I once met a traveller, at the end of the middle of the world, who embarked on a quest across the River to unlock the secrets of the Universe, and beyond.
Under the starlit sky, he set up a tent out of cloth. The cloth was dipped in black carbon ink. And from inside the tent, he poked thirteen holes.
Aligning the holes to the stars, he drew diagrams of celestial bodies and their motions to calculate the River’s tide.
Out of the trunk of an ancient olive tree, he carved out a raft, and for the sailcloth he made ropes by twisting its branches and its roots. He knew that olive trees hold history and that they foster wisdom. In this way, his travels would be blessed with remembrance guiding his way back home. Not with yesteryear’s follies of conquer, but with that of true knowledge, making true bonds and building companionship.
He learned a lot from the River, how with every new flood, land had to be divided,
time and again,
time and again,
time and again…
He learned how with every overflow, new salt deposits gather at its riverbanks, forming the first trade routes along its many salt lakes, many of which he would encounter along the way.
He sailed for 40 days and 40 nights, reaching his final destination, where now lies a new kind of salt, through which moonlight travels faster than the blink of an eye.
This is why he is sitting on this deck, vigilant, waiting for the new eclipse, keeping forever informed, as "the lone and level sands stretch far away."
On the right to be forgotten – Part One: Wayback Machine to Sun City, 2024, Lower Levant Company (Emiddio Vasquez & Peter Eramian), in collaboration with Svetlana Goncharenko. Single channel video, 17’09’’, stereo (geomancy reading interludes, 10’15”, stereo). Narration by Chrysso Kosmas. Camera by Phivos Philitas.
Presented as part of the exhibition On a wildflower-lined gravel track off a quiet thoroughfare… at the Cyprus Pavilion Biennale Arte, Venice, 2024.