transpolia (fragments re-set)

TRANSPOLIA dot com houses SPOLIA – elements transplanted from their original contexts into new structures. Fragments found when TRANSlating for others. Disparate texts discovered inside disparate texts, pulled out and placed here. Imbued with traces of their origins, in this space they are (together) new.

Nightmarish forest of memory,
for those who want it,
for those who foresee,
though not for those who pay no heed.

Freed from their supports
to follow visitors about,
they move among us,
among those who want it and those who want it not,
these torsos
have no voice, they borrow our own.

Dimitris Fatouros writing in 1969,
inspired by the works of Stathis Logothetis

Εφιαλτικό δάσος μνήμης,
για όσους το θέλουν,
για όσους προβλέπουν,
πάντως όχι για όσους αγνοούν.

Αποδεσμεύονται από τα στηρίγματα τους
και ακολουθούν τον επισκέπτη,
κινούνται ανάμεσα μας,
για όσους το θέλουν και για όσους δεν το θέλουν,
οι τόρσοι
δεν έχουν φωνή, δανείζονται τη δική μας.

In the catalogue for a solo exhibition given by Stathis Logothetis (1925–1997) at the Goethe-Institut Athen in 1969, the architect, painter, and writer Dimitris Fatouros (1928–2020) introduced a series of visceral works with a poetic text.

Fatouros’ poem captures the power of pieces Logothetis created between 1963 and 1969 when presented together as a body of work.

Translated for (and taken from) the retrospective of his work – Earth to Earth – held at the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST) in 2026 and curated by Stamatis Schizakis.

see also
Me – the material ⋮ necessity.

arkhæio
EARTH TO EARTH

Noon ⋮ lies ahead.

Noon is a bright and gentle time
when half the day still lies ahead.

Logline written for the NOON book collection
featuring six works by Efthimis Filippou (in English translation)

A Greek version only exists somewhere inside Efthimis’ head.

Written directly in English after a conversation (in Greek) with Efthimis
– a translation (of mine) of what noontime feels like (for him).

First published in 2022 as part of the Noon book collection.

arkhæio
NOON

dubitanda

coldness ⋮ complexity constantly ⋮ faithful documents ⋮ inaccurate

Painting ⋮ with the body.

Painting forces artists to become masters of craft,
compelling the brain to work with the body.

Leonardo Cremonini, from a 2005 interview with the artist
conducted by Margarita Pournara for the Greek Kathimerini newspaper

Η ζωγραφική αναγκάζει τους καλλιτέχνες να γίνονται χειρόνακτες,
υποχρεώνει τον εγκέφαλο να συνεργαστεί με το κορμί.

Translated for (and taken from) the article “Painting in Contemporary Art – Between the Market and Museums: Greek Realities” written for issue three of Octopus, the EMST magazine.

Title of original 2005 interview: “Modernity Is a Threat to Painting” (“I neoterikótita apilí ti zoghrafikí”).

Quote translated from the Greek. Language in which interview was conducted: unknown.

Plunged in ⋮ our gaze.

Plunged in moonlight, the marbles grew weightless,
like some essence liquefying along with our gaze.

George Seferis, from the novel Six Nights on the Acropolis (1974)

Βυθισμένα μέσα στο φως του φεγγαριού, τα μάρμαρα έχαναν το βάρος τους,
έμοιαζαν μια ουσία που διαλύεται μαζί με το βλέμμα.

George Seferis was awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Taken from a speech given by the President of the Onassis Foundation – Anthony S. Papadimitriou – at an event celebrating the redesign of the lighting for the Athenian Acropolis and its monuments in 2020.

Rose-like ⋮ all the flowers.

Rose-like when I married you and brought you to the mill,
your petals peel off one by one to fall at each year’s fill.

Your beauty, it evaporates and mingles with the clouds,
but falls again as morning dew to perfume all the flowers.

Kavrós (Yánnis Hassapladhákis), Cretan “mantinádha” rhyming couplets

Ρόδο ’σουν όντε σ’ έπηρα και σ’ έφερα στο μύλο,
μα κάθε χρόνος που περνά σου πέφτει κι ένα φύλλο.

Τα κάλλη σου ξατμίζουνται, τα σύννεφα ’κλουθούνε,
μα στ’ άνθη δρόσος πέφτουνε, γι’ αυτό μοσχοβολούνε.

These Greek lines are spoken by the doctor Yorgos Markakis in the documentary feature The Light Inside (2015), directed by Stavros Psillakis.

They were referenced in an essay titled “Everything Depends on the Quality of the Encounter” that Psillakis wrote for the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival publication On the Threshold (TiDF25).

