GOLDEN EYE - preview

On our second issue of Ojo Dorado it’s appropiate to ask who we are addressing. Why didn’t we ask this before the release of our first issue? Perhaps because this isn’t a magazine based on commercial ends, and hence there was no marketing study, no target audience and no search for advertisers at the moment of deciding on its contents and orientation. And that slack allows us to address a wide gamut of subjects on what we consider Contemporary Culture, centered mostly around Peru but with a disposition to make authors from other countries readable in ours and, by translating all our texts into English, potentially place the subjects developed herein and make them available to readers from other latitudes. Our magazine’s name alludes to an astonishing but dark verse from Jorge Eduardo Eielson’s poem Parque para un hombre dormido (Park for a sleeping man, 1944): “Cerebro de la noche, ojo dorado” [Brain of the night, golden eye]. But some idea related to the colossal Golden Eye of the James Webb Space Telescope, launched last December 25, also played a role in the decision. A space observatory whose main part consists of a mirror of 18 hexagonal pieces of beryllium coated with gold. This telescope, the biggest and most powerful manufactured so far, has among its main goals the observation of the first galaxies, or how the primordial structures of the universe gave way to the existence of planets capable of housing life. It is the great mechanical eye of humanity, a Golden Eye, threateningly poetic. What will we see in that infinity? One of the ways to observe the present while imagining the future is through science fiction. The unprecedented experience of the pandemic constitutes a factor that has faced us with all too real apocalyptic and dystopian perspectives. This is why, in this issue, we deal with the most current trends in literature, cinema, series or art in this genre. In these fictions, mechanical beings become increasingly sophisticated, much more intelligent and perhaps even more sensitive or emotionally sensible than humans, while the catastrophes that threaten to destroy or radically alter our way of live are the effect of environmental disasters. In a way, the 21st century already bore the mark of the future. And while it might have deceived us in some regards, it has surpassed all expectations in others. There are frenzied changes in social relations, values that question long-held conventions or outright throw them out the window – such as the patriarchal order – be it as it may, we’re all knee deep and confused in the ‘Great Discussion’ that is the internet. We’re interested in contents that observe changes in cultural use that are becoming widespread, such as podcasts or NFTs, among others. And we emphasize the validity of the diversity of cultures and not the domination of one hegemonical culture. Although, more than information or news, we want to touch on the points of view, often quite personal; in writing, in what can remain of interest beyond the biannual period covered by each issue. When I say that we didn’t know who Ojo Dorado was directed at, it’s because we hope that those who have expectations of something like it will find us. Not the other way around. Something that might seem utopian in a country that supposedly doesn’t read. We doubt it. We won’t say that this is a message in a bottle. Since we’re looking at images that point to space exploration, let us be reminded of the interstellar messages that orbit the universe. Fietta Jarque Editor of Ojo Dorado