Critical Discourses is one of the key strands of the 2025 edition of Linha de Fuga – Festival of Performing Arts. In these activities, art is understood as a way of building thought, a tool for collective research, and a means of producing and communicating knowledge. Offstage, we cultivate a shared, critical, and sensitive gaze upon the world.

This year, the festival’s parallel conversation series returns under the name “Vulnerable Conversations”, opening a space for dialogue around the theme of friendship, where the only guiding principles are vulnerability and active listening.

The informal group Periferias Centrais, which has brought together cultural agents from across the country since 2018, with the goal of reflecting on and demystifying the notions of “center” and “periphery”, will hold its annual gathering in Coimbra, welcoming community participation and external engagement.

The curatorial and research platform performingborders, which focuses on the lived experiences and interwoven boundaries of identity through performance, will be responsible for archiving this edition of Linha de Fuga and will lead two public workshops on reflective writing and archival practices.

Critical Discourses will also feature the launch of the book “O Cabo dos Trabalhos” by Afro-descendant dancer, choreographer, curator, therapist, and somatic educator Ângela Guerreiro, as well as the release of the vinyl record “O Homem que Guardava as Águas”,  a contemporary creation project by Susana Guardado, based on a collection of memories shared among friends about the collective memory of the Vale do Pranto.