LEME establishes itself as a space for experimentation, critical reflection and artistic creation in non-conventional spaces, centred on contemporary circus and its intersections with other artistic languages. More than presenting works, the festival creates conditions for the development of artistic processes that question territory, bodies and ways of relating to audiences. Some encounters do not arrive with urgency, they slowly emerge. LEME returns to Ílhavo from 3 to 6 December 2026, more clearly embracing the position it has been building within the landscape of contemporary creation: a territory of experience where time, space and presence become artistic material.

In a context marked by permanent acceleration and the logic of fast cultural consumption, LEME proposes a different rhythm: a festival that reclaims time as a condition for creation and encounter. Time to inhabit space and the body, to listen before explaining, to remain in the moment before turning it into memory. The 2026 edition develops from this tension between duration and ephemerality, approaching contemporary circus as a language capable of making visible what exists only for brief instants: risk, balance, the physical presence of the body and the intensity of an unrepeatable encounter between artists and audiences.

Within this framework, LEME positions itself as a meeting point between emerging creation and critical thinking, promoting artistic practices that challenge conventional formats and explore new forms of presence in public space. The festival traces a sensitive geography of the territory of Ílhavo, connecting performance venues and unexpected spaces, not simply occupying places but activating them as spaces of relation, permanence and memory.

NAVEGAR is part of this positioning as a platform supporting emerging artistic practices, aimed at creators at an early stage of their trajectory. It seeks to create a space for visibility, experimentation and contact with professional contexts, encouraging the presentation of proposals that take risks with new approaches, formats and relationships with time, space and audiences, including works in progress. For the 2026 edition, LEME will select 3 projects to be integrated into the festival programme, with presentations taking place in public space and non-conventional contexts across the municipality of Ílhavo.