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Spring '26

Defrost your heart

We’re serving some  'Fresh juice' a brand-new spring programme packed with zest, spirit and creative bite. 

Agenda

  • KIEMKRACHT 2026

    For every seed enthusiast
    A stimulating festival for the mouth, stomach and land
    28.02

    A stimulating festival for the mouth, stomach and land

    How wonderful is it to eat with a clear conscience? And to find meaning in your daily meals?

    KIEMKRACHT is a stimulating festival for the mouth, stomach and land that invites you to explore a new, imaginative relationship with our food. On February 28 at De Vooruit and on location we playfully challenge you to think critically about what you eat.

    Discover the programme



     

    Discover the programme
    Discover the programme

  • Robbert&Frank Frank&Robbert

    WOOD
    Interactive VR journey of discovery
    14.02
    -
    28.02

    Interactive VR journey of discovery

    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.

    Data & tickets

  • Afra Tafri Creations / Abhishek Thapar

    Lacuna Kitchen
    Pop-up restaurant and performance about invisible labour and the hidden stories in our food culture
    25.02
    -
    28.02

    Pop-up restaurant and performance about invisible labour and the hidden stories in our food culture

    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.

    Data & tickets

  • Kabinet K

    Bron
    What future do we want to shape?
    05.03
    and
    06.03

    What future do we want to shape?

    ... la révélation la plus simple et la plus radicale: 
    que le présent se transforme en présence, 
    qu’une action devient une histoire, 
    qu’un humain devient un héros, 
    qu’un endroit devient lieu.
    Claire Simon

    What if we could throw all the ballast overboard, come home somewhere, return to the essence? In ‘Bron’, different generations share this longing, as equals. It reflects vulnerability, imagination, and strength among people. To the live music of Thomas Devos, the dancers search for what connects them and what future they want to shape. One thing is certain: water takes center stage. With a spring as a gathering place. A place where humanity gallops in its desire, where life flows and overflows.

    With ‘Bron’, Joke Laureyns and Kwint Manshoven return to the core of their work. After ‘as long as we are playing’ as an ode to the playful human, and ‘promise me’ that celebrated freedom and recklessness, ‘Bron’ becomes an ode to the creative human. A dance performance about the necessity of ‘making’, about humans as ‘makers’, and about the question of the malleability of life. A performance that touches, connects, and celebrates the power of community. 

    Data & tickets

  • Freek De Craecker & Jarne Van Loon

    Ander Strand
    Relive the spirit of 'de Rooie Vlinder': a fiery celebration of freedom and activism
    12.03
    and
    13.03

    Relive the spirit of 'De Rooie Vlinder': a fiery celebration of freedom and activism 

    In 1979, the Ghent-based ‘Rooie Vlinder’ organized Belgium's first Pride in Ghent, a celebration and protest rolled into one. Today, there's no longer a Pride in our city. Have we already achieved all our rights?

    Several artists and historians are reinterpreting Ghent's queer past. Together, they create a festive, activist ritual that celebrates connection and freedom in a world full of uncertainty and oppression. Join and bring the spirit of 'De Rooie Vlinder' back to life!

    Data & tickets

  • Voetvolk / Lisbeth Gruwez & Maarten Van Cauwenberghe

    Tempest
    From raw energy to focused strength: dancing in the eye of the storm
    13.03
    and
    14.03

    From raw energy to focused strength: dancing in the eye of the storm

    Anger is a universal force, much like a tempest, inevitable under certain conditions and naturally recurring. It is a dual force: at once destructive and a catalyst for change, a response to imbalance.

    In the solo 'Tempest', Lisbeth Gruwez draws on the precision of martial arts to channel this primal force and raw energy into focused strength. An oscillating body that moves between sharp surges of energy and the potential for a quiet clarity.

    Anger is embodied here as a collective current—a vibration in an energetically charged field, that we all inhabit and relate to. Tempest invites us to absorb and transform the storm: to turn rage into strength. A place where elements clash, merge, and subside into a new presence. A porous body encounters this force, metabolising turmoil into lucidity.

    It is a dance through the eye of the storm —a dance that opens an eye within the storm— revealing the stillness at its heart.

    Voetvolk is the dance company of dancer/choreographer Lisbeth Gruwez and musician/composer Maarten Van Cauwenberghe. Their work is often highly visual, powerful and expressive, full of improvisation, performance elements, and a razor-sharp dialogue between dance and sound design. 

