A project by María Ribot and José A. Sánchez
In 1942 Princess Héléne Elizabeth Louise Amelie Paula Dolores Poniatowska Amor
travelled to México city in the company of her mother Paula, while her father, Jean
Poniatowska was fighting with the French army, with whose forces he landed in Normandy
shortly afterwards. The princess published her novel The Train Passes Through First under
the name of Elena Poniatowska; she presented the book, dressed as “tehuana” in the company
of the actress and activist Jesusa Rodríguez, in the character of a machinist. Six years earlier
the two women had turned up in front of the Mexican parliament to protest against the
militarisation of Chiapas. Sub-commander Marcos moved into Chiapas on the first of January
- Exactly twelve years afterwards Marcos travelled the 32 Mexican states during his
Other campaign. Roberto Bolaño moved to México in 1966. Seven years later he returned to
Santiago de Chile crossing the whole of Latin America, from north to south, hitching lifts or
using local buses. He arrived late, but despite this was kept under arrest during more than a
week. His experiences were to inspire the novel 2666. Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for
27 years as prisoner 46664. In 1993, a year before he was elected president of South Africa,
he travelled to Stockholm to collect the Nobel peace prize. Edward Said died before peace
came to his homeland Palestine, which he had to abandon with his family in 1948. He
travelled to Egypt and later to the US where he published his most famous work Orientalism.
In 1957 Fatima Mernissi travelled from Fez in Morocco to Paris and in 1995 published
Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood. Later she reflected on the influence of
Chinese legend on the Arab imagination and how it manifests itself in the tales of the Arabian
Nights. Rabih Mroue preferred not to travel and stayed put in Beirut with his wife where they
asked: “Who is afraid of representation?”. Certainly not the poet Joan Brossa: he used to
travel from Barcelona to Perpignan to visit strip-tease cabarets, at that time forbidden in
Franco’s Spain. The musician Carles Santos followed him some years later. In September
2007 Sonia Gómez flew out of Barcelona landing 12 hours later in Shanghai, thirty six years
before Wong Kar Wai arrived at his destination in a mysterious train. In 1978 Esther Ferrer
was on The John Cage Train: in search of lost silence (1978), heading for Bologna.
Afterwards she went to Paris. The Egyptian actress Safaa Fathy arrived there in 1980 and
made the film Derrida’s Elsewhere (1999). In 2008 she stated, “Jacques Derrida is not dead”.
Ana Mendieta is definitely dead. She was killed in 1984, when she fell from the 34th floor of
a building in Greenwich Village. She had lived in the United States since her exile from Cuba
at the age of twenty three. William Pope still lives in New Jersey; in 2007 he was invited to
Vienna by Tim Etchells and spoke for 12 hours wearing a Condoleezza Rice mask. Juan
Loriente was in the audience for the entire performance; afterwards, during his return to Vega
de Pas, he walked for 12 days, while reflecting on humanity. Nao Bustamante, dressed as
herself, flew to Jerusalem in 1995; with María Ribot she took a pilgrimage to the sacred sites
without encountering any of the three Gods. Disappointed, she returned to Los Ángeles;
María to Madrid where she asked José Sánchez to write a text which would help her to
understand what they where doing. He did so, but despite this María moved to London, where
she performed several times at the ICA. Some years later, while living in Geneva, she bumped
into her old friend, Joshua Sofaer, author of a blank book, who had travelled to Switzerland to
present his video: What is Live Art?
Presence and telepresence. Real and imagined journeys. Meeting places. Look into
each other eyes and act. Be a prisoner and yet travel. Erase borders. Run to the encounter. Fly
to the future. Don’t let time terrify you. Time flies, time runs away. To play. To invent.
Subvert languages. Disguise your self to search for the real. Touch each other. Think of us.
Risk your identity.
The 28th of May 1994 sub-commandant Marcos wrote:
“Marcos is gay in San Francisco, black in South Africa, an Asian in Europe, a Chicano
in San Isidro, an anarchist in Spain, a Palestinian in Israel, a Mayan Indian in the
streets of San Cristobal, a gang member in Neza, a rocker in the National University, a
Jew in Germany, an ombudsman in the Defence Ministry, a communist in the post-
Cold War era, an artist without gallery or portfolio…. A pacifist in Bosnia, a housewife
alone on Saturday night in any neighbourhood in any city in Mexico, a striker in the
CTM, a reporter writing filler stories for the back pages, a single woman on the
subway at 10 pm, a peasant without land, an unemployed worker… an unhappy
student, a dissident amid free market economics, a writer without books or readers,
and, of course, a Zapatista in the mountains of southeast Mexico. So Marcos is a
human being, any human being, in this world. Marcos is all the exploited,
marginalized and oppressed minorities, resisting and saying, ‘Enough’!
DESPLAZAMIENTOS
programme by José Antonio Sánchez & La Ribot
From 21 st March until 25 March , five days of lectures, actions, performances and
discussions with artists , writers and politicians who think and work in Live Art
Saturday March 21st 2009
Elena Poniatovska / Jesusa Rodríguez
Cómo se nos fue el país vagón por vagón
12:00 a.m until 6:00 p.m
Carles Santos y Joan Brossa
Brossalobrossotdebrossat.
8.30 p.m
Sunday March 22nd 2009
Roberto Bolaño / Wong Kar Wai
In between ICA2666 and ICA2046
6:00 a.m until 6:00 p.m on borrad the train from St.Pancras to Waterloo Station
Ana Mendieta / William Pope
Death without protest
8.30 p.m Debate online
Monday March 23rd 2009
Safaa Fathy /Jacques Derrida
Derrida n’est pas mort
12:00 a.m Bar & Café
Monologue by Safaa Fathy. Jacques Derrida will be silent.
Edward Said / Rabih Mroue
The war imprinted body
6:00 p.m Dialogue -Lecture- Performance
Tuesday March 24th 2009
Sonia Gómez / Joshua Sofaer
The speed of thoughts
6:30 p.m Lecture
Não Bustamante / Nelson Mandela
The only place
8:30 p.m Performance is continues through out the night. Online broadcast.
Wednesday 25th March 2009
Esther Ferrer/ Fátima Mernissi
This is the story of a woman
8:00 p.m 11:00 p.m Conference –Action
Subcomandante Marcos/ Juan Loriente
It shakes violently
12:00 p.m onwards. Online
