Video, installation and texts: Virginia Evi.
​Action and installation: Raffaella Regina.

Sandë Martinë

2017 - An action research in Chiaromonte

"In a house where bread is made or in a cave where wine is made, whoever enters, instead of saying good morning or good night [...] the first thing he says is: "Sande Martine!"
And the owner of the house answers: "Welcome!"
[Giovanni Percoco]

"Of ten houses, yes and no, a family lives there.... everything is abandoned. Even the houses give you, with 1,000 euros, in the historic center. (Giuseppe, Interview)
​
In the days of research in Chiaromonte we have heard many stories. Family stories, legends, private events and, at the same time, shared by the community. These stories, passed from mouth to mouth and according to different points of view, continually revealed new details or even contradictions and, little by little, they allowed us to come into contact with a common and informal social fabric, made up of places, memories and friendships.

Fascinated by some episodes, by the characters and by the stories themselves, we decided to involve the Chiaromonte community in a participatory artistic action that focused on these narratives.
Following these stories, we enter the homes, memories and private lives of a community in which "others" often spoke. We then began to trace the stories back to the objects and identify possible symbols in which the objects were only implicit.

The people we met and who stopped to talk to us about themselves showed us a daily life capable of constantly playing with the ambiguous and contradictory dimension of the threshold, which is both opening and closing, entry and exit, identity and difference, the public and the private. Around the concept of "threshold" we wanted to play together with the same community and on September 21, 2017 we invited the country to participate in the "Sandë Martìnë" event.