The Eternal Ark – Fernando Pessoa and Posterity

The monumental presence of Fernando Pessoa, in editorial and public terms, constitutes an autonomous mechanism activated after his death, centred on the famous ark where he left thousands of unpublished works that continue to be published around the world today.

However, we can wonder whether the author of the heteronyms, who repeatedly reflected and wrote about the concepts of immortality, posterity and celebrity, had and continues to have an active say in this plural process of literary and post-literary construction.

Pessoa's estate, symbolized by the ark, seems to be an infinite archive, a new form of existence that blurs even the boundaries between life and death. Hence, The Eternal Ark – Fernando Pessoa and Posterity is a multiple and dynamic exhibition, like the author's own work, in which visitors can construct their own portable selection of texts and images from the materials on display.

Curatorship and content production

Antonio Sáez Delgado

Design and Installation

Ilhas Studio

 

Biographical note - Antonio Sáez Delgado

Antonio Sáez Delgado is an associate professor at the University of Évora and an integrated researcher at the Centre of Comparative Studies at the School of Humanities of the University of Lisbon. He specializes in early twentieth century literary relations between Portugal and Spain. He has published in Spain and Spanish American countries translations of works by Portuguese writers such as Fernando Pessoa, José Saramago, António Lobo Antunes, among others. As a literary critic, he is a frequent contributor to Babelia, the cultural supplement of El País newspaper. He is the director of Suroeste, Journal of Iberian Literatures. As a translator, he was awarded the Giovanni Pontiero Prize in 2008, and in 2014 the Eduardo Lourenço Prize for Iberian Studies.

 

This exhibition is supported by the “la Caixa” Foundation, in collaboration with BPI Bank.