The black-and-white digital artwork depicts a dystopian atmosphere: Crowds of people are running through the massive flanks of a futuristic combat robot—arranged like tentacles—toward three Babylonian towers. The columns of people have their backs turned to the viewer. The Babylonian towers differ from one another. The central, largest tower is black with support struts; the tower on the right, farther away, resembles a modern office building; the tower on the left looks as if it were under construction or falling into disrepair. The gloomy cloud background is interrupted by pixelated, horizontal rows of points of light.
‘The New Babylonian Exile’ / 2026 ///
Image detail of digital artwork 01: The surface of the combat robot’s upper capsule and one of its gripping arms are depicted. The grainy texture of the background and the intentionally heavily scaled-up pixels—used as design elements in the composition—become more apparent.
Image Detail 01 /
Image Detail 02: Columns of people, with their backs to the viewer, walking toward the left edge of the image. In the background, the magnified structures of the Tower of Babel are visible. Superimposed points of light reinforce the dystopian atmosphere of the artwork.
Image Detail 02 /
Close-up/detail of the digital artwork 03: A displaced person moves from the left edge of the image to the right, into the grasping arms of the futuristic robot. The imposing robot arms appear menacing in comparison to the small figure.
Image Detail 03 /

The New Babylonian Exile

Digital Art

Displacement—emigration—exile. Leave or perish. The mass exoduses of entire ethnic groups are already described in the Bible. In the annals of history, with their columns of numbers from death registers, what is almost always left out are the mass erasures of individual life stories—the dreams crushed on their own soil, the paralyzing fears for missing loved ones and an uncertain future, the hardships of the journey, the struggles for food, medicine, and hygiene, and the loss of compassion. The longing for home is glossed over.

Deceitful occupiers cannot take away the displaced people’s memories of a former, happy life with high-tech bombs and the concrete wastelands they leave behind. The roots of one’s origins, personal history, and cherished traditions cannot be torn out like the safety pins on hand grenades.

That longing lives on in the hearts of the displaced. It is not uncommon for this longing to drive them back home—sometimes only generations later. You never forget the injustices you’ve experienced.

‘The New Babylonian Exile’ :
44.29″ (H) ∙ 78.74″ (W) / 13.287 Pixel (H) ∙ 23.622 Pixel (W).

Mixed media.

Fine art print on matte black-and-white photo paper.
One-of-a-kind print plus one artist’s proof.

Handwritten title, signature, and date on the back.

Original human art.
The compositions were created without artificial intelligence.
This work is protected by copyright in all its parts.
© 2026 by Heinz Hermann Maria Hoppe. All rights reserved.
Color and tone value representations on monitors deviate from the original.

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