Festival Verão Azul 2025
Quanto mais olhas, mais vês
The more you look, the more you see
Curators: Ana Borralho & João Galante, and Daniel Matos
Production: casaBranca.ac
“Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you’ve got to go deeper.” – David Lynch
VERÃO AZUL FESTIVALone of casaBranca‘s main programming projects, is dedicated to promoting contemporary transdisciplinary creation and the performing arts in the Algarve. Throughout its 13 years of existence, it has established itself as a unique event in the region, consolidating its path by expanding its partnerships and formats with local, national and international collaborators. Since its first edition, the Festival has sought to give prominence and centrality to the periphery, not only geographically, but also discursively, inviting artists whose productions explore issues on the margins of society and “mainstream” art.
In 2025, the 12th edition of the Festival, which will be held in April in Loulé (from 10 to 13 April), Faro (16 April) and Lagos (16 to 19 April), presents itself as a multifaceted laboratory where the performing, sound and plastic arts converge to challenge aesthetic and conceptual boundaries. The programme proposes reflections on the body in its political, social, urban and post-human dimensions, addressing hybridizations with technology and their ethical implications; and also the relationship between the city and performativity, eco-criticism and global interdependence, reflecting on how art can support and give visibility to networks that connect individuals, communities and ecosystems.
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Each artist composes a vibrant dialog that echoes as a space of resistance and questioning of urban and social dynamics. The dense and hypnotic sound universe that runs through this edition takes us through territories between structure and improvisation, uniting tradition and innovation. At the same time, the reflection on the virtual expands the possibilities of human expression, questions the “real”, the corporeal condition and identity in an age of hyperconnection and technological overexposure. In this landscape of sliding realities, we evoke the singular vision of David Lynch (1946-2025), a master of exploring the cracks in everyday life and the mysteries hidden beneath the surface of the visible world.
This year’s program highlights the body as a living archive of stories, exploring it as a metaphor for resistance, through performances, concerts, DJ sets, film screenings and parallel activities, inviting the public to reflect on the body as a performative instrument and also as an agent of change. The artists challenge the perception of the real and the digital, re-signifying time, memory and audience participation. It is at this crossroads between reflection and action, and in the affirmation of the strength of the individual, the collective and the city that the Festival presents itself: a living platform where art challenges, dislodges and resignifies.
With artists from Portugal, Spain, Greece, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Brazil and Uruguay, the festival continues to bring innovative and experimental projects to Algarve audiences, with the aim of consolidating its founding mission of fostering dialogue and rooting new cultural dynamics in the region. The performing arts include names such as: Candela Capitán (national premiere in Faro), Colette Sadler, Samir Kennedy, Letícia Sckykry, João dos Santos Martins accompanied by Joana Sá on the piano, and the young emerging artists Despina Sanida Krezia and Bárbara Stanko. In music, Rafael Toral, Panos Alexiadis, MMMD, Guilherme Curado and Not Binary Code, in a multimedia concert/performance, as well as Dakoi in the club and local DJs. In the Visual Arts, highlights include the participation of Giacomo Miceli, with a work in which an AI generates an infinite conversation between philosopher Slavoj Žižek and director Werner Herzog, and the new installations by artists Oana Hodade & Vlaicu Golcea, and João Catarino, on show at Armazém Regimental in Lagos.
Aimed at young people and adults who are curious about transversality and experimentation in the arts, the festival is committed to raising awareness and training audiences through various strategies. In addition to various shows, it includes film screenings in partnership with LAC (Lagos) and Cineteatro Louletano (Loulé), presenting the documentary “Queendom” by Agniia Galdanova. Candela Capitán’s show, for the first time in Portugal, takes place in partnership with Teatro das Figuras (Faro) and includes bus transport from Lagos, where the audience is invited to listen to and experience a sound installation by Guilherme Curado; in addition, as in previous years, post-show talks will continue to be organized.
In this new edition, the strategic partnerships established in the region have been strengthened, namely with the Lagos and Loulé municipalities and their associated venues, ensuring that several of their facilities host the Festival’s program. Privileged partnerships are also maintained with local and regional artistic creation and dissemination structures: Teatro da Figuras (Faro), LAC – Laboratório de Actividades Criativas (Lagos), Teatro Experimental de Lagos, Galeria Alfaia (Loulé), among others.
Together, these proposals reaffirm the Festival’s commitment to innovation and artistic quality, promoting an in-depth dialogue with contemporary issues and with the territory, by expanding the Festival’s activities beyond the spaces normally used for cultural events. The program also includes a satellite activity at the Minas de Sal-Gema in Loulé (Salaris Exhibition – Fictions from Salt, in partnership with the artists Victor Gonçalves, Maura Grimaldi and Natália Loyola, and the Alfaia Gallery), a Tattoo Convention at LAC (Lagos) and activities open to the public such as a concert at the Municipal Swimming Pools (Loulé) by David Leitão and Inês Defalc, or the durational performance by Gustavo Sumpta at the Antigo Armazém do Carnaval (Loulé).
