BAR 2024 #11 – Laura Sam

Since 2012, as part of its grants and residency programmes, Bitamine it has been organising an annual selection process for an artist for the development and execution of a research and artistic production project. The interest of the programme lies in generating a result that stimulates reflection and the integration of the different perspectives that are produced in/from the margins.

The aim of this programme is to encourage research and the production of artistic projects related to the problems of the margin, promoting the mobility of artists and the development of projects, with a special focus on the legacy consisting of this publication that summarises the results of the research carried out during the residency.

In the past, wisdom was passed down orally from generation to generation. These moments, in addition to generating knowledge, were part of a ritual that was engraved in memory to be passed on to future generations.

When the word interacts with the body and bodies of other people – their voices, memories, longings, music and gestures – a new language is generated that, in a way, recreates a ceremony where multiple voices create a new score.

This essay brings together the most important milestones of the research work carried out by Laura Sam in the framework of the BAR #11 programme, together with those who accompanied her on her journey. Through these pages, you will be able to read, listen and imagine what that ritual was like, which lives on in our memory thanks to the compilation of oral accounts on the banks of the Bidasoa.

Helga Massetani Piemonte

AUTHOR

Laura Sam (1989, Murcia) has lived in Bilbao for twelve years, where she graduated in Fine Arts in 2012. Her work is linked to writing, oral poetry and music.

In her texts, Laura addresses topics such as social criticism, dissident motherhood, generational crises or the eternal political unrest. In her live performances there is also a space for human, existential and philosophical questions, traversed by silence and stillness.

She is the founder of Poemátika, a Festival of Oral Poetry and Living Arts. As an author, she is frequently invited to participate in festivals, recitals and meetings both nationally and internationally. In 2023 she was invited to Rock al Parque (Bogotá), one of the most important free festivals in Latin America. Parallel to her career as a spoken word poet, Laura Sam works in the musical field, and in 2022 she released an album with musician Juan Escribano (We Are Standard), ‘La voz en contra’, with the record label Oso Polita. She has collaborated with musicians such as Kase.O, Abraham Boba (León Benavente), Briela Ojeda and Nacho Vegas. In addition to her profile as a performing artist, she collaborates with various institutions such as the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum and Dantzerti (Basque Country School of Dramatic Art), where she teaches writing and oral expression. ‘El poema físico’ (The physical poem) is the title of his new oral poetry workshop. He has published two collections of poems, Incendiaria (Arrebato Libros), and Géiser (Editorial Ya lo dijo Casimiro Parker).

Language: Spanish / Basque
Published by: Bitamine Kultur Elkartea
Editorial direction: Helga Massetani Piemonte
Author: Laura Sam
Translations: Belen Pikabea
Design and layout: Estudio Moriskette
ISBN 978-84-09-69547-8
Legal Deposit: LG D 00180-2025
Guipúzcoa, Basque Country
2025