English
The year that I began what could be called “the series of the series”, 1992, a portfolio that I produced in consequence with this criteria (but in the form of an artist’s book and in the correspondingly logical sequence), dedicated to the discovery of America was edited in Colombia. […]
Paradox is the structure of the work; I have a passion for it, as was previously reflected in Una sociedad colonial avanzada (An Advanced Colonial Society) and in Recontrapoder (Super-Power). The thing is, however, that the Colombian formula itself, A Oriente por Occidente (To The East via the West)—which constitutes the title of the portfolio—is a paradox. This is why I invented many others that outline the “chapters” (if they can be called such) of the work. In the end I closed the book-portfolio by piling up these paradoxes along with several others, as if they were the verses of a poem.
Account by Luis Felipe Noé included in the book "Mi viaje-Cuaderno de bitácora" (My Voyage – Logbook, 2014)
[Fragment]
To East by West
To sunrise by sunset
To North by South
To South by North
To the Pacific Indies by the Atlantic Indies
To the West Indies by the East Indies
To discovery by the discovered
To America by Asia
To truth by mistake
To the right measure by exaggeration
To the will of kings by the will of Christopher Columbus
To victory by glory
To gold by the Holy Sepulchre
To the Holy Sepulchre by gold
To Goldwest by Goldeast
To the Holy Sepulchre by the lost tribes of Israel
To the lands of the Great Khan by the Holy Faith
To the Holy Faith by the lands of the Great Khan
To the embassy by the viceroyalty
To the discovered by invasion
To invasion by solemnity
To discovery by institutionalization
To connection by disconnection
To the origin of American by the destruction of the natives
To life by death
To death by life
To modernity by medieval prejudices
To order by chaos
To Paradise by decision of Your Highnesses
To God by the destruction of Paradise
To destruction by admiration
To Christian conversion by slavery
To God by not sparing the rod
To the Spanish victory by Native American seduction
To Goldsex by Sexgold
To the name of North America by the name of South America
To the acknowledgement of America by its loss
To American paradoxes by Iberian paradoxes
To independence by loyalty to the king
To unity by division
To right by left
To left by right
To the national by the international
To our own identity by identifying ourselves with what is foreign
To being in itself by being like others
To the beginning by the end
To sunrise by sunset