Report from E.CO. 2010

Pietro and Rocco travelled to Spain on May 12th to attend the E.CO (Euro-American Photographic Collectives) meeting, a remarkable initiative sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and coordinated with energy and intelligence by Claudi Carreras, Luciana Rocha and Adelaide Ivánova.

The event could be divided in three parts: the first was a majestic exhibition in the Ancient Tobacco Factory of Madrid showcasing the work produced by 20 collectives around the theme of environment; the second was a series of roundtables on various topics and the presentation of each participating collective, that took place in Madrid for three days; and finally a collective performance, in the quiet city of Soria, where participants had three days to come up with an idea, collect the photographs, edit and postproduce, print and hang them on the walls of the former Banco de España for the opening night. In Soria, collectives broke loose, generating novel heterogeneous identities on the basis of a common project idea. In a few hours, the barren walls of the building became animated with pictures and the population of Soria invaded the spaces, reflecting on our vision of their land and their lives.

Rocco: “There where numerous truly exceptional moments during the week in Spain. Two are particularly astounding, one was the day we reached Soria, when after lunch all the collectives assembled in the largest room of the Bank of Spain and ideas and projects and synergies started to be built; the second is the ability of the organizers, Claudi before all, to keep a clear mind in the middle of the chaos and the little sleep, managing to edit and assemble the beautiful exhibition in Soria. I really loved sharing ideas and visions with other photographers, we are all collectives, we all believe that this is a great ingredient to develop something strong”

Pietro: "This was really a great experience. Sharing with other photographers without competition. I felt at home with all the people from Latin America. I think this is the start for a stronger collaboration between collectives. The best thing was seeing the exhibition in Soria growing up, three days of energy! I've worked in the "Clones project", attaching portraits all around the city, sometimes the reactions of the people were incredible. From "street photography" to "photography in the street". Thanks to everyone for those days!"