'Forgetting Is Good For You'

Sometimes it is enough to open a metal can of ground coffee to make it happen. In a split second a touch of smell transports you to a place where you have neither been nor have not been (thanks to a speed of multiple teleportation, none of your eye-lashes will fall down). A weird feeling where a taste of dreams-never-realised, completely forgotten, but suddenly reanimated gets back on the menu in all its crisp vagueness.

바카라�A dream remembered or a dream realised?바카라� asks a waiter in white chiffon. 바카라�A la carte,바카라� you answer, 바카라�Something anachronistic, but with lots of olive oil, please. And don바카라�t forget a bit of something.바카라� 바카라�Don바카라�t worry,바카라� his smile disappears behind his words, 바카라�I never forget.바카라� 바카라�Forgetting is good for you,바카라� I say 바카라�It could be a force leading to revolution. And revolution is a lovely word, no?바카라�

While we smile, a man with Down syndrome and a newspaper strolls along the shore of the lake. I바카라�ve never seen anyone joggling with a newspaper so vigorously바카라�would anyone doubt the choice of Mussolini and Hitler to establish the Minicultutpop바카라�the Ministry of Popculture of Italian Socialist Republic here. In a place situated along the lake and surrounded by mountains, so that the allies would not be able to detect and bomb it. Where Lisa Stansfield바카라�s 바카라�Toy Soldier바카라� still welcomes you in every bar. And where Café Nero still serves memorabilia of Mussolini as well as brand new t-shirts with Che Guevara. 바카라�Wanted: only dead바카라� the t-shirt says. We wanted to trade it to Comme des Garconnes t-shirt with Che Guevara wearing Burt Simpson on his chest (the image is taken from the New Yorker magazine), but Jean Luigi, the owner of the café-museum, brought us to a restaurant to eat a horse steak instead.

바카라�That place on the top of the mountain?바카라� the waiter interrupted. 바카라�Yes, where you cannot see a ferry appearing in the fog.바카라� 바카라�Have your ever been to Salo before?바카라� he wonders. 바카라�How can I remember and forget at the same time?바카라� I shrug, 바카라�I바카라�ve just come here from Bed & Breakfast at the mountain nearby, Montessei. The owner of the place gave me this as a present,바카라� I show him a jar of gooseberry jam that was accompanying our breakfast each morning. 바카라�Nice. Actually the relationship to forgetting and writing is very ambivalent,바카라� the waiter says. 바카라�Sometimes the only way to get rid of certain memories and to erase them is write them down on paper. When you write it the experience disappears and you are free again. You are up for a revolution. You probably agree that the only way to forget the heavy nights of the weekend is to have a party the next one.바카라� 바카라�Bingo바카라�, I say. 바카라�By the way, what are you doing here?바카라� he raises my curiosity. 바카라�Well, I am part of the cultural tourism. We바카라�ve come here to make a TV series based on Pasolini바카라�s 120 days of Sodom. However, none of the people except the owner of Café Nero would be able to remember anything from the actual shooting except the title. Yet they said that reality was more gruesome than the fiction. Then we바카라�ve tried to recruit teenagers to play in the series and ended up with hours of tape of them talking about denim jeans and reality shows on TV. They were critical and enthusiastic at the same time. Like everybody else these days. So at the end we바카라�ve decided to do a commercial for siesta time. Imagine a commercial for time?바카라� 바카라�What about the jam?바카라� asks the waiter. 바카라�It sounds like time.바카라� 바카라�The jam is a present. I really liked it and I바카라�m going to bring it to Lithuania.바카라� 바카라�Didn바카라�t she tell you that this jam is made of green little tomatoes, which maybe look like gooseberries, but taste like something else?바카라� he looks at me. 바카라�No,바카라� I say. 바카라�Salo is a capital of pomodore, you also add a stick of cinnamon. So I have a nice slogan for you,바카라� he finishes:

바카라�Eat it and forget, at least gooseberries.바카라�

Raimundas Malasauskas is a Curator and writer