Sapo inc.

Sapo Inc. was a group of visual artists from Quito, Ecuador, active between 2001 and 2015. The group was created by Juan Rhon and Pancho Viñachi in 2001. Later, other artists like Gonzalo H. Rodriguez, Gabirú Villacís and Daniel Pasquel (from the band Can Can)  joined the team. Video was the principal activity of the collective though they have produced some artistic related events like the Whatever Awards (2003) or El Cantuñazo Bailable (2001).

Their works have been awarded in local festivals like the Cero Latitud Film Festival in 2005, and have been shown in Mexico, United States, Argentina and Brasil.

The style of production of the collective was called “guerrilla style”, since they wrote, acted, recorded, edited and even composed some music for their productions. Low budget was considered a creative stimulant by the group and friends and family members were always included as actors or crew members. Their aesthetics were based on their ambiguous position of denial and appropriation of conventional cinematographic language and a humorous approach to urban-youth issues, under a visual and auditory treatment coming from his closest referents: their own experiences on the streets, and their fondness for “junk television”, the Internet and B-Movies.

Sapo inc. has been the first video and experimental film group existing in a long term in Ecuador. Its main members (Pancho Viñachi, Juan Rhon and Gonzalo H. Rodríguez) still work independently in theater, cinema, comedy and art.

Links (in spanish):

asociación archivos nuevos medios ecuador (aanme)

Sapo Inc. Interview – 2004