-zko
«Isse: nombreux sont cependant les mots dans lesquels -ko, son similaire -to
et son dérivé -sko, -zko, dorment le sommeil de la mort, ou peutêtre reposent-ils à l’état de larve, attendant qu’une vigoureuse littérature leur communique une nouvelle vie.»
R. M. de Azkue, Diccionario Vasco-Español- Francés, 1905, Vol.1, p. 493
-zko is an initiative that was born in the heart of the artists’ cooperative Tractora. The aim of this publishing house is to bring to light and distribute works that unfold between art and other disciplines of knowledge production.
Making the method that R.M. de Azkue used to complete his dictionary its own, -zko is born with the will to accompany projects that depart from field work and are formalized through an editing exercise, with the ultimate aim of articulating a sensitive knowledge.
The sufix -zko is used in Basque to create words. By adding -zko at the end of a given name, we elaborate adjectives that describe how things are made, what they are made of or what they are built with. If “egur” is wood, we call “egurrezko” to that which is made from it; in the same way “harrizko” refers to what is made of stone. Each material gives rise to a new word that helps broaden the description of the world while alerting us of the ability of the material to create new language.
-zko is a tool for focusing the crossway between technique and ethnicity, for reflecting upon what objects can do, and for tracking the creation, use and transformation of the artifacts that make up what we understand by world.