    Data & tickets

  • SNOBS

    Editie #11
    Where art misbehaves
    14.03

    ​​Where art misbehaves 

    ‘​​SNOBS’ is back, wilder, dirtier and freer than ever. A night of raw energy, unpredictable performances and visual chaos. A hedonistic celebration of everything that moves, breathes and derails.
    With Maya Dhondt, Lieve Jongens, Erykah, Soumaya Phéline, Dj Star Baby, Dina Dooreman and Bronder&Reuse

    Curated by Fruit Salad: GOAT, DWAAS, Plien Leroy & Ine Vanlitsenborgh

    Data & tickets
    Tickets

  • Lisa Vereertbrugghen / CAMPO

    Again Forever
    Dance as resistance: the 'slow' as the slow sister of rave dance
    19.03
    -
    21.03

    Dance as resistance: the 'slow' as the slow sister of rave dance

    Over the past twelve years, Lisa Vereertbrugghen has explored the political and physical dimensions of (hardcore) techno music and dance. With 'Again Forever', she expands her research to a social dance at the other end of the speed spectrum: the slow dance.

    'Again Forever' approaches the slow dance as a potentially subversive dance, a slow sister to rave dancing. The performance focuses on the radical way in which the slow dance deals with intimacy and time in an era dominated by productivity, speed, and isolation. The slow dance is taken out of its traditional context and connected to today's queer nightlife. Slow dancing becomes a collective practice and a form of resistance. This is the way the performers give shape to the anti-patriarchal slow dance: as a slow rave.

     

    Data & tickets

  • Martha Canga Antonio

    Holy
    Performance meets beats
    26.03
    -
    28.03

    Performance meets beats

    ‘Holy’ is the enchanting love child of an exhilarating concert and a mesmerizing performance. Martha Canga Antonio explores ‘the sacred’ in all its shapes and shades. She takes the audience on a journey where personal and collective experiences merge. Boundaries blur, certainties fade, and traditional codes between performers and audience effortlessly dissolve.

    Data & tickets

  • Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Solal Mariotte / Rosas

    BREL
    'Next!': two generations dance to Brel
    31.03
    -
    02.04

    'Next!': two generations dance to Brel

    'BREL' is a collaboration between Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and dancer and upcoming choreographer Solal Mariotte. After graduating from P.A.R.T.S. in 2022, Mariotte, who also has a background in breaking, joined Rosas in 2023 for 'EXIT ABOVE'.

    The starting point for this new creation is a selection of compositions by chansonnier Jacques Brel. De Keersmaeker and Mariotte bring diverging approaches to choreography and dance to this project. Two generations apart, they also have very different histories with the singer, who was born in Brussels in 1929 and rose to international fame in the 1950s and 60s. Dense, poetic, and often political, Brel’s powerful lyrics conjure up a range of moods and emotions. We are also familiar with the image of Brel, his extraordinary stage presence and gestural expressivity. Brel projects an incredible energy, speaks to and moves his audience in a direct, personal, and almost physical manner. While arguably addressing ‘timeless’ themes, including friendship, relationships, socio-political shifts, and violence, Brel’s songs also make tangible a gap in time. They resonate very differently with the world today. What remains? What kind of tools do Brel’s modes of address and performativity offer? What to keep and how to set it in motion in a manner relevant for today? The challenge lies not only in figuring out how to ‘embody’ Brel’s music - how to bring it to life – in a way that speaks to us today, while maintaining a critical remove, but also in finding ways to really share the stage with Jacques Brel.

    In 2002, De Keersmaeker created her second dance solo, Once, to the music of Joan Baez. Playing the entire album Joan Baez in Concert, part 2, the choreographer set out to examine various possible answers – in movement, voice, and gesture – to the emotions and power embodied by Baez’ music and lyrics, which also inspired the civil rights movement in the United States in the 1960s. In 2023, EXIT ABOVE was created to songs written especially for the work and performed live on stage by singer-songwriter Meskerem Mees and dancer-musician Carlos Garbin. In BREL, De Keersmaeker and Mariotte, who will share the stage for the first time, will continue this trajectory, and further explore the challenges and potential of choreographing to songs. The artists find inspiration in the complexities and tensions inherent to Brel’s life and oeuvre. In BREL, they aim in the first place to raise questions. BREL is a search, an exploration of the shifts and gaps in time that come to the surface when revisiting Jacques Brel’s famous chansons today.

    uitverkocht

  • Rébecca Chaillon & Aurore Déon

    Whitewashing
    Pulverise all your preconceptions.
    03.04

    Pulverise all your preconceptions.

