Invisible Cities

I'm reading Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. I read it before, quite some time ago and all I remember is the feeling I was reading poetry. When the autumn read for the Book Oblivion Book Club was announced I was pleasantly surprised Jessica chose Invisible Cities. I was looking forward to reading it again, seeing it with different eyes. And I am ... seeing it differently. Not only it being poetry, the language is beautiful and the cities Marco Polo describes to Kublai Khan have a quality of not really existing, of being apparitions. 

Last week I went to La Biennale di Venezia. On the floor of The Hungarian pavilion, I noticed an inscription. There were lots of them, but for me, this one stood out. Invisible cities. In Venice, and invisible city itself. The exhibition in the Hungarian pavilion is called Peace on Earth, which is an utopia in itself, an invisible city. The project consists of many past and future utopias, challenging the viewer to consider their relationship with realty, past, future, history and unpredictability of change. 

I don't know if Gyula Várnai read Italo Calvino. I like to think he did. I think his project falls into its proper place in Venice. Venice is an apparition. She doesn't exist in the way we see her. The real Venice is an invisible city, a parallel world the outsiders cannot see. I once said I wanted to experience Venice, to live there for a month perhaps, to really feel her. However, I don't think it would be enough, I don't think she would let me feel her. I'm an outsider and bound to remain one. Marco Polo said to Kublai Khan that each city he describes contains a part of Venice, each city is Venice. She's the only city he knows, he can describe. But no matter how detailed his description is, he doesn't know her. If he doesn't, I'm probably never going to.

* I refer to Venice as a she on purpose, because that's the way I see her. La Serenissima is a woman. Perhaps this is why Marco calls his invisible cities by women's names.

*

Berem Nevidna mesta Itala Calvia. Že prej sem jih prebrala, vendar se ne spominjam vsebine, samo tega, da se mi je besedilo zdelo kot da bi brala poezijo. Ob napovedi jesenskega branja za knjižni klub Book Oblivion, sem bila prijetno presenečena, da je Jessica izbrala Itala Calvina. Po svoje me je vzpodbudila k ponovnemu branju Nevidnih mest, priložnosti, da bi knjigo prebrala z drugimi očmi. Ravno to počnem ... berem z drugimi očmi. Ne samo, da se bere kot poezija, jezik je čudovit, mesta, ki jih Marko Polo opisuje Kublaju Kanu pa so podobna prividu. 

Prejšnji teden sem bila na beneškem bienalu umetnosti. Na tleh madžarskega paviljona sem zagledala napis. Več jih je bilo, a sem po svoje videla samo tega. Nevidna mesta. In to ravno v Benetkah, ki so same po sebi nevidno mesto. Razstava v madžarskem paviljonu se imenuje Mir na svetu, ki je ravno tako nevidno mesto, utopija. Projekt vsebuje številne druge pretekle in prihodnje utopije, ki izzivajo gledalca, da razmisli o svojem dojemanju resničnosti, preteklosti, prihodnosti, zgodovine in nepredvidljivosti sprememb.

Ne vem, če je Gyula Várnai bral Itala Calvina, recimo, da je (bi se mi dobro zdelo). Zdi se mi, da njegov projekt v Benetkah pade na svoje mesto. Benetke so privid, ne obstajajo take, kot jih vidimo. Resnične Benetke so vzporedni svet, ki ga obiskovalci od zunaj ne moremo spoznati. Nekoč sem rekla, da bi rada doživela Benetke, živela tam kak mesec in jih začutila. Ne glede na to pa mislim, da en mesec ne bi bil dovolj, da mi mesto ne bi pustilo blizu. Outsider sem in to bom najbrž tudi ostala. Marko Polo je Kublaju Kanu rekel, da vsako mesto, ki ga opiše, vsebuje delček Benetk, pravzaprav je vsako mesto Benetke. Benetke so edino mesto, ki ga pozna, ki ga lahko opiše. Ne glede na to kako podroben je njegov opis, pa Benetk pravzaprav sploh ne pozna. Če jih on ne pozna, jih jaz najbrž nikoli ne bom.

* V angleškem besedilu sem o Benetkah pisala v ženskem spolu, v slovenščini so množinsko ime. Ta komentar bi bil zato popolnoma nepotreben, vendar recimo, da ni tako. Ženski spol sem uporabila zato, ker Benetke tako vidim. La Serenissima je ženska. Morda zato Marko svoja nevidna mesta naslavlja z ženskimi imeni.