Mitato Sessions
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Mitato Sessions is an artistic project dedicated to documenting local stories and exploring contemporary musical experimentation, rooted in the mountainous communities of Crete.
At the heart of the project lies research on safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and cultural memory, through the collection of oral testimonies from residents of areas facing demographic decline and the gradual weakening of their cultural characteristics. These stories are transformed into musical compositions, creating a living dialogue between storytelling and contemporary sound exploration.
The programme unfolds through musical gatherings that bring together musicians, storytellers and memory-bearing objects. Its aim is to create a meaningful connection between artists and the people and stories of the place, leaving space for improvisation and creative “conversation” across different art forms.
Mitato Sessions combines traditional cultural practices with digital tools, contributing to the preservation of local heritage, strengthening artistic collaboration, and supporting the sustainability of mountainous communities.
How the stories are created
The stories of Mitato Sessions are created through field research and interviews with local residents, following the methodology of oral history. The project team collects testimonies that reflect everyday life, changes over time, and experiences that shape the identity of the place.
This material is then organised and composed into narratives that connect the personal with the collective, highlighting customs, traditions and cultural characteristics of the people and their community. These narratives are subsequently transformed into contemporary audiovisual storytelling, where spoken word meets sound, music and image.
A local object serves as the starting point of each story, connecting people’s personal journeys to the collective memory of the community.
“Biographical objects”
Biographical objects are carriers of memory: objects that have “lived” alongside
people and bear traces of time, experiences and stories.
In Mitato Sessions, each object becomes the starting point of a narrative
that brings the personal and the collective together, shedding light on aspects
of everyday life, tradition and local identity.
In this way, the object becomes a bridge between memory,
sound and contemporary artistic expression.
Why “Mitato”?
The mitato is a place deeply connected to the mountainous life of Crete:
a space of shelter, living and everyday work, but also a space where stories, knowledge and memory were passed down from generation to generation.
Mitato Sessions chooses the mitato not only as a setting, but as a symbol of living cultural heritage — a meeting point for people, objects and narratives, where the past speaks with the present through sound, image and contemporary artistic creation.
At the same time, the project acts as a form of re-appropriation of space: a mitato traditionally used for the needs of pastoral life becomes a place of storytelling, listening and creation. Through this shift, the space gains a new contemporary role, without losing its memory and symbolic weight.
Stories
Story 1 | The Towel
A narrative that unfolds memories and life journeys through an everyday object that carries both personal and collective history.
Story 2 | The Headscarf/ To Tsemperi
A story about identity, memory and the role of women within the community, inspired by an object connected to tradition and unwritten social norms.
Story 3 | The Lute
The third story of the project, titled “The Lute”, unfolds around a broken lute that travelled from Crete to Australia and back. At the same time, it sheds light on the life of a woman who never travelled, creating a multi-layered narrative about music, gender and memory.
The story is transformed into sound and image, bringing forward silences, absences and the social conditions that shaped people’s lives.
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Behind the scenes
Footage and moments from the production process.
Role of VENDEMA PRODUCTIONS
Mitato Sessions is an original project by VENTEMA PRODUCTIONS, developed through collaborations with artists and members of the local community. The team played a key role in the overall design and coordination of the project, the field research and collection of oral testimonies, as well as in shaping the material into coherent narratives.
In parallel, VENTEMA PRODUCTIONS undertook the production process and organisational support of the implementation, enabling the material to be transformed into contemporary audiovisual forms of storytelling that combine spoken word, sound, music and image. Through this process, Mitato Sessions functions as a creative bridge between the cultural memory of the place and contemporary artistic expression.