    ‘Whitewashing’ is a playful yet confronting performance that brings clichés and fantasies surrounding Black women vividly to the stage. Rébecca Chaillon and Aurore Déon make visible what is often hidden: how colonial and sexist biases continue to shape bodies, gazes, and spaces.

    Each performance evolves, but always revolves around two opposing forces: one fragile and rooted in a floor that is never quite white enough, the other strong, challenging, and full of creative energy. Together, they weave a story exposing the historical invisibility of Black women and the burdens they have carried.

    With humor and hypnotic repetition, ‘Whitewashing’ confronts audiences with prejudices, clichés, and societal expectations around Black women, inviting reflection on care, self-preservation, and resistance. A performance that is both intense and liberating, raising profound questions about power, identity, and (in)visibility.

     

    Data & tickets
    Tickets

  • Fien Leysen / BERLIN & theater arsenaal

    ALABAMA
    A documentary road trip to the past, about different stages of loss
    24.04
    and
    25.04

    A documentary road trip to the past, about different stages of loss

    In ALABAMA, Fien Leysen follows in the footsteps of her deceased father, reporter Kris Leysen. In 1978 he visited Birmingham, Alabama (US) to create a television documentary for the Belgian broadcast station VRT. In Alabama, he spoke to young adults about work and studies, about the American Dream, and the gap between rich and poor. On his first night in Alabama, the local sheriff pulled over the television crew and charmed by their intentions, promptly gave Leysen the position of deputy sheriff (in name only). All so that the people of Birmingham would trust the film crew. Forty five years later, Fien - now the same age as her father then - sets off to Alabama. She wants to find the students and the sheriff from 1978, revisit the city and its people. In Birmingham, she’ll ask the questions her father forgot, and hopes to find answers for herself. Together with musician Steven De bruyn, Fien will share video of then and now on stage, and the result of her search.).

     

    Data & tickets

  • Platform K & ZOO/Thomas Hauert

    Where is everybody?
    Two worlds, one dance language
    29.04
    and
    30.04

    Two worlds, one dance language

    What happens when two dance companies with distinct visions collide? With six dancers, Platform K and ZOO/Thomas Hauert shape a shared movement language and create an inclusive performance bursting with energy, spontaneity and poetry. A celebratory search for what dance becomes when we let go of conventions.


    Read Amber Maes' reflection on the creative process

    Data & tickets

  • Nona Demey Gallagher

    A Room of His Own
    Feminist rage and decadent dreams.
    30.04

    Feminist rage and decadent dreams.

    The secret castle, the urban oasis, the multimedia fun palace - the bed.

    There she lies, a critic alone in pyjamas watching late-night television, dissecting the fantasies of sexual freedom while the world outside continues its endless pursuit of pleasure.

    'A Room Of His Own' is a perverted comedy of manners about the world of pornography, power, and sexual politics. Its protagonist is Andrea Dworkin, the radical feminist of the 1970s, famous for her tireless attacks on the porn industry. Following a sleepless Dworkin during a night of decadence, the production interrogates the post-war dream of sexual freedom - its promises, its contradictions, its lasting grip on society. A testament to a voice who questioned the sexual fantasies that we consume.

    uitverkocht
    uitverkocht

  • Mira Bryssinck

    Iemands zus
    An intimate story about sisters and care
    08.05
    and
    09.05

    An intimate story about sisters and care

    In ‘Iemands zus’, Mira Bryssinck explores how disability shapes family life. Through interviews, family conversations and documentary material she traces the delicate balance between giving and receiving care. A cinematic coming-of-age story unfolds on stage, accompanied by Simon Raman's music.

    Data & tickets

  • Meg Stuart & Doug Weiss

    All the Way Around
    A peek into the choreographic kitchen of a dance icon
    20.05
    and
    21.05

    A peek into the choreographic kitchen
    of a dance icon

    Choreographer and dancer Meg Stuart opens her bodily archive, alongside jazz bassist Doug Weiss, pianist Mariana Carvalho and light designer Emese Csornai. Together they strip ‘the ballad’ down to intimate gestures, weaving dance, music and light into a dialogue where memory and emotion resound. A rare glimpse into Stuart’s unique movement philosophy. 

    last tickets

  • Femke Gyselinck / GRIP i.s.m. Lander Gyselinck

    Figures of Speech
    ‘Rhythm is a soul’s companion’ (Snap!)
    28.05
    and
    29.05

    ‘Rhythm is a soul’s companion’ (Snap!)

