VOLTS26

Volts – International Performing Arts Meeting, promoted by Central Elétrica in Porto, has established itself as an essential platform for promoting contemporary artistic creation, with a particular focus on performative practices that challenge established aesthetic, political and social norms.More than just a festival, Volts is a meeting point for artists, curators, thinkers, and audiences who share the desire to expand the boundaries of what is possible in the arts. The festival’s program prioritizes works that engage with pressing contemporary issues, embracing experimental, interdisciplinary and politically engaged practices. In recent years, Volts has contributed significantly to diversifying Portugal’s artistic ecosystem by creating real conditions for the circulation of discourses and aesthetics. It is also a space of strategic articulation, where emerging and established artists find opportunities to develop their work, build networks, and foster transnational collaborations.Held in the symbolic setting of Central Elétrica - a space that carries the industrial and working-class memory of the city of Porto - the festival channels the energy of the past to project fairer, more plural, and more sensitive futures. Volts not only highlights contemporary artistic production - it proposes new ways of relating to the world, to others, and to the very idea of art.