The Same Story

The same story
with Dr. José Vicente Martín Martínez, Miguel Hernández University, Campus in Altea, Spain.

Wednesday, October 2, 2024
5:30pm – 7:00pm
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José Vicente Martín’s artworks explore how narrative shapes reality. Beginning as a figurative painter in the nineties, he since widened his range of media, including two new recent strands of work; one relating to archaeology of media and expanded/deconstructed cinema and another linked to editorial projects and artist books.

La misma historia / Samma berättelse is a documentary film that reflects how stories are shared in the context of family and community bonds and how these stories shape our memory and identity.

The recurrent stories are related to the fact that we (some ones more than others) like to tell the same stories over and over. Normally, the teller chooses from different stories, depending on the situation but, especially in the case of elderly people, and more notoriously if they suffer from dementia, there is one story that progressively wins the battle and becomes “the” story. This story normally shows a relevant moment in the teller’s life and how they reacted to it. And, sometimes, this story fits a mythical structure quite perfectly. It is a pattern related to the collective imaginary that the narrator has made theirs and internalized.

The film which contrasts five people from Umeå (Sweden) and five people from Valencia (Spain) who answer two questions:

  • Question 1: “Can you remember a story that any of your parents like to tell over and over?
    Could you tell me?”
  • Question 2: Can you remember a story that you like to tell repeatedly? Could you tell me?

Accompanying the film is the video installation (A display of) Wandering stories, which is running in the Sound Art Gallery from October 1 – 4. Read more about the installation here.