Lisbon, rebel city
Graffiti was born in the United States in the 1960s, first in Philadelphia, then in New York. At the time, "writers" wrote their nicknames ("tags") on building facades. During this period, Portugal's walls were censored by the dictatorship... At the end of the 1980s, graffiti finally arrived in Lisbon, more precisely in Carcavelos (located on the Cascais train line). Legend has it that it was French graffiti artists who inspired the local youth. Seeing the artists at work, they discovered a new mode of expression that they were quick to adopt. They took over downtown areas such as Bairro Alto (Lisbon's historic graffiti and street art district), marking the walls with their tags. It's a form of protest and a demand for recognition on the part of these young people. The movement gained momentum, and the municipality struggled to cope. In the 2000s, practices evolved and artists tried out new styles and techniques. This is what is known as the post-graffiti movement, or street art.
In 2008, the municipality of Lisbon created a project that was revolutionary at the time, aimed at giving artists the opportunity to express themselves legally. This was the birth of GAU (Galeria de Arte Urbana). Of course, one of the hidden aims of this project was to curb the wild tagging that was rampant in the city center at the time, but also to breathe new life into the district, which boasted many abandoned buildings. This kind of encouragement for street art is a first in Portugal, and indeed in Europe. As you stroll between Chiado and Bairro Alto, you're sure to see these large panels running down the Calçada da Gloria. This was GAU's first action: to create an open-air street art gallery. Another of its first actions, which is still relevant today, was to create "free walls" where anyone can come to practice and express themselves. You'll find them on the left as you walk down the famous Calçada da Gloria. But be careful who you "cover", because there are rules in the world of street art! You can't cover someone better than you, or you'll be defying the artist. If you want to try your hand at tagging, we recommend you find a corner of the wall where there isn't a large fresco.
From illegal to official
Encouraged by the city council's policy, artists organized themselves into collectives, and associations, galleries and festivals gradually sprang up. Shortly after the birth of the GAU, the famous artist Vhils and his partner decided to create a "real" urban art gallery (i.e. in a closed space, not on the street): Underdogs. They took over the Braço de Prata district and gave it a new lease of life (after Parque das Nações). Each exhibited artist will also work on a wall in the city in parallel with his or her exhibition.
Feeling more legitimate, artists are coming out into the open, organizing themselves into collectives and partnering with brands and equipment suppliers to organize their own events. The artist Slap, for example, organized the first major street art and graffiti event, entirely repainting the underground passages of the Alcantâra train station. Several pillars of urban culture will be brought together: graffiti, DJs and break dancing. For the past two or three years, old-school graffiti artists (those who started out in the 1980s) have been getting together on the walls near the Amoreiras shopping center and painting together.
And then, of course, there are the festivals, attracting artists from all over the world, and helping to embellish so-called "social" neighborhoods. The biggest of them all: Loures Arte Publica, originally a project between an association and the town council. Today, it brings together around a hundred artists every year in the municipality of Loures. For several years now, GAU has been organizing the Muro festival in different parts of the city. Finally, Underdogs organizes Iminente, a festival combining street art and performances/concerts. In 2023, it was even organized on the Praça do Comércio so that it could be freely accessible. That said, the street art component was much smaller than in previous years.
Another initiative, smaller but no less important because more local: the Yesyoucan.spray collective. Founded in 2015 by Lisbon Street Art tours, it has been organizing paintjams for several years, thanks to part of the money earned from the guided tours it offers. The idea is to thank the artists who bring the tours to life by constantly renewing the city's artistic landscapes, as well as offering them an opportunity to paint legally. In 2018, the paintjams moved to Caracol da Graça, then to other parts of the city.