    Rhythm connects us inextricably to the world. It is everywhere – in our steps, in our language, in our emotions, in life itself. Since ancient times, when it served as a mnemonic aid for reciting poetry, rhythm has been used to bring people together: from the chanting of monks to a military cadence. 

    Ten years after their joint debut 'Flamer', brother and sister, drummer Lander (STUFF., Lander & Adriaan, BeraadGeslagen,…) and dancer Femke Gyselinck (GRIP, ex-Rosas), join forces once again. What once began as a spontaneous professional exchange has grown into a shared artistic language. This time, they are not performing as a duo, but with a group of seven dancers and four musicians on the big stage. 

    In this performance, rhythm is much more than just a component of the music. It is the foundation on which music and dance come together. The patterns of sounds and silences aid in remembering and singing, playing, or drumming in a group. And they make dancing possible.

    Data & tickets

  • Bavo Buys

    Wild Narcissus
    Spotlight on the shadow self
    29.05
    and
    30.05

    Spotlight on the shadow self

    What happens when youth fades, beauty slips away and admiration dies? Bavo Buys brings their alter ego Narcissus to life in a mesmerizing solo, blending myth, pop culture and personal stories. A hypnotic portrait of desire, self-preservation and fragile perfection offering a darkly playful reflection on narcissism and the human condition.

    Data & tickets

  • The Second Woman

    Nat Randall & Anna Breckon - met Natali Broods
    Grand finale of the season: 24 hours long, 100 x 1 scene
    13.06

    Grand finale of the season: 24 hours long,
    100 x 1 scene

    Natali Broods performs the impossible in this epic endurance work: a single scene, repeated 100 times with 100 different people who identify as male* over 24 hours. No rehearsals. No safety net. Each encounter unfolds differently, revealing fragility, power and desire. Fiction and reality blur and pull you into a hypnotic rhythm.

    A once-in-a-lifetime experience that will be raw, intimate and unforgettable.

     

    Data & tickets
    Tickets

  • Motus

    [ÒDIO]
    Teenage truths about hatred and loneliness
    27.02

    Teenage truths about hatred and loneliness

    The documentary ‘[ÒDIO]’ concludes Motus’ Frankenstein project, exploring how love can turn into hate. Young people share how violence and exclusion leave lasting marks on bodies that never feel at home. Frankenstein’s loneliness echoes through a generation torn between tenderness and rage. Where does hate begin and which social structures nurture it?

    Past event
    Past event

  • Motus

    Frankenstein_diptych (Love Story) + (History of Hate)
    Frankenstein revisited
    26.02

    Frankenstein revisited.

    Inspired by Mary Shelley’s 'Frankenstein', this diptych takes you to the extremes of what it means to be human: creation and destruction.

    'Love Story' is a raw, poetic performance about monsters, loneliness, and an all-consuming longing for love. It explores the fragile, dangerous line between human and non-human, life and non-life, an intense experience that gets under your skin.

    In 'History of Hate', everything shifts. What happens when love is denied? Rejection turns into anger, alienation, and violence. This confronting performance holds up a sharp mirror and asks unsettling questions about power, exclusion, and who we choose to call a 'monster'.

    Together, they form a compelling diptych that moves, unsettles, and lingers long after the lights go out. 


    We need Monsters
    and we need to recognise
    and celebrate
    our own monstrosities.
    (J. Halberstam )

    Past event
    Past event

  • Not Standing/Alexander Vantournhout

    Through the Grapevine Live
    Virtuosic pas de deux with a new twist.
    20.02
    and
    21.02

    Virtuosic pas de deux with a new twist with live music by Andrea Belfi

    Following its successful premiere in 2020, ‘Through the Grapevine’ returns with a fresh twist as ‘Through the Grapevine Live’. Choreographer Alexander Vantournhout and dancer Axel Guérin once again engage in a dynamic pas de deux, this time energized by the live music of experimental percussionist Andrea Belfi. With focus and dedication, the performers explore balance, harmony, and connection, all while embracing humor. The live soundtrack adds new dimensions, enhancing the energy and poetry of their movements.

    Past event

  • Renée Goethijn

    4 Women Getting Sick
    An absurd tribute to female territory.
    11.02
    and
    12.02

    An absurd tribute to female territory.

