COOPERATIVE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF WORKS,
EXHIBITIONS
AND EVENTS IN THE FIELDS OF ARTISTS’ FILM, EXPANDED CINEMATIC ARTS, VISUAL ARTS, EXPERIMENTAL AND DOCUMENTARY CINEMA

LAIA is a co-op dedicated to culture, artistic and film production, as well as to freer forms of critical and collective thinking. In portuguese slang, laia is an expression often used to describe collective characteristics or behaviors that are looked down on or misunderstood. Nourished by such potency, which instigates renewed perspectives and production strategies, Laia aims to develop artistic and creative cooperation, through the exchange and sharing of knowledge. Laia is also a common name for silver, relating to our practice given the inheritance of silver crystals in relation to film.

The co-op that emerges in the city of Porto is dedicated to the creation and production of artists’ and experimental films, the facilitation of artistic residencies, as well as exhibiting and programming in the fields of visual arts and moving image. Laia has developed a film laboratory, Laboratório da Torre, specialized in analogue media — super8, 16mm and 35mm — while also incorporating technologies of video and digital photography. The artists-run lab is a space committed to foster creation within filmic experimental practices, as well as artistic collaboration, mutual support and access to analogue film equipment. Through the lab and the co-op’s productions, Laia has been a pioneer in creating a platform for the development and dissemination of E.C.A. — Expanded Cinematic Arts — in Portugal, having (co-)produced 14 new works in the past four years.

MEMBERS

SOFIA ARRISCADO

Studied Audiovisual Directing and Post-production in Lisbon and Philosophy in Porto. She works in the areas of documentary recording, video art and experimental cinema. collaboratesince 2006 with artists linked to the performing arts.She was camera operator and co-editor of the film Youth of Athens by Pauliana V.Pimentel and camera operator in the films After the Law and Echo of Jonathan's GutsUliel Saldanha.She was a member of the selection committee for the International Film Festival CompetitionPort/Post/Doc (2016-2018). Of her authorial work, “Fasma” (2017), “Lapso” (2021), co-authorcarried out with Costanza Givone, winner of the EDP/Maat Foundation Acquisition Prize at the 13th edition of FUSO - Lisbon International Video Art Festival (2021) and the Acquisition Prize - XXII Cerveira International Art Biennial (2022), and “Água Ardente” (2022), film installation co-authored with Laetitia Morais and Mónica Baptista. She is a member of the Torre Cinema Laboratory and co-founder of the cultural cooperative Laia, dedicated to the investigation and production of experimental cinema

MÓNICA BAPTISTA

Graduated in Fine Arts-Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Porto, develops work in the field of photography, video, documentary and experimental cinema, with a special focus on analogue media. Pitões das Júnias (Trás-os-Montes) has been a gestational place for the development of her work, as well as cyclical travel contexts and artistic residencies, among which, ZDB - Lisbon, Location One - New York, Crater Lab - Barcelona, Atelier 105 - Light Cone - Paris and LEC - Experimental Cine Laboratory in Mexico City. Her work has been shown in Portugal and internationally, in galleries and film festivals. Her filmography includes “Água Forte” (2018) premiered at the Vila do Conde Short Film Festival, with an honorable mention at Luso Brasileiro Festival and an acquisition award from the Porto City Council, “Cem Raios t'Abram” (co-directed, 2015), premiered at the Festival Vila do Conde Short Films (2014), “Diário” (2010) BES Revelação award - shown at the Serralves Museum and “Territórios” (2009) premiered at the Critics' Week (Cannes Festival) and winner of the Best Director award at the Visions du festival Reel (Switzerland).

RITA MORAIS

With a master in Artists’ Film & Moving Image MA, Goldsmiths, University of London, Rita Morais develops her work in the fields of artists’ film, with a focus on the use of analog media. Her practice includes creation, programming and research, with a particular interest in the intersection of these fields with issues raised by ecology. She is co-founder of Miragem, a Cultural Association in Pico island, Azores, and artistic director of Miragem - kinematic arts in the landscape, an event produced by the Association. She is part of Laia co-op, an artistic and cultural production structure in Porto and a member of Laboratório da Torre, an experimental and analog film laboratory in the same city. She was a resident artist at SIM - Reykjavik and No Entulho - Artworks. Her works have been exhibited nationally and internationally at venues such as Open City Documentary Festival (London, UK), Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival (Berwick-upon-tweed, UK), Rockaway IFF (New York, USA), S8 - Mostra de Cinema Periferico (A Coruña, ES); Cinema Fulgor (Alentejo, PT); Suspautas Laikas (Nida, LT), SIM Gallery (Reykjavik, IS), Hvitspoi Gallery (Akureiry, IS); A.P.T. Gallery (London, UK), among others.

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