Mladen Stilinović: Pain

On power, pain and... ...when I say power, I am not only thinking of the power of the state and of its institutions but also of the hundreds of different powers that become intertwined, coming from different sides. They come from states and from individuals, from East and West, from "friends" and from the administration. These powers are to be found everywhere: in the newspapers, in language, in the arts, in the "given freedom", in the truth and in my fear. I have always wanted to write how subtle power was. And I did. Power is cynical, occasionally subtle (can that be) but more or less crude and open. Power is characterized by the total ignorance of others. That cynicism of power is caused by not knowing about things and even the desire not to know.