    When a doctor’s visit slips into an endless medical limbo, four figures enter a realm where body, landscape and operating table intertwine. ‘4 Women Getting Sick’ unveils a magical-realist universe where land and body mirror each other’s histories of conquest and exhaustion. Through surreal imagery, physical theatre and a vivid scenography, ‘4 Women Getting Sick’ becomes a liberating journey that invites us to rethink the world and our place within it.

    Past event

  • Decoratelier Jozef Wouters

    Moments Before the Wind
    A special duet between space and imagination
    07.02

    A special duet between space and imagination

    ‘Moments Before the Wind’ is a performance without performers, tailor-made for De Vooruit. A replica of an 18th-century stage set by Decoratelier and Rimah Jabr enters into dialogue with Vooruit’s Theaterzaal. Guided by Jorge Luis Borges’ voice and his lecture ‘Metaphors’ (1967), scenography and imagination perform a poetic duet that shifts and challenges your gaze. A striking tribute to the building upon its reopening.

     

    Past event
    Past event

  • 4X4 Lieselot Siddiki

    Life in a Dead Circus
    Lieselot Siddiki has been given carte blanche and can turn De Vooruit into her playground for an entire evening.
    05.02

    Lieselot Siddiki has been given carte blanche and turns
    De Vooruit into her playground for an entire evening.

    Multidisciplinary artist Lieselot Siddiki invites you into her wild universe with the first 4x4: 'Life in a Dead Circus'. Her world pulses with obscene hedonism, grotesque tenderness and raw vitality, a chaotic playground where beauty and decay collide. This is not a show but an open laboratory, a noisy carnival of performances, sensory installations, music and rituals that evoke a haunting sense of the uncanny. Expect hypnotic dance, DIY sound rituals, latex masks, glowing toys and anarchic noise acts. As curator, Siddiki creates a delirious space where recognition meets estrangement, celebrating creative chaos and unfiltered wonder.

    In this 4x4 night Lieselot Siddiki opens the doors to her dead circus for one night only. In this doll-house of the uncanny she has invited artists whose work evokes eerie feelings of recognition. These hidden familiar things that have undergone repression and then emerged from it…

    The spaces in De Vooruit will function like an old, haunted house. Most performances will have no clear beginning or end. It will be personal, DIY, emotional, unpolished, loud, and sweet as a butter pie. Once you enter the dead circus, you’re free to wander for 2,5 hours. Order a skinny bitch at the bar and go listen to Lieselot's brother Silas Siddiki playing the piano like he’s being chased by the devil in a room we created based on our (confusing) family history. There is Mr Marcaille, a raw and heavy hardcore punk one-man band playing cello and a set of two kick drums who will do a 15 min concert. Or you can spend all your time in the emo girl bedroom of Courtney May Robertson’s ‘HUNTER – OFF RECORD!!!’ SAD. HORNY. ANGRY. SHAMELESSLY!!!!! She invites you into an intimate arena to witness the charged rituals between her and her hyper-realistic silicone doppelgänger; this time, from a dangerously close range. POW! POW!

    In the regal setting of the balzaal there will be HELLFILLER the freenoise band of Lieselot's father’s evil twin brother. In the offspace there will be the screaming textile work of Iraqi artist Sura Muayad Al-Ibraheemi in which pain is disguised as celebration. There is the iconic Daisy Ray often described as cartoonish as well as cerebral, Daisy offers a live performance with a surreal and ironic spirit! In the last room there will be a personal experiment: Truthful’ together with Oscar Claus, Inci Gül Civelekoglu and Joeri Happel we will summon the demons of ‘The Truthful’ in a durational sound and lamentation experiment.

    Past event
    Past event

  • HOUSEWARMING

    The front section of De Vooruit is coming back to life!
    03.02
    -
    08.02

     It’s time for a week-long celebration! 

    No more dust or scaffolding… It’s time for a week-long celebration! From Tuesday, February 3 to Sunday, February 8, we honor life, art and the monumental space we cherish. All disciplines come alive at once! Kick off with the spectacular remake of 'THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER'. 4x4 opens up Lieselot Siddiki’s artistic practice to the audience, Friday features Apparat live, on Saturday, Madonna Lenaert dives into a conversation about cruising while L’Hafla, the Brussels Queer Collective, lights up the night, and Sunday's Open House unveils every single corner of the monument. Discover surprises everywhere: (live) installations, gems by house artists in hidden corners, unexpected encounters. Matthias Belpaire, Infrastructure and Heritage Coordinator at VIERNULVIER, will take you behind the scaffolding in his lecture '17 months of renovation: De Vooruit before and after' and show you spectacular before-and-after photos.