Hosted Programming <br>
April 17 / 11pm @ LAC
NOT BINARY CODE (Portugal)
Audio-visual Performance / M/12
Price: 3€ (Free for spectators of the Filipe Sambado concert)
Not Binary Code is a collective formed by Earth to Abigail, quendera, Ndr0n and violeta. Founded in 2022, its intention is to develop and maintain safe spaces for Lisbon’s Algorave, Live Coding and AudioVisual Technology communities. Queerness, in its purest definition, is what they aspire to – they love strange music, sloppily written code, rejected bodies and invisible identities. Their interests lie in the manifestation of art through technology and in exploring the boundaries and synergies between human and machine.
April 18 / 03pm – 06pm @ LAC
TATTOO CONVENTION
M/6
Free entry
Tattoo prices set by the artists
From an open call that selects up to five tattoo artists, LAC hosts a tattoo convention accompanied by performances. This is a multidisciplinary experience that combines body, visual and performance art in an environment of artistic creation and sharing.
TWO COLORS. SINGLE-SELECTION
byBarbara Stańko-Jurczyńska, Performance / M/12
Free entry
The performance begins with a look at the body, observing its differences, limits, separation and shame. It is a perception of the body trapped in illness, always understood through its prism. Port wine” stains are capillary malformations, birthmarks on the skin in shades of red. During the show, they will become material and a tool for exploring what individuality and intimacy are.
GUILHERME CURADO (Portugal)
Concert
Free entry
Guilherme Curado works between media, crossing video and sound, building virtual utopian landscapes. Immateriality, fluidity, reflections, in dialog with the body and identity, serve as a starting point for reflection on contemporary experience. In her sound practice, she focuses on creating dreamlike environments, using them as tools to escape reality.
CORPO-ESPINHO (Brazil) – Premiere
by León Franz, Performance (live streaming)
Free entry
Armor? Fragility? All at the same time? In “thorn-body”, the performer’s naked body receives defenses in response to attacks for simply being who he is. The skin is covered with screws, creating a creature that mixes magic and fear. The action is accompanied by audio that combines a constant beat with whistles and chirps, evoking the insistent presence of another’s gaze.
INFINITE CONVERSATION (Italy)
by Giacomo Miceli, Installation / M/6
Free entry
“Infinite Conversation”, by Giacomo Miceli, is an installation that generates an endless dialogue between director Werner Herzog and philosopher Slavoj Žižek through artificial intelligence, alerting us to the ease with which real voices can be synthesized. More than a technical problem, The Infinite Conversation proposes a human and ethical reflection on the need to educate new generations about this new paradigm. Micelli, who is optimistic about AI, sees this project as a playful and philosophical exercise that helps us imagine what iconic figures could say if we had unlimited access to their minds.
April 18 / 10pm @ LAC
MMMD (Greece)
Concert / M/14
Price: 5€
With a career spanning 15 years, MMMΔ (formerly Mohammad) have been shaping a distinctly monolithic and deep sound, exploring pure low frequencies and modified instruments. Moving between experimentation and pop music, the Greek collective has developed a unique aesthetic, marked by slow rhythms, sparse percussion and vocals that oscillate between earthy roars and ethereal harmonies.
DAKOI (Portugal)
Clubbing
Free entry
Dakoi explores the sounds of electronic music, deconstructed with kuduro, dembow, hard drums and gqom, with raw vocal cuts and high pitched elements. She has been a DJ and producer since 2018, and is now focusing on her project LÍBIDA, which creates a parallel visual world to accompany the character and her experiences, created by Filipa Combo. This project aims to show the importance of self-confidence, self-esteem and positive queer sexual representation. Dakoi released his debut EP, Mastiga, in 2023, where he explores concepts such as liberation and self-knowledge through dance music and hard drumming.
April 19 / 10pm @ LAC
AGRESSIVE GIRLS (Portugal)
Concert / M/14
Price: 5€
The power duo that has set venues ablaze from north to south, Agressive Girls is a blood pact between dirty, noisy beats and raw, sentimental vocals. They shout about their frustrations with the world and those who face them, the flirtation between life and death that leaves them hungry to live. They focus on their emotions lived 200% in the present, with no barriers, no fears and no room for middle ground.
JC MUSIC (Portugal)
Clubbing
Free entry
Angolan by birth and raised in Lagos, music has been part of his life from an early age. His taste is quite eclectic, encompassing a variety of sounds for (almost) all tastes. His aim is to satisfy his listeners, almost like an ambient decorator in a sound version, bridging the gap between different musical styles.
