KIEMKRACHT festival

In the interactive virtual reality performance WOOD, participants embark on a journey of discovery through the field. But beware: nothing is what it seems! Artists Robbert&Frank Frank&Robbert take you on an experience that blurs the line between what is real and what is virtual.

Lacuna Kitchen by the Indian-Dutch theater maker and storyteller Abhishek Thapar is a sensory theater experience in the form of a unique pop-up restaurant, where the stories behind our food culture are explored. Personal ingredients and untold stories of kitchen workers (including migrant workers, refugees, and individuals with diverse skills) form the basis for a four-course dinner. Lacuna Kitchen demonstrates how food can serve as a bridge between cultures, while also exposing invisible labor and the impact of colonialism on our food culture.  

The performance transforms the kitchen into a space for community building and critical reflection, inviting participants and the audience to think about their own role within societal and economic systems.

‘The Spine’ is a fascinating research and art project by Isabel Burr Raty that starts from a single powerful metaphor: the spine of the earth. The lecture performance establishes a link between the spine of humans and that of the earth, opening up new ways of ‘listening’ to the landscape.

Raty takes us on the initiatory journey of ‘The Spine’ on Easter Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. She focuses on the original inhabitants, the Rapa Nui community, who still bear the impact of Chilean colonialism. They see ‘The Spine’ as an opportunity to revive spiritual traditions and ancestral knowledge by allowing the project's path to run across their sacred volcanic landscapes.

The lecture interweaves landscape, history, audiovisual archives, herbal tinctures and ritual research and poses the profound question: How can landscape art be an instrument for regenerating together?

Artist Dodi Espinosa explores in his projects the banana as an important key to the history of world trade, colonial politics, and ecological vulnerability. Although the banana is the world's most traded fruit and seems like an everyday product, it carries a heavy geopolitical history.

In his work, Espinosa poses the sharp question: “What does it mean that a banana crosses a border more easily than a human?” He uses the iconic yellow and black color palette of the curved fruit to play with camouflage, geography, and power structures, but also to expose the absurdity of world trade.

At the same time, he points to the current threat to the Cavendish banana, which is being affected by a new fungal variant, a warning about the broader social and ecological fragility of our time.

Espinosa’s work challenges us to think: when will the true, complex story of the banana be as well-known as the fruit itself?

'Mes ami·e·s roses' is a poetic project by Irène Gérard and Michiel De Jaeger, born from their close friendship that developed in the studios of La S Grand Atelier in Vielsalm. In a glass greenhouse, they painted with acrylics a warm, protective universe, a place to collaborate in a cocoon of people and memories that are dear to them.

The work is a colorful tribute to the figures who have shaped their world: great icons from French chanson, the deceased mother of Irène, and artists from the La S community. Like stained glass windows, the scenes tell a layered story: characters stand in a dream garden full of roses, rocks, animals, and a mysterious Chinese palace.

At the center stands Françoise Hardy, Irène's great idol, as the guardian of the temple. Familiar faces also appear: from fellow artists and residents to the dog Bibi and even the Belgian royal family. A disarming, personal, and beautifully visual universe.

The film 'Memory of Salt' by Palestinian visual artist Noor Abuarafeh centers on the mythologies surrounding salt and on its history, long intertwined with starvation. Salt has been used to preserve food through scarcity, and was vital during famines—natural or man-made—as in late Ottoman Palestine under British colonialism, and today in Gaza under Israeli genocide. 

Footage from the Dead Sea in Jericho, Palestine, is interwoven with archival fragments. A lullaby, inspired by Moroccan songs from what was known as The Year of Hunger/The Year of the Locust, draws from a regional literary tradition using promise to call the morning closer. 

Sung to children before sleep, these songs soothed their hunger while stones were boiled as a pledge of a future meal. 

This year at Kiemkracht festival, the curatorial team of Back2SoilBasics — Fairouz Gazdallah, Philsan Omar Osman, and Sadaf Malyar — are coming together to explore the worlds of mushrooms, mycelium, and entangled practices.

As a team, they are weaving a collective process: sharing literature, discoveries from social media, passages from books and documentaries, and projects we have come across online. Together, we are mapping connections, ideas, and inspirations — a living archive of our thinking and curiosity.

During the festival, they will create a physical space where you can encounter this process: a glimpse into how our minds, networks, and conversations grow, branch, and interconnect. It is our way of being transparent about the many ideas, artists, and projects that inspire us, even if we cannot feature them all on stage.(UNDER THE MOTHER MUSHROOM,) 

They invite you to step into this space with us, to explore, linger, and witness how a curatorial journey unfolds — a collaborative experiment in curiosity, care, and collective thinking.

This year at Kiemkracht festival, the curatorial team of Back2SoilBasics — Fairouz Gazdallah, Philsan Omar Osman, and Sadaf Malyar — are coming together to explore the worlds of mushrooms, mycelium, and entangled practices.

As a team, they are weaving a collective process: sharing literature, discoveries from social media, passages from books and documentaries, and projects we have come across online. Together, we are mapping connections, ideas, and inspirations — a living archive of our thinking and curiosity.

