ADD FUEL is the work of Portuguese artist Diogo Machado.

A JANELA

‘A JANELA’ now lives in Osaka.
Commissioned by Visit Portugal and installed at the entrance of the Portugal Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, this piece is a symbolic meeting between Portugal and Japan — made of tile, memory, and intention. It was an enormous privilege to create this work to represent our country at such a special moment. Official opening on June 10.

More than a sculptural tile piece, ‘A JANELA’ asserts itself as a symbolic place between times and territories — where tradition and invention intertwine. Each pattern is a trace, an inscription of transmitted knowledge, and at the same time, a gesture of renewal. It doesn’t merely evoke cultural images and symbols of both countries; it summons a sensitive archaeology of looking, where memory and material articulate a grammar of permanence. It does not show — it reveals. It does not illustrate — it challenges. By opening itself to the other and to the timeless, it returns us to the essential question of what we see when we look — and how the visible transforms us.

This piece took shape little by little — tile by tile, gesture by gesture. No work is born alone. A deep and heartfelt thank you to: Diana Sousa, Rie Okada, Tomoaki Maruta, Katsutoshi Kobayashi, Kiyotomo Tanaka, Takahiro Ito, Yuta Hirate, Viúva Lamego, ADD FUEL Studio, Adrião, Jessica, Céu and Samuel Leite, TAKO Group, André from Culto da Imagem and the team of Turismo de Portugal: Paula Ganhão, Lídia Monteiro, Bernardo Amaral, Cláudia, Miguel and Vasco and everyone who made this project from an idea into a reality.