The commissioned translation was not used in full.

arkhæio
ON THE THRESHOLD

The catharsis ⋮ of proportion.

…the catharsis of Greek tragedy is, in essence,
nothing more than a matter of proportion…

Yorgos Himonas, from the introduction
to his 1989 version of Euripides’ Medea

…ἡ Κάθαρση στὴν τραγωδία δὲν είναι, στὴν ουσία,
παρὰ ἕνα ζήτημα ἀναλογίας…

Yorgos Himonas (1938–2000) was a psychiatrist, translator, and writer.

Translated for and taken from the 2008 printed programme created for the stage work Medea(2) by Dimitris Papaioannou.

In the book, this fragment is set alongside a wide-shot of Nikos Alexiou’s revived set design installed inside an industrial space. The words elucidate his work.

arkhæio
MEDEA (TO THE POWER OF) TWO MEDEA MANUAL A (FOR ATHENS)

dubitanda
enters ⋮ darkness fundamental ⋮ measure

The difference ⋮ is absurdity.

the difference between
a computer and people
is absurdity

Matheo Yamalakis, heard in his 1978 film On a Little Greek Island

η διαφορά ανάμεσα
σ’ έναν ηλεκτρονικό υπολογιστή και στους ανθρώπους
είναι ο παραλογισμός

Translated for (and taken from) a film synopsis written in 2025 by Manolis Kranakis and Yannis Palavos for Blueprints, the Non Catalog of the 27th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (TiDF27).

The film formed part of a tribute titled “Geography of the Gaze: Greece Off-Plan (1950–2000)”.

arkhæio
BLUEPRINTS

The migratory moves ⋮ immense.

The migratory moves made by my mother’s side of the family were traumatic. The culture they carried with them was boundless. The stories my grandmother and mother told always began with the words: ‘Back where we come from…’ Their longing for all they once had, for all they had lost was immense.

Niki Kanagini on longing (date unknown)

Οι μετακινήσεις της οικογένειας από τη μεριά της μητέρας μου ήταν τραυματικές. Ο πολιτισμός που μετέφεραν απεριόριστος. Οι ιστορίες της γιαγιάς μου και της μητέρας μου άρχιζαν πάντα με τις λέξεις «Στα μέρη μας…» και ο καημός για το τί είχαν και το τί έχασαν ήταν μεγάλος.

Niki Kanagini (born 1933 in Alexandroupoli, Greece) on the generational trauma and nostalgia that inspired her Displacement series.

Translated for (and taken from) an exhibition of her work – “An Ode to Things. Niki Kanagini. Retrospective” – held at the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST) in 2026 and curated by Tina Pandi.

arkhæio
ODE TO THINGS

dubitanda
neon ⋮ hieroglyphics

The things ⋮ now behind.

The things we know we knew
are now behind.

Tagline written for the development and promotion of Elenit,
a stage work by Euripides Laskaridis

Τα πράγματα που ξέρουμε πως κάποτε γνωρίζαμε
είναι πίσω μας πια.

Written directly in English after a conversation (in Greek) with Euripides
– a translation (of mine) of what his still-emerging new work felt like (for him).

Elenit premièred in 2020. This tagline also appeared in the video work Here Not Here (2021).

This here ⋮ (from Brazil.)

This here mambo brasileiro
makes me happy, makes me chill,
makes me true-blue brasileiro
this here mambo– (from Brazil.)

Lyrics from the song “Mambo Brasileiro” (1954)
performed by Sperántza Vraná & Trio Kitára

Αυτό το μάμπο μπραζιλέρο
μου δίνει κέφι, μου δίνει στυλ
και Βραζιλιάνο με κάνει βέρο
αυτό το μάμπο– (απ’ το Μπραζίλ.)

Song written by Yorgos Mouzakis, with lyrics by Kostas Pretenteris and Yorgos Economides, for the 1954 comedy feature I Oréa ton Athinón (The Belle of Athens).

Taken from a short scene (see below) that features in Scenes by Efthimis Filippou, translated from the Greek to appear in the English-language Noon collection first published in 2022.

STREET, VERY EARLY MORNING.

A girl rides a bike with stabilisers, singing a song under her breath. She falls and hurts her left knee. She wipes away the blood with the palm of her hand. She gets back on the bike and continues on her way.

(One imagines “from Brazil” cut off when the girl takes a tumble.)

arkhæio
NOON SCENES

dubitanda
coldness ⋮ complexity constantly ⋮ faithful documents ⋮ inaccurate

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