Greeting
by Deputy Minister of Culture
Mr. Petros Tatoulis
Shadow
Line
A landscape is identified with its shadows
Harris Kondosphyris
Dido's
Problem
Harris Kondosphyris
Athens-Beijing
Irini Savvani
E
M I G R A P H S (Fragments)
Panos Bosnakis
How
I wrote the Emigraphs
Panos Bosnakis
Incense
Orestes Davias
The
musical circle of emigration versus the circular music
of foreign lands and homesickness
Vassilis Kokkas
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Dido's Problem
Nothing ever happens whose importance does
not coincide with that of the maximum and of the minimum.
An isoperimetric mathematical problem with fictional aspects
can be directly traced back to Dido, the princess of Phoenicia,
who sought to locate and acquire a free territory.
Dido sailed west along the Mediterranean coast in search
of refuge. Upon first seeing the landscape of the bay
of today's Tunis, she felt ecstatic joy, and immediately
negotiated to acquire a piece of land. Her demand was
minimal. She only asked for as much land as could be "enclosed
by the hide of a bull."
Dido convinced the local ruler, Jarvas, and the deal was
closed. She cut the bull's hide into thin strips, tied
them end to end, and enclosed a large area of land, on
which she built a fortress and the city of Carthage nearby.
There, she was destined to experience unrequited love
and suffer a martyr's death in her own free territory.
The mathematical problem is expressed as follows: Among
all closed level curves of fixed length, find the one
that encloses the largest area.
The existential correspondence of expatriate immigrants
who achieve maximum growth and inflow in their new land
through their minimum requirements is impressive. Look
at the inflow of the Chinese trade Diaspora in Athens,
the conquest of the entire metropolitan market, and beyond,
throughout the territory. Have a look, also, at how the
customary demands of the Muslim minority in France affect
the manner in which the French Republic perceives the
freedom of symbols.
An expatriate must solve isoperimetric problems, projecting
the barest minimum, hoping for the maximum possible, resorting
to maximum calculation in order to arrange the minimum,
living at maximum density in a basement in Kypseli, travelling
a distance of minimal actual length (hours) in maximum
time (months perhaps) before he reaches the metropolis
of freedom.
This mercantile activism on the part of Dido—a minor princess
who managed to become the powerful queen of Africa and
to inspire poet Virgil enough for him to introduce her
in the Aeneid—symbolically illuminates the philosophical,
existential, and social phenomenon of expatriation and
celebrates all those who seek adventure and opportunity,
who value the unfamiliar and the outlandish, who disseminate
culture.
Through Dido's persecution and eventual violent death
in Carthage, the mathematical problem of isoperimetry
emerges as a problem of the minimum and maximum force
of attraction. Note the great tension between the exciting,
stimulating, arousing even, appeal of the exotic character
of the other land and the inverted desire for preservation,
for the warmth and comfort of the familiar land. These
mocking opposing forces of attraction comprise the paradox
of Odysseus—an isoperimetric problem exploring expatriation,
Diaspora, the search for freedom.
Whether because they are persecuted or because they wish
to organize their subjective freedom, social groups—facing
insecurity, danger, and adversity—turn within as well
as without, become ethnic but also international, local
yet cosmopolitan.
Through the paradoxical journey of Odysseus, the Diaspora
becomes a conceptual vessel. The journey may take place
within the city limits in the form of a ghetto or become
a planetary one, setting up social sails that set in motion
the economies of other lands.
One thing is certain: Many are those who unexpectedly
embark on this vessel.
Harris Kondosphyris
Lofos Skouze, Athens,
January 7 2004
ΒΙΒΛΙΟΓΡΑΦΙΑ
1. V.M. Tikhomirov, Ιστορίες για τα μέγιστα και ελάχιστα,
Κάτοπτρο, Athens 1999
2. Robin Cohen, Παγκόσμια Διασπορά, Εκδόσεις Παπαζήση,
Athens, 2003
3. Νικόλας Βερνίκος–Σοφία Δασκαλοπούλου, Πολυπολιτισμικότητα,
Εκδόσεις Κριτική, Athens, 2001
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