The PENSÃO is an autonomous artistic residency program housed within DELLI — the Design Department of Universidade Lusófona in Lisbon.
Its goal is to provide a space for research, reflection, creation, experimentation, dialogue and exchange, offering emerging artists and designers the opportunity to freely develop their thinking and practice in a stimulating and diverse environment. The program establishes a direct connection between the DELLI community and the broader cultural landscape, fostering collaborative projects between designers, artists, and educational or cultural institutions.
It positions itself as an alternative and complementary space to the formal curriculum, enabling the development of research and creative projects outside conventional academic structures, yet in direct dialogue with the academic and professional community. With a flexible and experimental structure, the program welcomes artistic, design and research projects proposed by students, faculty members and guest participants.
Grounded in the belief that art and design play an essential role in an open and innovative society — and that artistic practice is a privileged medium for meaningful learning — the program supports the development of autonomous, self-initiated projects, allowing residents to deepen their practices and explore new territories within and beyond the fields of art and design.
PENSÃO promotes processes of applied research and experimental development in the fields of design and visual arts. Residency projects focus on the experimentation of reflective methodologies that integrate artistic and design research with collaborative and contextual practices, encouraging dialogue across disciplines and fields of knowledge. In doing so, the program seeks to foster the emergence of new approaches, processes and modes of production that contribute to the continuous advancement and renewal of these areas.
To take part in PENSÃO is to embrace a challenge: to question your assumptions, deepen your practice, explore new territories and join an active and diverse community. It offers a unique opportunity to experience a transformative process with a concrete impact on your development as a designer or artist, while contributing to the growth of a plural and engaged artistic community.
Its goal is to provide a space for research, reflection, creation, experimentation, dialogue and exchange, offering emerging artists and designers the opportunity to freely develop their thinking and practice in a stimulating and diverse environment. The program establishes a direct connection between the DELLI community and the broader cultural landscape, fostering collaborative projects between designers, artists, and educational or cultural institutions.
It positions itself as an alternative and complementary space to the formal curriculum, enabling the development of research and creative projects outside conventional academic structures, yet in direct dialogue with the academic and professional community. With a flexible and experimental structure, the program welcomes artistic, design and research projects proposed by students, faculty members and guest participants.
Grounded in the belief that art and design play an essential role in an open and innovative society — and that artistic practice is a privileged medium for meaningful learning — the program supports the development of autonomous, self-initiated projects, allowing residents to deepen their practices and explore new territories within and beyond the fields of art and design.
PENSÃO promotes processes of applied research and experimental development in the fields of design and visual arts. Residency projects focus on the experimentation of reflective methodologies that integrate artistic and design research with collaborative and contextual practices, encouraging dialogue across disciplines and fields of knowledge. In doing so, the program seeks to foster the emergence of new approaches, processes and modes of production that contribute to the continuous advancement and renewal of these areas.
To take part in PENSÃO is to embrace a challenge: to question your assumptions, deepen your practice, explore new territories and join an active and diverse community. It offers a unique opportunity to experience a transformative process with a concrete impact on your development as a designer or artist, while contributing to the growth of a plural and engaged artistic community.
We nurture a transdisciplinary environment, with complete freedom of research, processes and working methods. We facilitate the creation of curated project relationships with external professionals and other institutions, allowing residents to broaden their thinking and project space, from expert guidance that fosters practical, innovative and collaborative approaches to creation, use of the institutions' space and facilities or partial or total funding of projects.
Residents have free access to our studio and facilities. They can seek advice and help from the colleagues, professionals, artists, designers and technicians with whom they share the space. Through the university's mediators and professors, we provide a network of contacts of renowned professionals and cultural and creative variety, who can help boost the authors, energise their projects and help them materialise and disseminate them.
Programme managerMarta Guerra Belo
Mediation teamLuís Alegre
Marta Guerra Belo
Paulo T. Silva