Twenty years of the Playground Live Arts Festival
Performances and installations at M and STUK from 19 November to 22 November 2026
Curators:Eva Wittocx (M Leuven) and Steven Vandervelden (STUK)
Thursday 19 November marks the start of the 20th edition of Playground. This international festival pushes the boundaries of performance and installation art.
A haven for experimentation and always full of surprises
For the twentieth time, Playground presents artists working at the intersection of the performing and visual arts, who do not limit themselves to a single discipline. The programme is a vibrant mix of performance, installation, film, role-play, guided tours and choreography. Playground remains a haven for experimentation: artists explore new forms and create works that reflect on art and society. Often featuring new premieres (Belgian or otherwise), it is always full of surprises.
Twenty years of Playground: an introduction by the curators
Back in 2007, we wrote: “Today, more and more artists are exploring the boundaries between disciplines. The result is not always a familiar format such as the theatrical black box or the white cube exhibition, but can also take the form of entirely new ways of presenting and experiencing art. Playground focuses specifically on the space where visual and performing arts meet. This new international live art festival brings together performances, installations and actions that, through their object-like qualities, their relationship with the audience, or their radically different formats, depart from established ways of presenting art.”
Today, AI says:“Performance art is an interdisciplinary art form in which the artist’s live actions constitute the artwork itself. It takes place at a specific moment and is temporary by nature. Sometimes improvised, sometimes carefully prepared, it differs from traditional theatre.”
Both are (still) equally true. We look forward to the next 20 years.
A few names in the spotlight
Nick Steur – ‘Care to Carry’
Workshop, walkshop & talkshop | 4 hours
A mindful silent walk through the city with a stone.
Workshop. Care to Carry is a four-hour experience that begins with a physical workshop. You’ll learn how to carry a stone on your head and discover how the group has to ‘carry’ one another by following and leading at the same time. Walkshop. You walk and are invited to find a sense of calm amid the hustle and bustle of the city through the act of carrying the stone. The city’s lights and sounds become a cinematic experience. As a close-knit collective, steady and in balance, we move through the urban landscape. Talkshop. After the walk, there’s time to share your experience.
Please note: on festival days, you may encounter Care to Carry between 16:00 and 17:00 at STUK, M and in the surrounding streets.
Thu 19 Nov to Sun 22 Nov – 2.00 pm–6.00 pm
STUK, M & Leuven
min. 6 – max. 15 people, 16+
Language: English
€10
Hedwig Houben – ‘The Untamable Hand’
Lecture performance, installation | Belgian premiere – 20’
How do you hold an untamable hand in yours?
.jpeg "Hedwig Houben, ‘The Untamable Hand’, 2025 © Hedwig Houben")
This performance draws on a personal experience in which the artist’s hand suddenly started to tremble uncontrollably. Hedwig Houben weaves together experiences from her own reality with diverse situations and general concepts. With The Untamable Hand, she offers a reflection on the connection between intentions and execution, social expectations and resistance. At the same time, she reflects on the embodiment of productivity and vulnerability. Playground presents both the sculptural installation and live presentations by the artist.
lecture performance
- Thu 19 Nov — 18:30
- Fri 20 Nov — 12:00 & 16:00
- Sat 21 Nov — 12:00 & 14:00
installation
- Thu 19 Nov — 18:00–22:00
- Fri 20 Nov — 11.00–18.00
- Sat 21 Nov — 11.00–18.00
- Sun 22 Nov — 11.00–18.00
M Leuven
Language: English
Ticket M
Diane Mahín – ‘GASP’
Performance | Premiere – 55 mins
A breathtaking performance about powerlessness in a society in collapse.
%20Peteris%20Viksna.jpg "Diane Mahín, 'GASP' © Peteris Viksna")
GASP starts from the simplest premise: inhalation. Five figures take a breath in order to speak. Normally, an exhalation follows: a word, a sentence, a scream, an action. In GASP, the exhalation that should follow does not come out. Breath remains suspended and swallows unfinished impulses. Sharp air fills their lungs as they choke on a burning question. Hands tense up, eyes glaze over, saliva runs from wide-open mouths. While failing to speak in a collapsing society, the five figures keep searching relentlessly for movement within the dark, suffocating muck we inhabit.
Fri 20 Nov & Sat 21 Nov — 21:00
STUK Labozaal
without words
€16 / 11 / 8
Ula Sickle – ‘Clay Bodies' (Study)
Installation & performance | Preview – 20 mins
The musical power and history of ceramics.
Ula Sickle’s work allows individual actions or contributions from diverse voices to develop into a collective force or a broader gesture. In ‘Clay Bodies (Study)’, she uses ceramics to create movement, sound and music. Stroking, striking, carrying and breaking, gestures that induce a vibration play with the viewer’s attention span. The work draws on diverse sources, from ancient sculpture to contemporary pop culture, and brings the ancient and present-day worlds into collision.
performance
- Thu 19 Nov — 8.30 pm
- Fri 20 Nov — 12.30, 14.30 & 17.30
- Sat 21 Nov — 12.30, 14.30 & 17.30
installation
- Sun 22 Nov — 11.00–18.00
M Leuven
Language: English
Ticket M
Ferre Marnef – ‘Aggressively Modern Times’
Performance | 75 mins
Chaplin’s 'Modern Times' in the arts sector.
%20Lieselotte%20De%20Keyzer.jpeg "Ferre Marnef, 'Aggressively Modern Times' © Lieselotte De Keyzer")
What if Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times were made today? Not in a factory, but in the arts sector. The artists explore what work means within today’s flexible freelance labour model. The performance blows apart the glossy façades of the entrepreneurs of the self.
