At Fisga, art, community and innovation intersect. ‘It's a multidisciplinary platform that combines collaborative work with a strong artistic and cultural component,’ says Carolina Grilo, artist and curator of the events in this space. Divided between R. de Santos Pousada and R. do Bonjardim, Fisga presents itself to the city with two centres that combine the vitality of sharing ideas with the effervescence of emerging arts.

The name fisga contains the lightness of a toy and the precision of a tool. ‘It's an object that can be seen as both playful and serious and functional,’ says Pedro de Castro, co-founder. The project was born in 2019, when multimedia design studio Grandpa's Lab needed to find a bigger space. ‘We wanted a place that would allow us to host other creative professionals in a coworking environment, but in an uncompromising way,’ he says. After a short time, they found this place on R. de Santos Pousada ‘where even more people could think, and so this cultural playground with its own agenda was born,’ adds Tiago Pires, another of the founders.

This is where ideas take shape and space in the monthly programme that includes film nights, games, book talks, yoga classes, workshops and food pop-ups, performances, installations and exhibitions. ‘Often our focus is on digital arts, due to our technical expertise, but on a conceptual level the idea is to cross disciplines, including scientific research, sustainability, therapeutic art and yoga,’ explains Carolina. An example of this is the event - Yoga in light - which combines the practice of yoga with an immersive environment of light and sound created by digital artists and thus transforms animation projects into therapeutic experiences.

Projects like Testbed are a good example of Fisga's transdisciplinary approach. This event functions as ‘a laboratory for creating audiovisual performances and demonstrates the ability to mix these two components. As we're professionals in the field, we're very happy to give space to this form of expression, not least because there's a lot of interested public,’ emphasises Pedro. The next edition, on 15 February, will host Scottish artist Tom Scholefield (Konx-om-Pax) for an audiovisual workshop. ‘Here we emphasise the importance of creating bridges and bringing in not only emerging local artists, but others from abroad who will inspire those who are here,’ adds Tiago.

One of Fisga's main objectives is to support emerging artists, offering them space to exhibit their work with creative freedom and technical support. ‘There are few spaces in Porto that have the necessary conditions for artists to present their work, and we are working towards this,’ says Carolina, emphasising the commitment to valuing the local artist community. And the result is clear to see: ‘We've been receiving a lot of proposals and it's getting harder and harder to select,’ she admits, noting the project's impact on the city.

However, there have been some challenges along the way. ‘Financial sustainability, without support, has been a complex goal, but we are working to ensure the growth of the project,’ Tiago assures us. Among the biggest challenges is also