Associação Cultural Videobrasil

1. What prompted you to start the feitoamãos [handmade] project? How did the project later unfold into F.A.Q.?

Claudio Santos: In 1998, we had a group work experience in a project by stylist Jotta Syballena and by Voltz Design. Voltz invited seven artists for each to do a contemporary reading of a capital sin. Both the process and the result were quite good. Claudio Santos, Rodrigo Minelli, André Amparo, and three other artists were involved. After a while, Minelli proposed another group piece, entitled 5 (5 senses) and invited me, André, Chico de Paula, and Marcelo Braga. He also invited Marília Rocha, who did the sixth sense. The working process featured interferences in each other’s creation. Afterwards, we were invited by Mônica Cerqueira to do the inauguration of a virtual space at Palácio das Artes, Minas Gerais. As of then, we created a website, a new webart project (7 maravilhas [The Seven Wonders]), and invited new artists. We dubbed it feitoamãos [handmade] project, and its goals were to research, produce, and reflect upon the language and possibilities of electronic art, highlighting the process of collective realization that characterizes our group. In addition to that, we have encouraged and trained new artists by means of partnerships, co-productions, endorsements, etc. We have garnered some national and international awards.

In 2001, we were invited to open the Belo Horizonte Short Film Festival. We proposed a performance (Dizga Vertov reenquadrado [Dizga Vertov Reframed]) and invited musicians Ronaldo Gino, André Melo, Barral, and DJ Roger Moore. We did everything live and, from then on, Ronaldo Gino and André Melo became members of our group. We invited Lucas Bambozzi for our presentation at the Red Bull Live Images (2002), and since then he too became an effective member of the project. Musician Vítor Garcia joined us from the performance É (in)possível estar em 2 lugares ao mesmo tempo [It Is (In)possible to Be in 2 Places at the Same Time] (2003).

The inclusion of these new members led to the creation of a live-oriented, in-house multimedia team associated to the F.A.Q. name. Presently, that team consists of André Amparo, André Melo, Claudio Santos, Lucas Bambozzi, Marcelo Braga, Rodrigo Minelli, Ronaldo Gino, and Vítor Garcia. Featuring artists with vastly different backgrounds (music, video, design, etc.), the collective’s main goal is to build a language around the idea of live audio-images. F.A.Q. began performing at several spaces and events (in some cases, even as a VJ group), constantly adding something new to its conceptual foundation, often inviting new artists to take part in its performances. 

Lucas Bambozzi: I think it is important to stress that many of us have participated actively in the technological advances of video-related processes in the last fifteen years or more, and those advances are naturally incorporated as languages that tie technical and operational procedures together. We have worked with analog systems such as VHS A/B roll, then U-matic, Beta, and, finally, digital systems (Video Toaster, Video Machine, Première, Edit DV, and Final Cut). In the early 1980s, some of us did live show broadcasts (some of them for television, such as the live music shows I did with groups such as Ira!, Fellinni, Defala, Último Número, Gueto, and Sexo Explícito in 1989), corporate events, fashion shows, etc.–activities which presently are also a part of many a VJ’s repertoire. These experiences connect us to the universe of improvisation and real time, which are typical features of recent digital systems.

2. What is the group’s creative process like? How do you develop your work?

CS: Each project has its own unique features, but for every project we hold periodic meetings for discussing concepts, music, images, etc. In addition to that, we communicate daily via email, since not all members live in Belo Horizonte, and we also hold Skype conferences. Guest artists participate in the early stages of our proposals.  

LB: You could say that our group is an environment of research and experience-sharing regarding technologies, procedures, and languages. The fact that we have both musicians and image-related people enables a kind of exchange that usually does not happen within the VJ scene – in which sometimes there is no conversation whatsoever with the DJ’s. The working process varies. Sometimes a group member temporarily takes over production and conception, but everything is discussed with everyone. 

Another feature of our work is the fact that all presentations are a result of us sharing our concerns, many of which are different or nonconsensual. That is probably the biggest difference between individual and group work processes, because debates regarding certain issues (mainly political ones) are the starting point from which our “scripts” are developed. 

3. In Monstruário ilustrado [Illustrated Monstruary] (2002), presented at the Interatividades [Interactivities] project at Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, you have worked in a near-scenic space. In Veja as instruções primeiro [See Instructions First] (2002), presented at the Red Bull Live Images, as well as in É (in)possível estar em 2 lugares ao mesmo tempo (2003) you have worked with immersive spaces where the audience could walk, dance, and even interact with the images. How does the physical setting condition or determine your creations? Does the group have a preference for a specific type of setting? 

