Patricia Esquivias

Folklore I, Folklore II

Both videos, Folklore I and Folklore II, are the first in an ongoing series of informative lectures about Spain, its history, and its image.

Folklore deals with events of historic relevance and parallel stories recorded in the collective “folk” memory. Employing modest aesthetics and unrehearsed speech to narrate these stories, I weave together unrelated facts presenting history-making as a democratic, continuous, permeable, and participatory activity. In fact the lecture is seen through the eyes and hands of the lecturer. The viewer follows me, manually selecting and reselecting a scrapbook of visual images, consulting handwritten notes and watching the clock.

Folklore I (2006) continually returns to two distinct threads. Commencing with the 36-year dictatorship in Spain, I enter the personal trajectory of Francisco Franco protégé Jesús Gil, who abuses his position of minor power, amasses a small fortune, purchases a soccer club, and dies after betting that he could eat 20 fried eggs in one go. The other narrative follows the rise and decline of rave music events in Valencia which began some years after Franco’s death in 1975. However, of the apparently liberating parties that took place, we mostly learn about the drug abuse and tragic road accidents that accompanied them.

Folklore II (2007) draws similarities between King Phillip II of Spain (1527–1598), Julio Iglesias, and global empires then and now. Once again mixing historical facts about Phillip II’s reign and tabloid gossip about Iglesias and his private life, the video takes the viewer on an educational journey from the dark isolated Spain of Franco’s reign to the sun-drenched Spain of present-day mass tourism.