Running in parallel with the festival, the International Creation Laboratory brings together artists and creators from diverse backgrounds and artistic fields to exercise critical thinking and engage in the analysis of the concept proposed for each edition.Selected through an international open call (which remained open until the end of June), the 12 artists taking part in this edition were chosen based on artistic projects that propose ways of engaging with the city through the lens of the festival’s theme.

Conceived as a space for experimentation, learning, and the exchange of collective knowledge, the Linha de Fuga International Creation Laboratory promotes a biennial gathering of creators, artists, and thinkers from different contexts in the city of Coimbra.It unfolds as a research, creation, and training project, through the sharing of artistic practices and the development of creative processes. Since its inception, the laboratory has taken place in parallel with the festival of the same name, allowing for multiple points of interaction between both components. This facilitates spaces of exchange among artists and encourages new and different forms of contact between the presented works, artists in the process of creation, and the audience.

Since the first edition, we have developed a line of social inquiry that evolves through a narrative logic: In the 1st edition, we highlighted the role of art as a producer of knowledge; In the 2nd, we focused on democratic practices; In the 3rd, we explored the ethics of care; In the 4th, we faced fears.In this 5th edition, we turn our attention to friendship and its performativity.