OUT.FEST 2025: first wave of artists announced

The first 14 names for the 21st edition of OUT.FEST are out!

This initial announcement showcases a broad spectrum of abstract electronic sounds from influential Berlin-based artist rashad becker, British composer Beatrice Dillon, the boundary-defying Japanese experimentalist Miki Yui, and Dutch DJ and producer upsammy. Also featured are artists who reshape folk and traditional idioms, such as Galician sound explorer Carme López; improvisers like Swiss bassist Martina Berther and Bhutanese guitarist Tashi Dorji; and acts that push rock into raw, cathartic territory, including Australia’s Divide and Dissolve, Germany’s Cuntroaches, and Portugal’s own bbb hairdryer. Further expanding the festival’s scope are forward-thinking approaches to dub from HHY & The Kampala Unit, led by Jonathan Uliel Saldanha, as well as the enigmatic GHOST DUBS project. Rounding out the first wave is the hyper-digital intensity of Japanese duo BBBBBBB.

This year also marks the launch of a new commissioning program. The first of several planned works will be developed by UK-based Portuguese artist Matilde Meireles, who has been invited to create a piece based on the Cidade Som archivean ongoing online Barreiro sound archive initiated by OUT.RA in 2011. The work will be developed during a residency in Barreiro and premiered at the festival.

Full festival passes - following a record-breaking sell-out of the early bird tier - are still available at outra.bol.pt and all standard ticket outlets.