The festival, marking its fifth edition this year at the National Railway Museum (MNF) in Entroncamento, Santarém district, offers a “contemporary” and “multidisciplinary” program, including concerts, films, exhibitions, literature, a book fair, workshops, and numerous ‘steampunk’ activities for all ages, the organization announced in a statement.
Emphasizing a ‘steampunk’ spirit—with support from the Lisbon Steampunk League—the Vapor Festival maintains a ‘punk’ aesthetic across various activities, featuring a musical lineup that spans rock, folk, traditional Portuguese sounds, and electronic music.
“Arts, technology, and science as the foundations for a better, more diverse, inclusive, and sustainable future. At Vapor, we reclaim history and celebrate fantasy as a driving force of creativity, essential for envisioning new futures,” said the organizers.
The ‘steampunk’ genre is a branch of science fiction, characterized by an “aesthetic stream that rests on a past in which modern technological paradigms emerge earlier than they did in real history,” blending punk elements with steam technology, applied to locomotives and other nineteenth-century machines.
Today, the ‘steampunk’ aesthetic encompasses various artistic expressions, merging nineteenth-century styles with contemporary and fantastical elements. At the Vapor Festival, “music coexists alongside one of the most significant European collections of railway heritage.”
“One of Europe’s largest railway museums, offering a permanent exhibition of railway heritage, regarded as one of Europe’s best, housed in extraordinary industrial buildings from the dawn of steam technology, provides the perfect backdrop for this festival. Through diverse activities for the whole family, the event explores the ‘steampunk’ aesthetic and its application to music, literature, fashion, and the arts,” the MNF’s informational note highlights.
The organizers have indicated that further details on the festival program will be announced soon, with tickets for the Vapor becoming available in May.
