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The seven plates presented here are excerpted
from a ten-plate work called TETTIΞ,[“Tettix”
(“Cicada”)] Γαβριηλίδης (Gavrielides Books, 2012),
originally exhibited in Greek on lecterns with
audiovisual installation at the National Museum of
Contemporary Art in Athens, 2012-13. This original
Greek performance includes some striking
audio , video, and
performance ,which we encourage
you to explore.
The cicada was for the ancient Greeks a metaphor
for the poet, and these manuscripts emphasize
writing as transcription of the cicada’s living
voice. They are a collection of fragments, arranged
under 10 subjects following the life cycle of the
cicada – with original poems, plus Japanese Haiku,
entomological descriptions and excerpts from
ancient Greek poetry and philosophy, modern
Greek poetry and songs.
Translated from Greek by Konstantinos Matsoukas
and the poet, with additional public domain
translations (see Acknowledgments section)