Radical undertranslation: decolonial (re)mediators, ZHdK

During the intensive weekend of School of Commons, we will perform a collective “undertranslation” of Barranquilla 2132 by José Antonio Osorio Lizarazo, a colombian science fiction book first published in 1932. A mysterious explosion disturbs the silence and tranquility that characterize 22nd century Barranquilla. A building is destroyed and, in its foundations, the body of Dr. Juan Francisco Rogers appears, waking up after two hundred years of hibernation. This 1932 novel is one of Osorio Lizarazo’s least remembered works and is one of the first forays of Colombian literature into the genre of science fiction.

The workshop started by giving each participant a pen and a piece of dry clay.

During the workshop, each participant modelled their writing gestures into the workshop.

Everyone then proceded to translate four pages of the book.

By the end, we had the whole book translated.