Costa Rica: Creativity Through Collectivity · Global Voices
Jenny Cascante Gonzalez

Like a delicious recipe, artistic, musical and visual talents are placed together as ingredients in a functional and creative tendency: collectives. Across Costa Rica, many creative groups and collectives are using social media to showcase their work and connect with like-minded enthusiasts.  These are some examples of collectives in the fields of film, music, and the visual arts.
Filmic productions
Experimental filmic productions are constantly being showcased by projects by young up and coming filmmakers. Bisonte Producciones [es] shares many of their works on their YouTube channel.  As it states on its website, the fostering of a mission has become important for the members of the Collective:
Experimentar de una manera creativa y profesional a travez de la utilización de diferentes herramientas del lenguaje audiovisual, propuestas que representen e identifiquen nuestra realidad socio cultural; y a su vez incentivar la creación de espacios para difusión, discusión y reflexión del cine en Costa Rica
A creative, yet professional experimentation through the utilization of different audiovisual language tools for projects that represent and identify our social-cultural reality; as well as to give an incentive to the creation of spaces for the diffusion, discussion and reflection of Costa Rican motion picture industry.
Another blooming community is Chop Chop Producciones [es]. Their goals are determined and developed by the participation of the members . As expressed on their blog:
Somos un taller audiovisual, una escuela donde experimentar es un medio y se produce para aprender.
Chop Chop can be found on their YouTube channel and they can be followed through their Twitter account.
Photography and Literature
Colectivo Nómada [es] assembles images and words to complement one another. It is conformed by visual and literary communicators that aspire to explore the range of photography as an expression instrument. A description of the collective can be found on its website [es] and contains information about how the members of the Collective see their mission and goals:
¿Qué es Nómada?
Nómada es un colectivo integrado por Fotógrafos, se origina de la necesidad de crear historias que traspasaran el ámbito común de la fotografía. Desarrollando un vínculo entre la obra de autor y la fotografía con contenido social.
What is Nómada?
Nómada is a collective comprised of photographers, originating from the necessity of creating stories that go beyond the ordinary scope of photography.  Nómada develops a bond between the author’s work and the photography with social content.
Photo by Adrián Arias and used with permission
Besides its blog [es] where short descriptive narratives accompany some of the photos, Nómada manages a photo-essay section [es].
Music and Art
Electro-acoustic musical productions are the focus of Oscilador [es], whose aim is to bring about reactions from the audience.  Their website includes a description of what the collective is all about [es]:
Oscilador tiene como objetivo la integración de una comunidad electroacústica en torno a la producción electroacústica en Costa Rica. Trata de ser incluyente más que dirigir su atención a un género específico de música creada a partir de la tecnología.
Oscilador's main objective is to integrate the electro-acoustic community with electro-acoustic productions in Costa Rica.  To attempt to include instead of directing one's attention to a specific genre of music created by technology.
Another musical collective is NoisNois [es], which works with the union of visual-audio expressions with other creative arts.  As stated on its website, this Collective seeks participation and propagation of interdisciplinary collaborations. The main idea behind NoisNois, apart from serving as a platform for the diffusion and distribution of the collective’s artistic work, is to interact with others interested in their work. They share information on their Twitter account.
Comics and humor
People skilled in graphic design, especially cartoonists and comic book artists also participate in collectives to share common interests and their work. One good example of this is Colectivo de Comics [es], whose members are constantly looking for ways to improve upon and interact with others through the use of art. Some of their works can be seen on their website [es].
Costa Rican collectives have been growing and encouraging all kind of artists to group and combine their individual talents into a whole new and attractive groupings. By working together on projects, the results are as interesting as diverse.