TEDx returns to Marvila in Lisbon on May 23, inviting the city to explore the question ‘What is Love?’ Not as a romantic cliché but as a deeper human force that shapes how we feel, act, and connect.
The event is designed as an immersive journey through four symbolic houses, each revealing a different dimension of love: Feelings, Emotions, Actions, and Illusions – from inner awareness and emotional movement to responsibility, courage, and the stories we are ready to release.
Beyond inspiring talks, the day will be filled with artistic performances, real connections and unexpected encounters. TEDxMarvila is a full-day experience created to spark curiosity, expand perspective, and bring together a community seeking meaning and transformation.
To spark ideas and conversations around each theme, TEDxMarvila has curated a diverse lineup of Portuguese and international speakers who will challenge our perspectives on love.
They include Trinidadian-German musician and composer Haddaway, famous for his 1993 hit single ‘What is Love’, Beatriz de Sousa, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Oncoglam, Stephan Moraes, founder and managing partner of Indico Capital Partners, Chitra Stern, entrepreneur, investor and visionary (Martinhal Group/United Lisbon International School – EDU-Hub), Dan Whitlam, poet, rapper, and musician, Moullinex, musician, composer, and technologist, Susana Barros, art expert, entrepreneur, restaurateur and ceramist, Miguel Júdice, hospitality entrepreneur, Sholeh Wolpé, poet, writer and librettist, and Ari Peralta, Harvard-trained neuroscientist and sensory designer shaping.
Love is one of humanity’s oldest questions – a force that shapes cultures, science, relationships, cities, politics, technology, grief, joy, and everything in between.
TEDxMarvila 2026 is searching for ideas that explore, challenge, redefine, or investigate the nature of love – from emotional to intellectual, from societal to scientific, from personal to structural.
