1919, 2019

Between 1915 and 1918, a geodesic mission to São Tomé was conducted under the leadership of the Portuguese surveyor Gago Coutinho. During this period, markers were placed to establish a geodetic network across the archipelago. 

In 1919, a map of São Tomé Island was published alongside the Report of the Geodetic Mission. That same year, on the island of Príncipe, a pivotal scientific event took place: the confirmation of Einstein’s theory of special relativity. This theory describes how space and time are interconnected for objects moving at a constant speed in a straight line. 

Einstein’s equation, E = mc², demonstrates that energy (E) and mass (m) are interchangeable, essentially two forms of the same entity. An object in motion experiences time dilation, meaning time passes more slowly for a moving object compared to one at rest. 

At that time, the island’s social and cultural landscape was marked by a new wave of forced migration. Many laborers, primarily from Cape Verde, arrived under exploitative labor contracts known as contratos. These workers were brought to São Tomé and Príncipe to work on cocoa plantations, which were controlled by the declining Portuguese colonial administration. 

Taking public space as a site for reflection and intervention, 1919 is a performance created a century after the inauguration of the geodetic marker. This performance is the result of collaboration with Kotxi Midju, a traditional women’s group from Porto Real, composed of second-generation Cape Verdean migrants. Together, they highlight and empower the role of São Toméan women in society. 

The song performed in Creole references the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), founded on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 32 signatory nations. The OAU aimed to unite African nations, address internal conflicts, accelerate the continent’s complete independence, and eradicate imperialism and colonialism.