International Riso Festival

24th edition (2020-2021)

Faísca International Riso Festival is an event focused on autonomous publishing and printed art. It is aimed at publications that are not usually found in large stores or traditional bookstores, and that connect artists and the audience through paper. 

Its focus is on zines, artist books other printed matter made by artists, groups, studios or small publishing houses, which are actively involved in processes ranging from the first ideas, designing, printing, finishing, to the publication’s circulation. Freedom of creation and experimentation are common features of these works.

The event, which started in 2020, was the premiere of Faísca as a festival and as a virtual encounter. It featured more than 50 guests, such as artists, designers, publishers, and other people of 10 countries, people who are involved in autonomous publishing: a practice that is not guided by market standards or large-scale logic, and that does not need many intermediaries in the process.

The program includes talks and interviews, debates and lectures, workshops, virtual printing labs, visual experiments and the release of printed publications. The festival began in September 2020 and inaugurated its web shop in the same year, extending its activities to 2021. The main platform for following the program is Faísca’s YouTube channel.

Creative processes are at the core of this 2020 edition’s proposal, considering printing as part of them.

Riso printing – with its peculiarities and possibilities, the autonomy that this tool provides and the potential of its limitations – is a trigger for exchanges on creative paths that go from the idea to materialization, with ink on paper, of artists’ books, zines and other productions.

Virtual Experience

The Festival was supposed to debut in July 2020, and it was planned to be a three-day on-site event in the Brazilian city Belo Horizonte. With the impacts generated by the pandemic, the organization faced the challenge of holding the event in a safe way for participants, public, and staff, developing this edition as a Virtual Experience. 

⇒ Access guests and program here.

 

COUNTRIES

 

brazil

Brazil

Home country of Faísca. Participation of Brazilian guests in interviews, debates, lectures, workshops, in the visual and printed experiments by faísca lab and in the festival’s web shop.

Brazil

Faísca was created in June 2015 in Belo Horizonte, capital of  Minas Gerais state. For the International Riso Festival, in addition to having the participation of Brazilian specialized in Riso studios and of publishers from around the country, the program featured graphic artists, designers, writers and researchers, participating in activities such as workshops, lectures, debates, videozines, interviews, in both video and printed publications by faísca lab, as well as sending zines available on the festival’s web shop.

netherlands

The Netherlands

Through the partnership with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2020, Faísca promoted a variety of activities, with worldwide references in Riso printing.

The Netherlands

Through the partnership with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2020, Faísca had in its program some of the worldwide references of Riso printing, as well as participants from other fields, such as cinema.

Guests:

  • Astrid Florentinus, Jan Dirk de Wilde and Joyce Guley, from Knust (Nijmegen), pioneer group in the use of Riso for creative purposes and masters in stencil printing;
  • Jo Frenken, artist who organizes Magical Riso and coordinator of the Printing & Publishing Lab at Jan van Eyck Academie (Maastricht);
  • Ivana Smudja, who lives and works in Nijmegen, director of the documentary “Knust – the pioneers of Riso printing”;
  • Ellen Kocken (Nijmegen), producer of the documentary and founder of the film agency Dziga;
  • Miek Zwamborn, artist from the Netherlands, who currently lives in the Isle of Mull, in Scotland.

Activities:

  • Interview with Knust;
  • Interview with Jo Frenken;
  • Brazilian premiere of the documentary “Knust – the pioneers of Riso printing”;
  • Live broadcast from Knust headquarters, presenting the interview with Ivana Smudja and Ellen Kocken, with a virtual tour with Joyce Guley around the Extrapool building;
  • Debate “Artists’ books in Riso: Brazil-Netherlands Connection;
  • Collaborative process between Knust, Prumo and Faísca: Ko Zine “Fúria”, by Bruno Rios and Matheus Ferreira (Prumo), an artwork based on the visual identity that the duo created for Faísca, printed and published by Knust;
  • Video-workshop on the “Fúria” process;
  • Broadcast of Magical Riso with simultaneous translation into Portuguese: the main event in the world focused on Riso Art, held virtually from 1st to 4th December, organized by Jo Frenken from the Jan van Eyck Academie, was attended by masters of risography and artists from various parts of the planet, among them other Dutch participants: Miek Zwamborn, Sigrid Calon and Margriet Thissen, screen printing specialist at the Jan van Eyck Academie Printing and Publishing Lab.
  • “Centum Nec Plura: the curiosity that connects us” interview, with Jo Frenken & Miek Zwamborn.
germany

