SELF-UNCENSORED [Resistance to technological surveillance in art]
Ana Borralho & João Galante
Ana Borralho (b. 1972, Lagos) and João Galante (b. 1968, Luanda) are Portuguese artists with a singular, transdisciplinary trajectory that crosses visual arts, performance, theatre, dance, and sound. They have been working in partnership since 2001, creating works distinguished by formal experimentation, ethical and political engagement, and a close relationship with the audience. Their artistic practice places the body as a site of inquiry and as a critical tool for reflecting on social, cultural, and economic systems.
Both have training in visual and performing arts: Ana studied Sculpture at Ar.Co, and João studied Painting and Dance at Fórum Dança, having worked with several choreographers and directors in the contemporary Portuguese scene. They were members of the group OLHO (1992–2002), directed by João Garcia Miguel, as actors and co-creators.
Together, they created projects such as Mistermissmissmister (2002), sexyMF (2007), World of Interiors (2010), Atlas (2011), Gatilho da Felicidade (2012), and Manual de Instruções (2016), presented at major festivals and institutions in countries including France, Germany, Brazil, Japan, Scotland, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Slovakia, Slovenia, among others. Their work often involves collaborative and participatory practices, questioning structures of power, identity, and community.
They founded and direct the artistic organisation casaBranca, based in Lagos, and are the artistic directors of Festival Verão Azul, a transdisciplinary project for contemporary creation and dissemination in southern Portugal. In 2024, they launched Escola Verão Azul, a training programme in performing arts. Alongside their artistic creation, they are dedicated to curatorship, pedagogy, and working with local communities, affirming a practice committed to decentralisation, diversity, and cultural ecology.
Ricardo Lafuente
Ricardo Lafuente is a designer, coder, hacker culture enthusiast, and digital rights activist. Together with Ana Isabel Carvalho, he runs the data journalism agency J++ Porto and the design studio Manufactura Independente. He has taught at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto and at the Escola Superior Artística do Porto, developing curricula focused on design, the web, digital interfaces, hardware hacking, and copyright theory.
He has been involved in founding and nurturing (and, in some cases, witnessing the decline of) several communities that created much-needed spaces and movements: the hackerspace Hacklaviva (2009–2012), the Transparência Hackday Portugal / Date With Data meetups (2010–2020), Open Knowledge Portugal (2015–2020), D3 (2017–), Tilde.pt (2020–), and Ciberlândia (2022–). In all of these, he played roles in both community facilitation and technical infrastructure, always relying on free and open-source software tools.
As co-founder and current president of D3, he has coordinated the organisation’s public interventions on topics such as metadata, COVID apps, communications secrecy, net neutrality, copyright, and more recently, the controversial Worldcoin.
Ana Borralho & João Galante
Ana Borralho (b. 1972, Lagos) and João Galante (b. 1968, Luanda) are Portuguese artists with a unique and transdisciplinary career that crosses visual arts, performance, theatre, dance and sound. They have been working together since 2001, creating works that stand out for their formal experimentation, ethical and political implications, and close relationship with the audience. Their artistic practice places the body as a place of questioning and as a critical tool for social, cultural and economic systems.
Both have a background in visual and performing arts: Ana studied Sculpture at Ar.Co and João studied Painting and Dance at Fórum Dança, having worked with various choreographers and directors on the contemporary Portuguese scene. They were part of the OLHO group (1992-2002), directed by João Garcia Miguel, as actors and co-creators.
Together, they created projects such as Mistermissmissmister (2002), sexyMF (2007), World of Interiors (2010), Atlas (2011), Gatilho da Felicidade (2012) and Manual de Instruções (2016), presented at important festivals and institutions in countries such as France, Germany, Brazil, Japan, Scotland, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Slovakia, Slovenia, among others. Their work often articulates collaborative and participatory practices, questioning structures of power, identity and community.
They founded and run the artistic structure casaBranca, based in Lagos, and are the artistic directors of Festival Verão Azul, a transdisciplinary project for contemporary creation and dissemination in southern Portugal. In 2024, they launched Escola Verão Azul, a training programme in performing arts. In addition to artistic creation, they are dedicated to curating, teaching and liaising with the local community, affirming a practice committed to decentralisation, diversity and cultural ecology.
Ricardo Lafuente is a designer, coder, hacker culture enthusiast, and digital rights activist. Together with Ana Isabel Carvalho, he runs the data journalism agency J++ Porto and the design studio Manufactura Independente. He has taught at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto and at the Porto School of Arts, focusing on design, web, digital interfaces, hardware hacking, and copyright theory. He was involved in the founding and cultivation (and in some cases the decline) of several communities that provided much-needed spaces and trends: the Hacklaviva hackerspace (2009-2012), the Transparência Hackday Portugal/Date With Data meetings (2010-2020), Open Knowledge Portugal (2015-2020), D3 (2017-), Tilde.pt (2020-) and Ciberlândia (2022-). In all of them, he was involved in both facilitation and technical infrastructure, always using free software tools. As co-founder and current president of D3, he has coordinated the association's public intervention in matters such as metadata, COVID apps, communications secrecy, net neutrality, copyright and, more recently, the controversial Worldcoin.
Ana Borralho & João Galante