Monday 9 October 1995
Its 10:30, I am home, I just woke up, the voyage is over. The last encounter that we had was perhaps the most unexpected: a porcupine, right in the middle of an underground gallery over four kilometers long. In the film Stalker by Andrei Tarkovskii (the title inspired our initiative), the nickname of the first mythical guide across the mutant zone is Porcupine. Maybe this was a simple error in the translation. Maybe that porcupine that we encounter this night was none other than Porcupinecoming to say hello. One is more likely to find a stalker at thebottom of a tunnel than a porcupine.
This night, coming out of the tunnel, we put our feet backright where we started out four days ago at the inauguration ofcrossing actual territories. We got out of our journey imprecisedescriptions. All we did was walk, be in places, cross them, and tie their destiny to ours. Every time we climbed over a wall or we went through a hole in a chain-link fence, we experienced apprehension, which made us more attentive to these unknown places, even if they are in our backyard.
These existing terrains have been unveiled. We have the key to their access; we know where to return to listen to the voice, to sing the streets, to celebrate the locations, but also to conduct any others who might feel the need to discover.
(Translated from the Italian by Livia Tani)