Germany

Through the support of Goethe-Institut to Faísca International Riso Festival (2020-2021), several activities represented Germany at the festival.

Germany

Several guests from Germany or Germany-based participated in Faísca International Riso Festival (2020-2021), through the support from Goethe-Institut, which promotes knowledge of the German language abroad and international cultural exchange. The guests were:

  • Die Brueder Publishing / Lucky Punch Press – Malte Brenneisen

Participation in the Studios series, with a visit to the studio and an interview.

  • Vetro Editions – Luca Bendandi

Participation in an interview and in the debate on publishing.

  • John Z. Komourki

Participation in an interview, presentation of a video essay on Riso and cohosting of the episode with Die Brueder Publishing, part of the Studio Series.

  • Nina Prader

Cohosted the episode with Die Brueder Publishing, part of the the Studio Series.

france

France

Through the Institutional Support of the French Embassy to Faísca 24, ​​the festival featured one interview and one live broadcast with French guests.

France

The institutional support of the French Embassy to Faísca 24, through the Service of Cooperation and Cultural Action for the State of Minas Gerais, has made feasible one interview in French with Portuguese subtitles, and the broadcasting, in Portuguese, of Magical Riso IV, which had the participation of the publishing house and Riso studio Quintal Éditions, from Paris, France.

colombia

Colombia

Interviews

Colombia

In partnership with Jerónimo Velásquez, from Perro Centinela and Primer Ocaso (Bogota, Colombia), and Mateus Acioli, from Livros Fantasma (São Paulo, Brazil), Faísca has produced a series of three interviews with guests who represent Latin American studios such as Eva Parra, from the specialized in Riso printing studio Calipso Press (Cali, Colombia) and with Valeria Giraldo, from the printing, publishing and design studio Relámpago (Bogota, Colombia).

ecuador

Ecuador

Interview

Ecuador

In partnership with Jerónimo Velásquez, from Perro Centinela and Primer Ocaso (Bogota, Colombia), and Mateus Acioli, from Livros Fantasma (São Paulo, Brazil), Faísca has produced a series of three interviews with guests who represent Latin American studios, such as Terminal Ediciones, from Quito, Ecuador.

mexico

Mexico

Interview and broadcast

Mexico

In partnership with Jerónimo Velásquez, from Perro Centinela and Primer Ocaso (Bogota, Colombia), and Mateus Acioli, from Livros Fantasma (São Paulo, Brazil), Faísca has produced a series of three interviews with guests who represent Latin American studios such as Oswaldo García, from Gold Rain (Queretaro, Mexico). Faísca also broadcasted, in Portuguese, the 2020 edition of Magical Riso, with the participation of Gato Negro Ediciones, from Mexico City.

usa

United States

Participation in interview and ‘Studios’ series.

United States

Faísca featured, in 2020, an interview with George Wietor (Grand Rapids, Michigan), founder of Issue Press, which is a studio and small press specialized in Riso printing, and creator of the collaborative portal stencil.wiki. For the Studios Series in the same year, one of the guests was Travis Shaffer, born in the southwestern part of Pennsylvania and an assistant professor at the University of Missouri, in Columbia. Faísca has also broadcasted, with simultaneous translation to Portuguese, Magical Riso IV, which had the participation of Endless Editions, from New York.