blegh is the first creative studio specializing in media arts based in Braga

In an interview with João Carlos Pinto—one of the studio’s directors—the artist breaks down an unprecedented project dedicated to developing performative proposals that blend art, technology, and contemporary thought. The studio creates performances, installations, and hybrid works that blend sound, light, the body, and digital media, seeking to explore forms of expression that challenge linear logic and the need for coherence, with a focus on glitch as a language, “on instability as a method, and on the tension between the human and the mechanical as a poetic space.”

One of the driving forces behind this pioneering project cites two reasons that led to the creation of this studio. The first is “deeply personal,” and the other relates to the artistic context in Braga; from this convergence, “blegh” emerges.

Over the past decade, the city of Braga has established itself as a national and international hub at the intersection of art, science, and technology. Notably, as a UNESCO Creative City in the field of Media Arts, the city is part of a global network of cities across various creative fields—a vibrant global ecosystem where culture and creativity serve as catalysts for change. João praises the “work carried out by various institutions in the areas of programming, curation, research, and training,” but feels that “there is still room for an entity whose mission is focused, above all, on the creation, conceptualization, and production of new works.” That is precisely the space that blegh aims to occupy.

The artist notes that the name “was chosen because it encapsulates, in a single word, a set of tensions that run through our artistic practice.” The studio embraces “the breadth and openness” inherent in the very concept of Media Arts. They envision “a space where different disciplines, languages, and technologies can coexist without needing to be subordinate to one another,” even admitting that many of the “works we imagine simply don’t fit into a single definition.” In this sense, João adds that the inclination toward this artistic field does not stem from an attraction to technology itself, “but rather as a consequence of an artistic quest, where it no longer makes sense to establish rigid boundaries between disciplines.”

When asked about the project’s impact on cultivating new audiences, the artist notes that Media Arts have the capacity to bridge divergent fields of knowledge, and the inherent ability to transform the audience from mere spectators into active participants in the work facilitates the creation “of a deeper relationship with culture.”

In today’s context, marked by rapid technological acceleration and transformations and changes at a dizzying pace, João argues that the challenge is not simply keeping up with “new models of artificial intelligence and new forms of interaction with digital systems,” but rather “creating the time needed to understand them critically.”

Regarding what they hope blegh will represent in the future, João expresses the studio’s desire to be “recognized for the quality and relevance of the works it has created (...) for its ability to develop projects that remain in people’s memories, that circulate internationally, and that contribute significantly to the media arts landscape.” On a regional level, the artist admits that the studio wants to help ensure that “Braga is recognized not only as a place where art and technology are presented, programmed, or researched, but also as a place where landmark works are created,” he concludes.