From July 1 to 4, the School of Arts of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa hosted the 2025 edition of the Porto Summer School on Art & Cinema — a programme that brought together filmmakers, artists, curators, and researchers around the theme Technology/Transformation.
The public programme, with free admission, unfolded over five days across various venues in the city and welcomed a wide audience who attended all the activities: film screenings, talks, workshops, concerts, and exhibition openings.
The opening featured filmmaker and artist Gabriel Abrantes, with the screening of three short films followed by a conversation with curator Nuno Crespo. On the following day, Chrissie Iles, curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, led a workshop with the Summer School participants and gave a lecture on the challenge of curating “American” art in a time of global reconfiguration.
This was followed by the opening of Karle: Cartas, an exhibition by artist Pedro Huet, on view until September 26 at the School of Arts’ Exhibition Room. Through text and image, the exhibition reflects on how we inhabit a world shaped by technology, nature, and labour.
The public programme also extended to Cinema Trindade and Batalha Centro de Cinema, where audiences filled the theatres for the screenings of The Man of the Crowd by Cao Guimarães and Hacked Circuit and Last Things by Deborah Stratman, followed by Q&As with the guest artists and the curators of the Porto Summer School on Art & Cinema.
The week closed with the audiovisual concert Crépuscule Live A/V by Tujiko Noriko and Joji Koyama at Passos Manuel — an immersive moment that combined sound and image, bringing the programme to an end with a hypnotic and cinematic atmosphere, true to the poetic universe of the artists themselves.
More than a summer school, the Porto Summer School on Art & Cinema positions itself as a space for encounter, experimentation, and sharing — between contemporary artistic practices, critical thinking, and the attentive gaze of a curious and engaged public.