    Discover the programme




     

    Past event
    Past event
of 2

Season finale:
24 hours long, 100 x 1 scene

Actress Natali Broods achieves the impossible in “The Second Woman,”
an epic endurance performance and breathtaking theatrical tour de force.

Agenda

Curated 4

Not sure where to start? Fear not, because VIERNULVIER’s artistic team curated four journeys through dance, theatre, music, and performance — from established voices to intimate, queer, and daring work. Choose your path and explore freely.
SOLID 4
4 CORNERS OF THE HEART
404 EXPLORER
4 TENDER REBELS

talks

Agenda

  • DE ARENA

    met Lisbeth Imbo, Petra De Sutter, Andres Algaba, Yasmien Naciri & Roeland Delrue
    AI, vrijheid blijheid of paal en perk?
    10.03

    Ready for a sharp dive into the future? During De Arena on Tuesday 10 March, we will take a critical look at the rise of artificial intelligence.

    While the technological possibilities seem limitless, in this edition we will focus on the downsides: should the government and the education sector urgently put the brakes on, or are strict rules actually holding us back? We will be talking to leading speakers such as Petra De Sutter, rector of Ghent University, researcher Andres Algaba, author/entrepreneur Yasmien Naciri and co-founder of Aikido Security Roeland Delrue to expose the pitfalls of AI. 

    Expect a fascinating, cutting-edge debate. Join us in thinking about the ethics of tomorrow.

    Data & tickets
    Tickets

  • UITGELEZEN

    met Ruth Joos, Melissa Giardina, Seppe Decubber & Jan Dertaelen
    Zin om maandelijks in het gezelschap van andere boekenliefhebbers te vertoeven?
    24.03

    On Tuesday 24 March, Melissa Giardina, Seppe Decubber and Jan Dertaelen will join presenter Ruth Joos. Together, they will discuss three books, carefully selected by our editorial team.

    Julian Barnes - 'Departure(s)'

    ‘This is my last book,’ Julian Barnes announces in the first chapter of 'Departure(s)'. Whether he will keep that promise remains to be seen – let us hope not, but what is certain is that Barnes’ latest book is a magnificent finale to a rich, multifaceted and acclaimed oeuvre. 'The Sense of an Ending' tells the story of two old friends of Barnes: Stephen and Jean, a couple who found each other forty years ago, lost each other and only found each other again decades later. The Sense of an Ending is about the unreliable telescope that is our memory, about everything we want to remember but cannot, and everything we want to forget but cannot. Above all, it is a delightful insight into Barnes' own life as a writer.

    Joke van Leeuwen - 'Plooi u in tweeën' (Fold Yourself in Half)

    Another wonderful writer's life is that of Joke van Leeuwen. Thankfully, she has not yet hung up her career. However, she did feel it was time for a self-portrait in language, and we couldn't agree with her more. 'Plooi u in tweeën' (Fold Yourself in Half) is the story of almost five (!) decades of writing on the edge of everything: Dutch and Flemish, being a woman and being a writer, poetry, prose, books for children, books for adults, books for everyone. She won't say so herself, but with this memoir, Van Leeuwen, in all her virtuoso linguistic delight and acumen, irrefutably demonstrates that she has long been one of our most important writers.

    Eva Meijer - 'Een woord voor' (A Word For)

    The last book on the table is also about forgetting, remembering, the importance of language and literature, but it is of a completely different order than the personal books by Barnes and Van Leeuwen. Eva Meijer's Een woord voor (A Word For) is a novel that disappears before your eyes. You have to see it to believe it. From the perspective of two young lovers, Mik and Uma, we read a blood-curdling story in which more and more words from the Dutch language disappear and have to be replaced by words that do not mean exactly the same thing. It starts with the words “careless”, “money” and “fuck”, but it doesn't stop there. A love story and a dystopian vision of a possible very near future; a true feat (and if that word were to disappear, a bravura tour, a heroic stunt, an exploit...).

    As a preview reader, we welcome Astrid Haerens, following the release of her new novel 'Erosion' in April.

    Data & tickets
    Tickets

  • DE ARENA

    met Petra De Sutter & Walter Van Steenbrugge
    Hoe navigeren we door de complexe uitdagingen van vandaag?
    21.04

    How do we navigate today’s complex challenges? Our debate series The Arena offers a necessary alternative to the quick, simplistic answers provided by the media. Each edition we welcome a changing panel of leading experts and thinkers such as Annelies Verlinden, Petra De Sutter, Amir Bachrouri, Walter Van Steenbrugge and Yasmien Naciri. Led by Lisbeth Imbo, we explore the depth and highlight the nuances.

