Steampunk Road Trip – Ucronias

 

Our 2018 road trip is winding down, and this next stop is in Chile, to meet with César and Silencia, the creators and current directors of the social group, Ucronias.

 

Hola, César and Silencia! Thanks for hosting us today. Where is Ucronias based?

César and Silencia: Bienvenido! We are currently located in Santiago, after a couple of years of being in Valparaiso.

 

Chile is a very long country, geographically speaking, with a long history. How did the group first come about?

César and Silencia: We met at one the meetings of the local steampunk community. Since we had a very specific idea about what we wanted to make, we decided to start an art project. For a time it was only the two of us, with other people participating as collaborators. In time our ideas got more ambitious, and we met people with other interesting ideas and things to contribute, so we decided to expand our objectives and make our closest collaborators and some of the new people part of the group.

 

An art project sounds intriguing, and steampunk certainly lends itself to being creative in so many ways. What are some of the activities your group does now?

César and Silencia: Our main activity still follows our original idea of mixing photography and literature, so most of what we do is make stories and then do  photographs about them.
We also participate in local events and conventions, such as Fan Viña, Hobby Con, the Primera Jornada de Literatura de San Fernando, Feria del Comic y Manga, Leyenda and Super Japan Expo, where besides having a stand to show our work, we made a live performance of one of our stories.

We have also organised our own public events, such as the yearly Steamday celebration, and since last year, we decided to make a party celebrate our own anniversary.

 

Steampunks having a party? I’m shocked! LOL, OK, no, I’m not. What other fun things has your group done?

César and Silencia: On 2017 we were invited exclusively to the pre-release of the Steampunk edition of the trading card game Mitos y Leyendas. We also accompanied them during their release at the Feria Internacional del Libro de Santiago.

Last year, we also made a social campaign to promote the preservation of heritage buildings, thanks to which we were invited to the inauguration of the Día del Patrimonio, with the participation of the Minister of Economy and other government authorities. The campaign was a success, with more than 1800 people participating.

 

Sounds like your group is doing some really wonderful things! Speaking of wonderful, how might you greet other steampunk travelers who stop by?

César and Silencia: With tasty food and a good cup of tea. Really, for us, eating is a very special social opportunity to share a joyful moment.

 

It really is! For those people looking forward to sharing some tea, how would they get in touch with you?

César and Silencia: The main way of staying up to date with what we are doing is our fanpage  https://www.facebook.com/ucronias/

We also share many photos on instagram @ucronias

For direct communication, the easiest and quickest way is to write a message in our fan page.

For email, they can reach us through valentina  at ucronias dot cl

 

Thanks so much for hosting us today, and thank you for the tea!

Until our next stop, follow the whole steampunk road trip on the Master Link List