16 editions incl. satellite showcases, across six cities and five countries, hundreds of artists, one decade — turning ten in September 2026. A festival of its scale conceived and curated by a visual artist, with the year-round Bairros community programme running alongside it in Lisbon's neighbourhoods.
A festival carved from the city
Founded in 2016 in Oeiras as a curated extension of the Underdogs public-art programme, Iminente applies "urban archaeology" to a festival: an abandoned or symbolic landmark becomes a carved Vhils intervention and land-art, and the music programme shares the bill with the city's walls. The venue migration is the concept — Oeiras, then the derelict Panorâmico de Monsanto, then the post-industrial Cais da Matinha on the Tagus, then the monumental Terreiro do Paço.
From 2023 the headline Lisbon editions became free public takeovers, funded by municipal and brand partners: 14,928 spectators over two free days at the 2024 Takeover. Operated through Iminente – Produções, Música e Arte, Lda., a unit of the Cultural Affairs collective.
Ten years, measured
The international roster
From Common and Fatboy Slim to Mayra Andrade — the international names the festival has drawn.
Common
US headliner of the peak 2019 edition inside the carved Panorâmico de Monsanto.
Omar Souleyman
Two editions of the festival — Monsanto 2018 and the free Terreiro do Paço takeover of 2023.
Fatboy Slim
The Fatboy Slim × Vhils multimedia collaboration, London 2018.
Mayra Andrade
Cabo Verde's voice at the 2019 peak — returned to close the 2025 Open Day on the road to ten.
Also on the bill
The Lusophone roster
The festival is where Portugal's street culture and its greatest voices share one bill.
Sam the Kid
The festival's recurring hometown hero — London 2018, Matinha 2022 with Orquestra + Orelha Negra, Takeover 2023 & 2024.
Conan Osiris
Marquee name of the 2018 Panorâmico edition.
Sara Tavares
The Lusophone bill at Monsanto, 2018.
Gisela João
Fado at the derelict Panorâmico, 2018 — and at the Mucem in Marseille, 2022.
Also on the bill
Six cities, five countries
The decade, year by year
Every year a new ground, carved and claimed. The aftermovies are the record.
Oeiras — the festival is born
Three stages at €2 a day in the Jardim Municipal de Oeiras, with Ana Moura, Orelha Negra, Dead Combo, Allen Halloween and Chullage — the founding edition.
▶aftermovie
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Zoom ⤢Oeiras sells out — and London answers
3,000 tickets a day sold out in year two with 100+ artists — Capicua, Branko, Carminho, Capitão Fausto — while the festival went international one year in, taking Brick Lane's Old Truman Brewery with walls by Ben Eine, Conor Harrington and Pixel Pancho.
▶aftermovie
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Zoom ⤢The Panorâmico move
The move that defined the festival: the derelict Panorâmico de Monsanto turned carved festival ground, sold out with Conan Osiris, Sara Tavares, Gisela João and Omar Souleyman — while London's second run brought The Alchemist, Black Milk and the Fatboy Slim × Vhils collaboration.
▶aftermovie
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Zoom ⤢The artistic peak
Five stages, 100+ artists from 11 nationalities, ~5,000 a day inside the carved Panorâmico — headlined by Common and Mayra Andrade — with satellite showcases reaching Shanghai and Rio de Janeiro, the festival's furthest reach.
▶aftermovie
Zoom ⤢Emergency Edition
The pandemic pivot: an Instagram-livestream fundraiser for two Lisbon hospitals with Ana Moura, Mayra Andrade and Dino D'Santiago — and the birth of Bairros, the community-workshop strand that never stopped.
▶aftermovieThe Matinha move — CHELAS carved into the earth
The post-industrial gasworks of Cais da Matinha become the new ground — 4 stages and 50+ concerts with Slum Village, The Alchemist, Dino D'Santiago and Ana Moura, marked by the monumental CHELAS land carving.
▶aftermovie
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Zoom ⤢The line-up peak — and a museum in Marseille
The biggest line-up ever — 100+ artists and 65+ acts at the Matinha: Yasiin Bey (Mos Def), Young M.A, IAM, Sister Nancy, Karol Conká — plus the festival's first museum edition at the Mucem for the Saison France–Portugal, anchored by Vhils' mural "Lueur".
▶aftermovie
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Zoom ⤢Liberdade Iminente — 50,000 in Terreiro do Paço
The festival takes Lisbon's monumental Terreiro do Paço as a free public takeover on four stages — Dino D'Santiago, Pongo, Omar Souleyman and Sam the Kid — drawing a record 50,000 people, open to the whole city.
▶aftermovie
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Zoom ⤢The Takeover — 14,928 spectators
14,928 spectators over two free days in the gardens of the Palácio Pimenta / Museu de Lisboa — 155 participants, 17 concerts, ~300K campaign reach and 125 press outputs.
▶aftermovie
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Zoom ⤢Open Day — the road to ten
An intimate Open Day at Praça do Carvão / MAAT Central with Mayra Andrade and the Bairros communities of Alta de Lisboa and Vale de Chelas — a teaser on the road to the tenth.
▶aftermovie
Zoom ⤢Ten years — the anniversary edition
The 10th-anniversary edition returns 17–20 September 2026 at the Escola Industrial Afonso Domingues in Marvila — four days, three stages, co-organised with the Câmara Municipal de Lisboa.
▶announcementThe satellites — London, Shanghai, Rio, Marseille
▶film2017 · London
Old Truman Brewery — the international debut
▶film2018 · London
Fatboy Slim × Vhils
▶film2019 · Shanghai
Le Baron showcase
▶film2019 · Rio de Janeiro
Cidade das Artes — the Brazilian debut
▶film2022 · Marseille
Mucem — Saison France–PortugalBairros — the year-round soul
Born in the 2020 pandemic pivot, Bairros — Workshops Artísticos Comunitários — is the festival's year-round community programme in Lisbon's excluded neighbourhoods: ~59+ community art projects since 2020 across Alta de Lisboa, Vale de Chelas, Rego and Curraleira, at its 4th edition by 2024 and still running (Bairros com Energia, with Fundação EDP). Its institutional partners include the Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, GEBALIS, Fundação EDP and Fundação Santander. It is what makes Iminente a civic institution rather than an annual event.
Bairros — the workshops and the murals
Film · Bairros
▶filmBairros com Energia 2025
Workshops Artísticos Comunitários — the community programmeCivic & brand partners
Co-organisation Câmara Municipal de Lisboa · dgArtes / República Portuguesa — with RVCA · Jopinto · TicketLine · ZIG · Smart · Carris · JCDecaux · RTP (2026 public roster).
Open to partners — institutions and brands join as co-producers of the public realm.
Zoom ⤢