[EN] “Correspondence” is an audio-visual exchange, thought of as a type of blind date, between a collective of Lisbon-based artists that create analog motion pictures, and a group of Latin America-based artists that explore the realm of sound.

The rules of the game were as follows: each member of the «sound group» sent a short piece of sound, to a random member of the «image group», who had to respond with a visual piece. At the end of the exchange, each piece of sound and each piece of image was edited together to create an audiovisual collage, in random order, with a selection of correspondences. 

[EN] “Correspondence” is an audiovisual exchange, that was thought of as a kind of blind date, between a collective of artists who explore analog moving images, based in Lisbon, Europe, and a group of artists who explore sound, spread across Latin America. 

At Laboratório da Cave we are used to working according to a project-based methodology in working groups organized organically according to the interests of each member. The “Correspondence” project is one of such working groups built around the shared interest of working collectively in a sort of cadavre exquis that questioned the established hierarchies of sound and image and played around with ideas such as synesthesia, correspondence, playfulness, and blind dating. 

Realizing the lacuna that still exists between moving image and sound artists and intending to create more bridges between the two, “Correspondencias” seeks to establish a first contact and open up a dialogue by evoking the senses and questioning the latent hierarchies we tacitly place upon them and their relationships, with a particular focus on the relation between sight and sound. 

In this project, the sound artists were the first to initiate the conversation by sending the first anonymous sound letters with the purpose of eliciting images to then be filmed by the image moving artists. The rules of the game were as follows: each member of the «sound group» sent a short sound piece to a random member of the «image» group, which had to respond with a visual piece. This movement of correspondence was repeated for two rounds and during the whole process none of the artists from each group, except the exchange coordinator Violena Ampudia, knew who was the author of each letter. By the end of the exchange, each sound and visual piece should be edited together, and an audiovisual collage crafted with all or a selection of the correspondences. 

CREDITS (🌻 there are also FUN credits at the end of this page)

Laboratório da cave’s “Correspondence” working group:  Violena Ampudia, Bibi Dória, Ian Capillé, Sofia Pires, Marie Fages, Maura Grimaldi, Juliana Julieta, Patrícia Black, Pedro Ivo Carvalho, Joana Lourenço, Aline Belfort.

Sound group: Sofía Balbontín, José Homer & Altrd Being, Luis Lepchak, Daniela Cano, Jésus Bermudez, Ayrton Pauls, Rafael Ramirez, Marisol Cao Milan, Sara Fernández & Frida Arroyo Chiu.

Performers: Violena Ampudia, Marie Fages, Joana Lourenço, Juliana Julieta, Aline Belfort, Lala Teles, Gio Lourenço, Otilia Vaz, Lais Dória, Rita Grancho, Margarida Soares, Maura Grimaldi, Patrícia Black, Natália Mendonça, Cecília Corujo, and all the city's amazing extras and passersby.

With thanks to: Laboratório da Cave, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Escola Internacional de Cine y TV de San Antonio de los Baños in Cuba, Steve Cossman, Mono No Aware, Gaëlle Cavalieri and Andrea Saggiomo (70stepsbackpersecond), Pedro Maia, Francisca Manuel, Catarina de Sousa, Camille Salvetti, Roundabout Lx, Estúdio Letra A.

WORLD PREMIERE

[23.05.2025 | 19H00] CO- Festival @ Zumzeig Cinecooperatiu, Barcelona, Cataluña ✨ World premiere // Estreno mundial // Estreia Mundial