Straddling a steel horse skeleton in an empty parking lot situated at the rear-side of a block of flats, I sat poised; monumental. My facial expression was stern; frozen. My dress—excessively long—was hitched up and delicately folded over my crotch. My hands firmly clutched onto the makeshift rein knotted around the head of this equestrian body.

Slowly, passersby and witnesses began to glance, stop and fixate. Through the windows of flats, silhouettes could be distinguished as residents gaped around their curtains. The atmosphere was a conflation of silence and intensity. Now, motionless for an hour, the traction between rubber and road abruptly screeched through the air. Separating the crowd, an unanticipated black BMW edged its way through the deserted parking lot, reversing itself directly into the vacant space adjacent to me. The driver opened his door and vacated the car, unabashedly joining the mob.

The stillness was now broken; the focus shattered. Unhitching the rein from the horse’s crown, I looped the rope into a large lasso and began lassoing with determination; each body muscle jolting as my limbs thrust this horse. Breathless, sweating and exhausted, I exerted all energy reserves. My body keeled over flaccidly.

Dismounting the horse, my dress fell to the floor, gathering in large bundles of excessive material. Threading through this abundance, I approached two stacks of bricks and asked for the assistance of any willing witnesses. Meticulously, they began to follow my directions: I lifted one foot and they placed a brick underneath; I lifted the other foot and they likewise placed another brick. Alternating continuously, they built me up to a monumental height of over two metres. Standing, trembling, unstable—I dropped my dress; the hem falling perfectly onto the floor. My stature had become one of a giantess.

Gazing into the eyes of each witness, my lips separated and released the words:

“Army, Church, State: each day they grow smaller.

Me, You, He, She, They, Them: each day we grow bigger; stronger.”

“Trojan Horse” manifested from two non-related historical accounts: the Trojan War and the evolution of the equestrian technique of side saddling. By maneuvering through the past one is able to reimagine the emancipatory potentialities in contemporary society. When surfacing political potentialities which lay dormant, society begins to inhabit the present as a space from which politics for the future can be imagined and invented.