De Liceiras 18 is a monthly-based project, open for visual artists, designers, conceptual gardeners, experimental writers, sound hunters, improvisatory singers, performers, philosophers and (...) who would like create in an old wood house in the center of Porto. We welcome the creatives who are enthusiastic about spending one (or more) months within an exchange-based micro-art-community - learning, teaching, discussing and breaking any preconceptions; who are not afraid to erase barriers between private and public, to live and create in the same space; who are able to take inspiration from both possibilities and impossibilities, obstacles and miracles brought about by creating in such an informal, experimental, no-budget and anti-white-box space.
Every month, DL18 hosts between 4 and 7 artists with diverse backgrounds, forming an ever-changing, dynamic temporary art community in the city of Porto.
THE IDEA
The way you use your stay within our Temporary Art Community depends mostly on your current artistic needs and desires. So far it has served among others as a platform for spontaneous collaborations, learning new skills, exchanging feedback, experimental music sessions, reading groups, improvised performance, communal cooking etc. We are the backyard of the art world, a safe multidiscipline playground where you can test your ideas, ask questions, share your doubts. We transform, adapt and improve every month and we expect you to embrace this process.
This open structure leaves a lot of freedom and flexibility, but also requires an involved and responsible participation from all the residents. It is an ongoing attempt to find ways to solve problems collectively, communicate honestly and clearly. It is also a constant reinvention of structures to find the most efficient, pleasant, creative communal living environment.
SPACE
The DE LICEIRAS 18 is located in a very old, two-story house in Porto, Portugal which seems to organically adapt to the form of the city itself, consisting of no perpendicular lines, with floors sloping and sounds of human and seagull daily life entering through wooden old windows, creating in the interior a constant quasi-musical blend of noises. The house is situated in a very particular place; although right in the middle of the city, its entrance stays hidden in a tiny bystreet, overlooked by tourists and bustling with local life. The everyday reality of the bystreet is even more curious due to a very particular combination of the house’s neighbours, formed of an old shoemaker's workshop, a motorcycle club and a traditional bar. The second façade of the house faces a brothel.
Each participating artist receives their own simple habitable atelier.