around the city.

[…]

Here, underground lies half of the city, be it rail transport, car parks, or shopping malls going down and down.

Metropolis (1927) — the city
Metropolis (1927) — the city
Metropolis (1927) — the workers
Metropolis (1927) — the workers
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons