Every Sunday, Belga English picks its favourite events from the cultural agenda. This week: the Lunalia Festival returns with a staggering international lineup of musicians, a Palestinian-Danish artist explores the trauma of her homeland and Leuven erupts with sound performances around the city.
Inspired by the words of gardener-philosopher Karl Foerster: "Those who want to make dreams come true must be particularly awake and dream more deeply than others", the Lunalia Festival dives into deep dreaming this year. Expect special projects like Nenia, Eternity in an Hour and Les amours de madame Tchabaï, alongside music by Schubert, Vivaldi and Le Camus, who bring the many facets of night and dreams to life.
© ZEFIRO TORNA
The exceptional international lineup spans two weeks. A standout is Franz Schubert’s Winterreise, one of the most iconic song cycles ever composed. Fittingly, tenor Ian Bostridge, who wrote a whole book about his obsession with the piece, will perform it with the lush accompaniment of Bryggen Bruges Strings.
Lunalia also delves into the rich tradition of the English broken consort, a popular form of chamber music from the 1600s. Flemish ensemble Zefiro Torna will perform new consort music based on melodies by Jowan Merckx, arranged by Martin Valcke and Marnix De Cat. Enigmatic works like ’t Wolfsuur, Time Crawls, and Le Lac profond will pair with lively bourrées and jigs.
This is the first Belgian solo exhibition by internationally acclaimed Palestinian-Danish artist Larissa Sansour. Drawing on themes like the suffering of the Palestinian people and the threat of natural disasters, Sansour explores mourning, memory and intergenerational trauma through speculative narratives and science fiction.
In this exhibition that explores the history of her homeland, Sansour blends past, present and imagined futures through various mediums ranging from sculpture to opera.
Palestinian soprano Nour Darwish will perform live in the church of Kunsthal Extra City on 20 June, singing the aria from As If No Misfortune Had Occurred in the Night, the centrepiece of Sansour’s exhibition. This powerful opera film, presented in Arabic with English and Dutch surtitles, weaves together Western classical and Palestinian folk music in an immersive three-channel video installation. Darwish’s live performance promises a haunting experience, making the collective memory of Palestine both tangible and audible.
Hear Here invites visitors to discover Leuven through their ears as they wander through historic university buildings, medieval gates, abandoned schools and baroque chapels, where sound and silence come alive. Fifteen sound installations, from pioneering works to brand-new pieces by Belgian artists, enter into dialogue with the architecture and acoustics of each space.
BROM © MARISKA DE GROOT
Created for KU Leuven’s 600th anniversary, this special edition of Hear Here is free and open to all ages. Highlights include Edwin van der Heide’s Pneumatic Sound Field, a dynamic canopy of 42 air valves releasing bursts of compressed air overhead. Sharp hisses and rhythmic pulses create a swirling spatial soundscape that dances overhead, blurring the lines between noise and music.
Artist Mariska de Groot draws inspiration from a vintage humming top, transforming it into a hypnotic sound installation. Her motorised wooden sculptures hide their inner workings, but release warm, harmonium-like tones that pulse, overlap and vibrate through the space, wrapping listeners in a mesmerising acoustic bath.
While digging through the Ypres City Archives, Antwerp photographer Siska Vandecasteele found an unexpected treasure: a hundred-year-old photo collection by her great-grandfather, Hector Dehaeck. In between the fragile glass plates, she reconnected not just with family history, but with her own love of photography. She kept coming back to one question: How do you capture someone who doesn’t want to be seen?
Her exhibition is a conversation across generations. It is about living in a world obsessed with images, and the quiet beauty of slowing down to really look at light, time, stillness and the courage it takes to keep searching for one’s own path.
This visual journey is spread across four locations: the Ypres Museum, CC Het Perron, the Ypres City Archives and the Bakery Museum in Veurne, all linked by an audio piece called Songs for Hector.
(MOH)
#FlandersNewsService | Mariska De Groot — BROM © PHOTO MARK ARENDS
Ongoing events
Antwerp
Hans Op De Beeck: Nocturnal Journey, KMSKA
COMPASSION, MAS
Family Happiness, Red Star Line
Panamarenko: Infinite Imagination, KMKSA
Exhibitions at FOMU
Fashion and Interiors: A Gendered Affair, MoMu
Brussels
Berlinde De Bruyckere: Khorós, Bozar
When We See Us, Bozar
Steve McCurry: Icons
Skateboard: A Design Story
Ghent
Jules De Bruyckner, MSK
Michiel Hendryckx: Beauty as Resistance
Art Against Violence
Leuven
Grace Schwindt: A History of Touch, Museum M
Sigefride Bruna Hautman, Museum M
Ostend
Testerep, Venetian Galleries
Kortrijk
F**klore. Reinventing Tradition, Abby
Hasselt
Modelling Life, Z33
Rococo Reboot!
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