FUSO 2025

HOT SUMMERS
Everything has already been written about the Portuguese 1975 “Hot Summer”. 
Like many revolutionary events, the Carnation Revolution remains a singular object. One of those moments when, to use Jean-Paul Sartre’s expression — who also went to Portugal to decipher the situation — “the practico-inert merges.” 
In its own way, and given that many of the direct witnesses have passed away, the FUSO festival addresses these hot times, this amalgam of events. 
This takes place in a context where ‘Heat’ has assumed a deadly new significance, the global warming of the Earth, which is increasingly leading to extreme weather phenomena, posing a challenge to artists. 
Our relationship with the world is permanently affected by this, and it is something that artists must also respond to.

ABOUT FUSO
Created in 2009, FUSO is the only Portuguese video art festival with an annual program of national and international production that takes place in Lisbon and the Azores (FUSO Insular). The program is as eclectic as the languages that video art embodies. As a medium, it is undoubtedly the one that has greater flexibility, greater ability to encompass and cross contemporary artistic disciplines: the visual arts, performance, dance and theatre, film or literature.

The program brings together canonical works from the beginnings of video art with the most contemporary production, contributing to the knowledge of the evolution of video art alongside the artistic developments in contemporary society over the last 60 years. The very evolution from analogue to digital necessarily implies the development of new languages and possibilities of manipulation and expansion of the moving image.

FUSO presents works selected by national and international curators, in programmes especially designed for the festival. The notoriety and experience of the guest curators guarantee the consistency and quality of the programming, composed of works by internationally renowned artists in parallel with works by young artists, both Portuguese and foreign. And each year, the festival also pays tribute to historical artists.

One of the main aspects of FUSO is the promotion of the new national creation. Every year an Open Call is launched to Portuguese and foreign residents in Portugal, in order to disseminate, distinguish and encourage emerging artists.

The daily interaction of the curators and artists during the week of the festival encourages the establishment of new partnerships, generating a network of connections and collaborations. The circulation and internationalisation of artists and their works is closely linked to this practice. In addition, FUSO is also presented in several Portuguese cities and in other countries, designing different exhibition formats adapted to the location.  

This is how FUSO fulfils its mission of promoting cultural diversity and contributing to the dissemination of Portuguese artists inside and outside the country.

Currently, FUSO INSULAR - Video Art Festival of the Azores takes place in the archipelago, with sessions put together by national and international curators, and a creative laboratory for local artists. The Moving Image Laboratory, a residency program held during the summer on the island of São Miguel, aims the creation of video works and the reflection on the moving image as an expression that is transversal to all artistic practices, crossing languages of experimental film, performance, photography, and cinema. 

By stimulating critical thinking around new media and by promoting the enrichment of knowledge and dissemination of video art, FUSO contributes significantly to the dynamics of national contemporary art.

FUSO - Lisbon international video art festival is a Duplacena/Horta Seca production; funded by the Portuguese Republic - Culture, the Directorate-General for the Arts, Lisbon City Council and the Institut Français du Portugal under the MaisFrance program; with the support of the EDP/MAAT Foundation and the institutional partnership of Lisboa Cultura. FUSO is part of the Festas na Rua 2025 program, an initiative of Lisbon City Council and Lisboa Cultura.