Art | Group seeks volunteers for film project

Random Collective, a nomadic art collective based in Europe, is calling on local volunteers to participate in an experimental film production, part of a collaborative project.

Two members of Random Collective, Filipe Carvalho and Patrik Thomas, are currently in the region to conduct artistic research, hoping that the team’s project will create an exchange in filmmaking.

In order to make the project more grounded and connected to Macau, the team are also searching for artists who want share their works with them.

“It is a work that combines working gestures, gestures of craftwork, artistic work or dance, together with a kind of futuristic idea of society,” said Thomas.

Currently, both members are in contact with nearly ten groups who are willing to volunteer.

The team is scouting volunteers for translation work, location scouting, camera and sound operations, among other jobs.

“It’s important for us to meet people of different fields, mainly focusing on dancers and performers. It is also nice to meet an experimental filmmaker or video artist or someone with profound knowledge of the hidden places of Macau,” Thomas said.

“There must be more than the surface you always see. That’s why we are really looking for locals to collaborate [with],” he added.

Meanwhile, Carvalho explained that the film aims to feature frames that focus on “social sciences and thoughts on future works.”

“I guess Macau can provide these frames that we can put in a futuristic approach,” he said.

The two members said they will also share their technical knowledge in filmmaking as well as skills in choreography, acting and documentary filmmaking.

The team is hoping to finish the project by next month, and plans to kick off a similar project next year once they have established their contacts.

As cited from its website, Random Collective creates a “growing network of artists, researchers, thinkers and techies all over the place.”

“Macau for us is an extraordinary place because it combines this heritage and architecture in its own history in a super multicultural way together with a futuristic approach,” Thomas explained. “These heritage places and neon lights, all these combinations are unique and that is why [we chose] Macau.”

The team also intends to combine projects from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. LV