CS: Based on a collectively-defined narrative proposal, we then adapt our presentation to the specific setting. We define the mounting of image projectors and the placement of musicians and VJ’s when we receive the plan of the premises. We may also add new elements and explore what the place can offer in terms of audience immersion and motion. I particularly enjoy performing onstage, but the possibility of adapting to different premises makes everything real interesting. 

LB: We are increasingly interested in situations that involve senses other than sight. In certain situations, you can have more collective participation/immersion by using several screens, layers, and transparencies. In É (in)possível estar em 2 lugares ao mesmo tempo, we have used interactive resources. The audience was able to activate/manipulate certain images by moving a lamp, the oscillation of which would generate analog motion in the images. Experimentation with various interfaces between the audience and the digital files we create and/or use is the path we are traveling on. We are always looking into the potential of each of the technical possibilities that are available to us. 

As far as physical settings are concerned, we have had an interesting experience recently, the Cubo [Cube] project, since three members of feitoamãos/F.A.Q. also belong in the Cobaia group (Cláudio, Rodrigo, and me.) In Cubo, the physical setting (downtown São Paulo) would define a real particular and specific situation, one which required much debate. Contents, image manipulation, projections, and the way we relate to the audience, everything had to be reworked in a completely different way from what we were used to.  

4. In the Imagem não imagem [Image Non-image] exhibition, you gave birth to a media object. What was it like to participate in an exhibition with an object, and how was the creative process for this piece? Is it possible to compare straight performance work to this object?

CS: The creation of Bicho Brasileiro [Brazilian Creature] was born out of a desire to depart a little from the live-image process. We attempted to insert the result of a group process into an individual sensorial experience. 

5. You promote workshops frequently. What is it like to do these workshops? Can they be considered a sequel to videos that were developed along with young artists, such as Os 4 pontos cardeais [The Four Cardinal Points] (2001) and Matéria dos sonhos [Dream Matter] (2001)?

CS: Workshops were going strong and were a big thing for the group when we were just feitoamãos. Now, we call ourselves feitoamãos/F.A.Q., because F.A.Q. has the makings of a “band,” a fixed multimedia group, in which the essence of feitoamãos appears when we invite and take in new artists (be it in music, editing, conception, or just manipulation). Something that happens most of the time.

In short, I think that the group creation experience (such as in the examples you have mentioned) remains, even though F.A.Q. is now a fixed group. But the workshops used to have different features, when they existed, and currently our presentations do not allow for many workshops. 

LB: It is worth remembering that the Fórum de Mídia Expandida [Expanded Media Forum] has been taking place for three years now within the Eletronika Festival, in Belo Horizonte–and that this year, the Festival will be especially dedicated to the Forum’s activities. This is another spin-off of feitoamãos/F.A.Q. (coordinated by Rodrigo Minelli and myself.) The format is that of a microsymposium, in which we seek to get closer to musical issues that relate directly to digital media in the audiovisual, design, and contemporary art fields. Through the Forum, we also promote parallel events which are not trend-oriented, but guided by creation in its latent state and in keeping with current issues–no matter what their place is within the contemporary artistic-musical scene. These events complement each other, including experiments such as performances, experimental audiovisuals, installations, and other emerging happenings in the digital art scene, which oscillate or produce thoughts that travel along different media.

6. You have performed at Videoformes (2005), the video and new media festival at Clermont Ferrand, France. What was that like?

CS: It was quite interesting to perform abroad in a traditional event such as Videoformes (20th edition). We saw artwork from many different countries, with quite different features from those of our presentations. It was also worth checking out the current state of electronic art, leaving the supports of exhibition and installation for a while, and digging deeper into live narratives.

LB: The Videoformes presentation was also worthwhile for us to realize that you can still have interesting experiments in a typical stage situation. At the festival, it dawned on us that we can still incorporate scenery or stage lighting elements to create visual layers and ambiences. We did a lot of work with black screens, which allow for the passing of light and enable us to switch visually between the front and the back of the stage situations, suggesting a greater exchange between inside and outside, and allowing for audience participation/involvement in the presentation. These considerations and resources will be put to use in our next presentation, Carro-Bomba [Car Bomb], at Videobrasil.