Welcome back future and current expats in Lisbon! Today we are going to check out a gritty, funky, artistic “factory” of creativity located in the bowels of Alcântara in Lisboa. Located underneath the gigantic overpass connecting to the Ponte 25 de Abril, LX Factory on Open Day did not disappoint.

OK so these photos were taken a while back but I wanted to post them in honor of my two departed roommates, Mary and Stefi! Mary is back in the states and Stefi is in Berlin. Boo! Lisboa espera por ti! Anyway, this was an epic night and I really think that the city of Lisbon should invest in making more Open Nights where you can come and party at LX Factory. It really is a super cool location. Ask the sponsors! Ask Super Bock! Ask all the other Outjazz sponsors. It would be cool if it was once a month or something! It would instantly be the hottest party that weekend.

So lets check out some of the sights shall we? LX Factory is basically a center for creatives, artists, architects, designers, and other right-brained wackos to let their imaginations fly. I’m not going to talk (or type) very much in this post and I’ll just let the pictures to the talking.

This is one of my favorite places in LX Factory. It’s called Ler Devagar, or in English “read slowly”. Tonight on Open Day they set up a bar downstairs and were serving beers and drinks as well as cheese plates. Any place where I can peruse books and drink and eat cheese is amazing in my book. There’s even an old printing press upstairs you can check out.

In this photo above you can really get the scale of Ler Devagar. It’s pretty much an aircraft hangar filled with books! That’s a tall bookcase. I wonder if anyone buys any books at the very top? Anyway lets move on because there is so much more to see at LX Factory.

Let’s head over to the main art area. This is where you have a large collection of studios and artists working side by side and displaying their works in the hallways. Each floor of this warehouse had exhibits, bars set up, and music.

Here we see Get A Light studio. Guess what they specialize in?

As we made our way deeper into the bowels of LX Factory we happened upon stranger and stranger hallways and art. Here we had to dodge a giant hand that would whap you if you tried to pass and didn’t time it right. If you made it to the other side, you were treated to a table tennis game in progress.

Venturing on…

Oh hey there Stefi…

Overlooking industrial Alcântara in Lisboa on Open Night at LX Factory. The night was a bit rainy and overcast. But even that added to the gritty ambiance as the famous Lisbon light was reflected off the buildings and then off the clouds, and then back again ad infinitum. After the art exhibit building we decided to take a look around the back and see what was going on. We saw some people walking back there so we checked it out.

I think this is one of my favorite pictures I have ever taken. It’s so urban and shows how crushing public debt can lead to degradation, with a repo-style van about to drive off with repossessed goods. I was convinced that this could have been an art installation in itself, but when the van drove off I realized it was just a serendipitous scene. Around the back of LX Factory is a bunch of street art that is quite well done.

After the alley full of street art we came up on a warehouse area with a sound system on the inside. There was a DJ playing house music below a bizarre mural:

After the warehouse rave we circled around back to where some of the art studios were.

LX Factory in Lisbon! Definitely go there for Open Day when it comes around. For those of you Lisbonners who have been to one already, we need to campaign for more! This event seriously too cool and needs to happen more often. Thanks for reading Expat in Lisbon and as always, Lisboa Espera Por Ti!