Village Underground Lisboa
VU Lisboa is the first sister of VU London, it was created in May 2014 after 5 years of preparation, scouting the best place, the partners, the equipment and the money. It´s a complex of 14 old shipping containers and 2 buses that serve as a cowork space for a creative community. The buses were transformed into one cafeteria and one meeting room. It´s also a multicultural venue with performances happening such as theatre, cinema, dj sets, concerts, exhibitions, food market and workshops.
Among the residents here we have Buzico Produções a theatre production company and agency for actors, we have a comedian (Salvador Martinha), we have a duo of lawyers (alternative legal) that operate with lower fares for the new entrepreneurs of arts and cultural businesses, we have a street food company Focaccia in Giro created and managed by a couple (Enrico from Italy and Angelica from Brasil), we have 3 italians brothers doing everything from shooting, editing, post-production, videoclips, design and street art, we have a writer Pedro Miguel Rocha that just launched his first TV show (inspired by VU and its about portuguese writers), we have Canal 180 which is the first cable TV channel 1001% dedicated to arts and culture and we have a suiss guy that came for a break and found VU where he´s doing his web development and also a duo of girls (Pais da França) doing online branding, websites and scenarios.
Our complex also includes a sound studio owned by a very talented Dj and producer, Gustavo Rodrigues.
VU is placed inside an old public transport station called Estação de Santo Amaro in Alcântara who´s also the house of Museu da Carris. (museum of public transport)
The cafeteria was designed and transformed by Joana Astolfi and its open to the public serving lunches and dinners.
We ´re always looking into bringing new residents, more people so they can mingle and work with the residents and create new projects. We´re also in contact with our sister in London, trying to circulate people, shows and projects around the 2 of them.
VU Berlim is also being created so soon we´ll have a third sister.
VU belongs to a network of independente cultural centres called Transeurope Halles.
Basically we´re a new creative hub in Lisbon, a place for work and culture.