During the festival, they will create a physical space where you can encounter this process: a glimpse into how our minds, networks, and conversations grow, branch, and interconnect. It is our way of being transparent about the many ideas, artists, and projects that inspire us, even if we cannot feature them all on stage.(UNDER THE MOTHER MUSHROOM,) 

They invite you to step into this space with us, to explore, linger, and witness how a curatorial journey unfolds — a collaborative experiment in curiosity, care, and collective thinking.

The current agricultural food system is unsustainable. A handful of companies determines what is on our plates: ultra-processed and unhealthy for both people and the planet. They also dictate the agricultural model with scale enlargement, monocultures, and chemical inputs, while their lobbies dismantle laws that protect people and the planet. But it can be different.

Agroecology points the way to a fair, healthy, and resilient food system, supported by both farmers and citizens. This requires courage and collaboration — like the farmer who stands up against oil giant TotalEnergies. How do we build the counterpower together to make this transformation happen?

At Kiemkracht festival, we will discuss this topic with Joost Dessein, associate professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, and farmer Justine Dewitte from the organic farm 't Goed ter Heule.

The one tomato or leek is not the other. And everything starts with the seed. Is it owned by multinationals, where profit takes precedence over taste, nutritional value, and biodiversity? And thus tailored to the industrial agriculture model in which farmers must buy expensive, hybrid seeds every year? 

Or do we choose for open-pollinated, freely available varieties: seeds without patents, in the hands of agro-ecological farmers and their communities? This way, we preserve the freedom to improve seeds ourselves, adapted to local conditions – as a basis for a fair and resilient food system. 

At the Kiemkracht festival, we will engage in conversation with member of the IPES-Food panel, co-founder and general coordinator of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) Million Belay, Paul Grabenbergen, and organic farmer Lien Vrijders, founder of the Grassroots Climate Farm.

A soil that is teeming with life is the key to the health of both people and the planet. Everything is interconnected in the soil food web: a living soil produces healthy crops and provides resilience against climate disruption. It strengthens biodiversity, also in our guts, which boosts our own resilience.

Those who take good care of the soil take care of everything that lives. The soil is not only beneath our feet but is also within us. That is why toxins such as pesticides are so harmful to both people and the planet.

At Kiemkracht festival, we will discuss this topic with soil ecologist Emilia Hannula and pediatric infectious disease specialist at ZAS Hospitals & UAntwerp Daan Van Brusselen.

Lutgart and Marc from bakery BroodNodig share their passion for ancient grains. They explain how these grains are carefully selected and propagated in collaboration with organic farms as part of The Slowest Bread project. 

Learn how authentic grains are being revived and taste the difference.

Seeds from wild plants often have an intense and unique flavour. However, we are not familiar with their use. Join us during the workshop to discover the treasures hidden in your own environment. It'll be a feast for the taste buds. 

We share our basic know-how from daily practice and provide the necessary theoretical knowledge for growing vegetable seeds. We interact and take a step towards vital and robust crops. Why? Because agrobiodiversity is the basis of a resilient agricultural system and a sovereign food system.

The previous generation of farmers and gardeners have abandoned seed propagation and specialised in their field: growing vegetables. This makes our food system vulnerable. From the organic sector and the basic principles of agroecology in general, we see the value of the cyclical, organic. Our seeds are the starting point and the end point and reflect the challenges throughout the seasons. In the selection process, we can play a guiding role as guardians.

In this workshop, we will teach you the basic know-how you need to get started.

Threshing, sieving, winnowing: we separate the chaff from the seed. During this workshop, we'll teach how to clean seeds. We work with different types of herbs, vegetables and flowers. You can take a portion of the cleaned seeds home with you afterwards.

Together with seed collectors, we are mapping the world of resistance: wherever people cherish seeds as a form of resistance against occupation, colonisation, genocide and the agro-industrial complex. We invite collectors and sympathisers to share their stories with us, to inspire us and spur us to action. We are inspired by initiatives such as Vivien Sarsour's Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, the Seed Library in South Africa, and Vitaele Rassen, a little closer to home.

Pastoralism, or nomadic herding, is a form of livestock farming that works in harmony with nature rather than against it. By prioritizing the mobility of their animals, these herders contribute to the preservation of ecosystems and the food security of millions of people. 

On the occasion of the International Year of the UN for Pastoralists and Grasslands, Anthony Denayer (Veterinarians Without Borders) will engage in conversation with Flemish herders, accompanied by the screening of a selection of film clips about nomadic herders worldwide.

More information about the film clips

Veterinarians Without Borders supports herding communities in nine African countries and helps them maintain their indigenous knowledge, resilience, and sustainable lifestyle. Their way of life, with low fossil fuel use, can indeed guide us towards a more resilient food system of the future.

Come and discover the intimate intertwining of culture, economy, and ecology that characterizes nomadic herders.

Climate migration will become a hot topic in the coming years. We are already seeing how the salt in the fields and houses underwater in Senegal makes young people doubt their future. After the documentary 'Wecco Wacko Farm Club', which involved Belgian and Senegalese youth, we will engage in a conversation about solidarity and shared challenges.