    Data & tickets
    Tickets

  • UITGELEZEN

    Literaire date op dinsdagavond
    Zin om maandelijks in het gezelschap van andere boekenliefhebbers te vertoeven?
    28.04

    A perfect night out for book lovers. Join us for Uitgelezen, the ultimate literary night!

    Host Ruth Joos welcomes three interesting guests (like Ibe Rossel, Melissa Giardina, Jesse Vandamme, Raf Njotea) to discuss three carefully selected books and give a personal recommendation on top of that. The
    evening includes a musical interlude and an exclusive sneak peek at an unpublished work. Last but not least, you are able to win all the featured books in our raffle!

    Data & tickets
    Tickets

  • Natural Contract Lab

    STILL HERE – an alliance of care for the SZenne River
    What rights do nature and its allies have?
    02.05

    For three years (2022-25), Natural Contract Lab (NCL) has been walking-with1 the SZenne river and its communities of kin, its plants, people, mud, knotweed, nettles, seen and unseen,... From the source emerging under a willow tree in Naast to the confluence where the river meets three bodies of water in Zennegat. In this symposium the NCL group will present the Living Bill2 for the SZenne river in the format of a hybrid symposium that unfolds from the Protocol for Reciprocal Care3 for bodies of water under deep ecological transformation. During the day, NCL will share their transdisciplinary approach interweaving rights of nature, restorative justice, ecological grief, sensory scenography, participatory rituals and walking methodologies. There will be three parts, which will unfold like a walking-with1 with a storyline, a conversation and a tribune. While walking-with the waters of Ghent, we greet, dialogue and sense the landscape. In VIERNULVIER,  weave in guests in a conversation and presentation of the Living Bill for the rights of the SZenne river by the alliance. ( the alliance includes all the ones who have walked-with, the beings, and other rivers that are in solidarity with the SZenne river)

    Data & tickets
    Tickets

  • UITGELEZEN

    Literaire date op dinsdagavond
    Zin om maandelijks in het gezelschap van andere boekenliefhebbers te vertoeven?
    26.05

    A perfect night out for book lovers. Join us for Uitgelezen, the ultimate literary night!

    Host Ruth Joos welcomes three interesting guests (like Ibe Rossel, Melissa Giardina, Jesse Vandamme, Raf Njotea) to discuss three carefully selected books and give a personal recommendation on top of that. The
    evening includes a musical interlude and an exclusive sneak peek at an unpublished work. Last but not least, you are able to win all the featured books in our raffle!

    Data & tickets
    Tickets

  • UITGELEZEN

    met Ruth Joos, Raf Njotea, Melissa Giardina, Marijke Pinoy en Kaat Van Stralen
    Zin om maandelijks in het gezelschap van andere boekenliefhebbers te vertoeven?
    24.02

    On Tuesday 24 February, Melissa Giardina, Raf Njotea and Marijke Pinoy will join presenter Ruth Joos. Together, they will discuss three books, carefully selected by our editorial team.

    In recent years, there has been an undeniable resurgence of positive interest in witches and witchcraft. Armed with historical knowledge and advancing insights, we are gaining a better understanding of who these people were – mostly, but not exclusively, women – who were accused of witchcraft, and what injustices were done to them.

    Olga Ravn – 'Child of Wax'

    Danish author Olga Ravn engages in the witch discourse in a fascinating way. In 'Child of Wax', she uses enchanting language to show that witches were neither evil hags nor innocent heroines. From the perspective of a wax voodoo doll... The kind of thing that only the author of the working-class novel in space 'The Staff' could pull off.

    "Olga Ravn is a virtuoso and an alchemist. No one else does what she does." - Samantha Harvey

    Suzanne Grotenhuis - 'De lijst van mijn leven' (The list of my life)

    That image of Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter series, letting her pots and pans wash themselves and a spoon stir the soup independently while she chops onions. Is that witchcraft or just a slight exaggeration of the feeling Suzanne Grotenhuis describes in 'The list of my life'?

    Grotenhuis wrote her second book literally in between everything else, because she had no other choice: her child had to go to swimming lessons, the laundry had to be done, and there had to be food on the table. Grotenhuis wrote her second book literally in between everything else, because she had no other choice: her child had to go to swimming lessons, the laundry had to be ironed, bread had to be put on the table, and so on and so forth. What started as an Excel document for her partner became a painfully recognisable and necessary book, rightly and appropriately subtitled In Search of Love and Equality.

