Helena Almeida, Lisbon, Cooperativa Diferença
November, 1979
English translation by David Evans. Republished in Helena Almeida's catalogue for the exhibition at Valentim de Carvalho Gallery, Lisbon, 1990.
The year 2120 will be the one of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. This is a scientific probability calculated in risk. A great number of cities and the greater part of organized life will have the same fate as Agadir, San Francisco, Lisbon or Pompey... Catastrophe. Deviation. Revolution.
Hear me Gradiva, you who take a step forward.
Hear me Olympia, and pursue your delicious perfect mechanical song.
Amigo.
HEAR ME.
Language, power take parallel paths. Devoid of a center or source language is a prison (as are aesthetics and ideology). Primary system model: how to get away from language? How to invent words in freedom?
Feel me Gradiva, Olympia. Princess of Portugal.
Amigo.
FEEL ME.
The truth is the Other. Not the other which flows from me like
a river but the Other, totally. That I cannot even conceive...
See me, my plea beyond the tombs and tremors.
Amigo: Gradiva, Olympia, Princess of Portugal, Rose Sélavy.
SEE ME.