Folklore IV

Patricia Esquivias


In Folklore #4 the artist starts from a personal anecdote: after asking her father if he has ever been to the Reina Sofía and discovering that the affirmative answer was probably not true, the artist unleashes a whole process of investigation through which she tries to solve what she believes to have been an incorrect question.

As in the rest of the pieces in the series, Folklore #4 takes a form of a talk. The work begins with a still shot of the Museum recorded from the immediate vicinity, in which the contrast between the eighteenth-century architecture of Sabatini and the contemporary building by the French architect Jean Nouvel can be appreciated. In this way, the Museum container itself becomes an object of criticism for Esquivias, as a significant example of the use of a supposedly advanced design as a claim and sign of modernity.

The video continues with another fixed shot of the Casón del Buen Retiro where we can read the quote "Todo lo que no es tradición, es plagio" [Anything that is not tradition is plagiarism] by Eugeni d'Ors, to end with another fixed shot of the monument to d'Ors. It is then, when the artist introduces the phrase that gives the exhibition its title: "Todo lo que no es ración, es agio" [Everything that is not ration, is agism].

Recurring in Esquivias' work, the piece explores different themes on Spanish history through everyday events and phenomena of popular culture, often exemplified by curious or surprising cases that she reflects in her stories, to develop a dissertation that she subsequently records on video during a single session. First, she gathers information from various sources and draws conceptual maps that draw links, contrasts and comparisons between the topics. Finally, she supports the images with her voice and comments, playing with intonation and timing.

Technical datasheet

  • Title: Folklore IV
  • Direction: Patricia Esquivias
  • Production: 2009.
  • Duration: 00:20:18
  • Languages: English
  • Original format: HD 720 x 576
  • TV systems: PAL