    Kamel Daoud - 'Houris'

    The last book we discuss in this shortest month is “Houris” by French-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud, winner of the 2024 Prix Goncourt. Daoud introduces a female protagonist who inspires both awe and empathy in the reader. Aube's vocal cords were cut during the civil war. Amidst a whole generation that cannot stop talking about a war that took place forty years ago, Aube is only able to tell her story in her mind to the unborn daughter growing inside her. NRC called the book an “unforgettable ode to every woman who, then and now and anywhere in the world, is silenced”. It is not a light story, but Daoud's pen dances off the pages and writes Aube's name loud and clear wherever her voice cannot be heard.

    This time, the advance reader is Uschi Cop, whose debut novel 'Dodeman' will be published in March. Genre-transcending punk band Kaat Van Stralen provide a musical interlude.

    Past event
    Past event

  • DE ARENA

    met Lisbeth Imbo, Annelies Verlinden,Vincent Van Quickenborne, Fatih De Vos, Walter Van Steenbrugge & Joëlle Rozie
    The sense and nonsense of prison sentences
    10.02

    Are our prisons a necessary evil, or a failing system? The debate about the sense and nonsense of prison sentences is more relevant than ever. With overcrowded cells, scarce alternatives, and ongoing discussions about human rights violations in Belgium, it is time for a thorough confrontation.

    What role do prison sentences really play in ouèr society? How long is 'long enough'? And what radical alternatives can we implement to break the vicious cycle?

    Come listen and discuss during De Arena on Tuesday, February 10, with:

    • Annelies Verlinden (Minister of the Interior)
    • Vincent Van Quickenborne (Chairman of the Municipal Council of Kortrijk and federal representative)
    • Fatih Devos (socio-cultural worker, rapper)
    • Walter Van Steenbrugge (lawyer, specialised in human rights)
    • Joëlle Rozie (professor of criminal law at the Faculty of Law of UAntwerp)

     

    Past event
    Past event

  • UITGELEZEN

    met Ruth Joos, Jesse Vandamme, Arno Van Vlierberghe en Ibe Rossel
    Zin om maandelijks in het gezelschap van andere boekenliefhebbers te vertoeven?
    27.01

    On Tuesday, January 27, Jesse Vandamme, Arno Van Vlierberghe, and Ibe Rossel will join presenter Ruth Joos. Together, they will discuss three books, carefully selected by our editorial team.

    Davide Coppo - 'The Wrong Turn'

    How does a teenager turn into a fascist? That chilling process is described by Davide Coppo in the autobiographical novel 'The Wrong Turn'. An urgent, universal novel about the gradual radicalization of a teenage boy during his search for his own identity.

    David Szalay - 'The Flesh'

    With 'The Flesh', David Szalay won the coveted Booker Prize in 2025. A beautiful novel about a man overwhelmed by life, seemingly passive – yet compelling from start to finish.

    "Masturbation, sexual relationships, violence: in his honest novel ‘The Flesh’, David Szalay uncovers the male body." ★★★★☆ De Standaard

    Jacqueline Harpman - 'Orlanda'

    Which man or woman has never dreamed of at least once changing their world by stepping into the body and mind of another? In 'Orlanda' by Jacqueline Harpman, Aline Berger undergoes that transformation firsthand.

     

     

    Past event
    Past event

  • DE ARENA

    met Lisbeth Imbo, Isolde Van den Eynde, Raoul Hedebouw, Walter Van Steenbrugge, Marc De Vos & Christophe Peeters
    Who's paying the bill?
    02.12

    Solidarity, taxes, redistribution, and savings: in a country of increasing inequality and economic pressure, our social model is under strain. The real question is: who should make which sacrifice?

    On Tuesday, December 2, we will debate this during De Arena with journalist Isolde Van den Eynde, party chairman Raoul Hedebouw (PVDA), criminal lawyer Walter Van Steenbrugge, policy expert/opinion maker Marc De Vos, and the alderman of Finance, Urban Planning, Heritage, and Administrative Simplification Christophe Peeters, each with a different viewpoint. A necessary conversation about the future of our wallets and our society.

    Lisbeth Imbo will guide the discussion. Brace yourself for a provocative confrontation!

     

     

     

    Past event
    Past event

Concert

Agenda

The building reopens, and that calls for a celebration!

 

Check our festival:

HOUSEWARMING

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