A Choir in the Exhibition Halls and Car Journeys with an Artist

From 11 November to 14 November, M Leuven and STUK organising the 15^th edition of Playground. The international live art festival offers an annual platform for artists who are not tied to one discipline but work at the interface between stage and visual arts. In 2020, the festival was cancelled due to the pandemic and this year this is amply compensated with performances and installations in M, STUK and in the city.

"Throughout the centuries, Leuven has always been a place for innovation and creativity. Playground lives up to that tradition by offering a sanctuary for experimentation to both national and international artists" says Denise Vandevoort, alderman for culture and chair of the board of M. 

Eva Wittocx, head of the contemporary art department at M and co-curator of Playground, agrees:  "Many artists today don't stick to one medium and they go looking for a live audience. They do not think in terms of genres or pigeonholes, but explore the borderland between the performing arts and the visual arts. For example, they create an installation that performers or visitors can activate, they bring a live performance in a museum room... Playground offers them the chance to do just that. Anthony van Gog shows a Belgian premiere in STUK. Heartscore is a musical and physical composition in which two performers bare their hearts.  Helen Anna Flanagan and Marijke De Roover are for the first time working together on both a film and performance for M."

The Performances

"STUK and M have carefully put together a programme with artists who all operate in the exciting field between disciplines, often at the interface between stage and visual arts. They all create new images that reflect on art and the world and include performances that bring objects and bodies together. These artists fit perfectly in the sanctuary for experimentation that Playground has been for the past 15 years," Steven Vandervelden, general and artistic director at STUK and co-curator of Playground, adds.

buren take a musical-style look at our views on leisure. Immersed in colour and atmosphere, they work with themes such as leisure, social class, economic growth, power relations and desire (STUK). Find out more.

Violaine Lochu wanders the halls of M with a choir in search of a genderless voice and body. The singers return to the point where boys and girls have the same vocal range (M). Find out more.

During The Great Depression, dance competitions were held in the US with cash prizes for dance couples who kept dancing until total exhaustion. The audience made bets on who would last the longest. Where did our love go? by Emilie Pitoiset is a choreography for two dance couples on the verge of collapse (STUK). Find out more.

Alice Van der Wielen-Honinckx focuses on de-stressing: on a slowly rotating platform, three performers investigate what can happen if you stop wanting to do so much. Like an oasis of calm, this work offers a moment of respite in our high-speed lives (M). Find out more.

Heartscore is a musical and physical composition in which two performers bare their hearts. Conducted by the rhythm of each other's heartbeat, their bodies become increasingly intertwined (STUK). Find out more.

Ethiopia premiered in Los Angeles in 1976. The performance consists of three parts and three décors full of musical and colourful objects, which enter into a dialogue with the text (STUK). Find out more.

During Helen Anna Flanagan’s and Marijke de Roover's performance, a group of six women explore feminism, trauma and collectivity, referencing popular culture with a non-linear musical narrative (M). Find out more.

Alexis Gautier invites you to jump into his car and experience Leuven's inner ring road like a film. The car acts as a camera, the route as a roll of film (M). Find out more.

On average, a museum visitor spends eleven seconds looking at a piece of art – including reading the sign. Charlotte Brouckaert playfully explores how we look at art (STUK). Find out more.

Nina Glockner seeks out the boundaries between art & consultancy. The central question is how you work together in a group, communicate and reach decisions. Organisations and companies can register their teams for free (STUK). Find out more.

Papadimouli's installations are inclusive meeting spaces in which she explores how people come together. She lets performers wear large textile works. How are they moving? As a group or as individuals (M)? Find out more.

Conversations in Vermont: Steve Paxton by Myriam Van Imschoot and Tom Engels offers a unique insight into the life and work of a key figure in the most important artistic movements of the 20th century (STUK). Find out more.

Forgetfulness is a graceless weapon is a selection of four video works in which artists reflect on communities in constant transition (M). Find out more.

Please note - for the Playground festival, M and STUK strictly follow the prescribed coronation measures. Some performances may be adapted according to the measures in force, so keep a close eye on the website. Wearing a face mask is mandatory anyway.