''Aggressively Modern Times brings sound and image together. It is both a concert and a theatre performance, while secretly wanting to be neither. The result: a visual and sonic collage as a soft-punk act.
Sat 21 Nov — 7.30 pm
STUK Soetezaal
language: English
€16 / 11 / 8
Nefeli Papadimouli – ‘Always more than one’
Performance | Premiere – continuous
Two works from Papadimouli’s solo exhibition ‘ANAMESA’ will be actualised during Playground.
Nefeli Papadimouli’s modular installations and portable sculptures create spaces for collective movement and interaction. In her practice, she explores how distance, proximity and movement form essential elements within processes of coexistence, social conflict, negotiation and balance. With 'Always more than one', Papadimouli considers the body as a fluid field of relations, constantly emerging through its interactions with the surrounding world rather than as a fixed and isolated unit. Drawing from Erin Manning’s philosophy, the work explores the dissolution of the individual body into a collective, relational existence.
During the actualisation of the work, performers engage with natural cycles, allowing matter, movement and the environment to continuously reshape the body. The boundaries between the individual and its surroundings become permeable, addressing interdependence as a condition of corporeal existence.
continuous performance
- Thu 19 Nov — 19:00–21:00
- Fri 20 Nov — 13:00–15:00 & 16:00–18:00
- Sat 21 Nov — 13:00–15:00 & 16:00–18:00
- Sun 22 Nov — 13:00–15:00 & 16:00–18:00
M Leuven
without words
Ticket M
The solo exhibition ‘Nefeli Papadimouli. ANAMESA’ is on display at M until 9 May 2027.
Kexin Hao – ‘Revolution is a Dinner Party’
Performance / puppet show | Belgian premiere – 25 mins
A highly visual performance incorporating elements of cabaret and puppetry, exploring the intertwined relationship between humans and vermin.
This puppet performance uses a quote from Mao Zedong - 'Revolution is not a dinner party' - as a starting point to reflect on food, vermin and intimacy. It focuses on how humans and vermin are intertwined, and how to deal with waste, violence, class conflict and attempts at extermination. In this highly visual performance, Hao combines elements of cabaret, puppetry, stand-up and political theatre. She invites a rat, a sparrow and a silverfish, all of whom inhabit a single body, to join her at the table, where the revolution can begin.
- Thu 19 Nov — 18:00
- Fri 20 Nov — 11.30 & 17.00
- Sat 21 Nov — 11.30 & 17.00
- Sun 22 Nov — 1.00 pm & 2.30 pm
M Leuven (lobby)
Language: English
Ticket M
And also...
Pzazz – Performance Criticism Workshop
Workshop with Pieter T’Jonck and Zhana Ivanova
.jpg "Pzazz Workshop © ‘Scenography Exercises’, Playground 2023 © Robin Zenner")
The review website Pzazz and Playground are once again joining forces for a workshop performance review. It’s a unique opportunity to experience Playground from the front row and exchange ideas with artists and fellow reviewers. We believe that talking and writing about art can deepen the experience. That’s why the people of Pzazz are sharing their expertise with anyone interested in getting hands-on experience and finding out whether reviewing performance is for them. The workshop is led by Pieter T’Jonck and Zhana Ivanova.
Language: English and Dutch
More information & registration via Pzazz.
Dialogues
public discussion| 90’ at M Forum
Three artists engage in dialogue with three curators/programmers
Playground focuses on the experimental practices of artists who combine images, installations or sculptures with live moments. The festival brings together artists and programmers/curators, facilitating new creations and collaborations.
This year marks the twentieth edition. To highlight the unique character of Playground, we are organising three discussions on Friday afternoon, each featuring a dialogue between an artist and a programmer/curator. Both have attended Playground several times and have also collaborated in other contexts.
They will reflect on the challenges and opportunities that characterise the specific live practice in which they work, the role that festivals such as Playground can play in the development of an artist’s practice, and the value of the networks that emerge from this.
- Artist Hedwig Houben presented the lecture-performance ‘The Hand, the Eye and It’ at Playground in STUK in 2022. This work is part of the collection of the Flemish Community at M Leuven. For this edition, Houben presents a new installation and performance, developed and previously shown by Bétonsalon, centre d’art et de recherche in Paris. Houben will be in conversation with the director of Bétonsalon, Émilie Renard.
- Evelien Cammaert is performing at Playground for the third time. This year, she presents her new creation ‘Trees and Memories’, which centres on extensive interaction with visitors. Mesut Arslan mentored her during the creative process and is also a programmer for a variety of festivals and programmes focusing on experimental and live art practices.
- In 2021, artist Nefeli Papadimouli featured in the Playground programme with her work ‘Skinscapes’. She now presents her first solo exhibition in Belgium at M. During Playground, two works from the exhibition will be activated. Papadimouli will be in conversation with Keren Detton, director of FRAC Grand Large in Dunkirk, who has been supporting her practice for several years and has acquired works by her for the collection.
Fri 20 Nov
- 14:00 – 14:20: Dialogue: Hedwig Houben – Émilie Renard
- 14:30 – 15:50: Dialogue: Evelien Cammaert – Mesut Arslan
- 3.00 pm – 3.20 pm: Dialogue: Nefeli Papadimouli – Keren Detton
M Forum
Language: English
Ticket M
Visual material
Practical information
- Playground runs from Thursday 19 November to Sunday 22 November at M Leuven and STUK.
- View the full programme at playgroundfestival.be.
- Everyone is welcome to the opening night at M at 6.00 pm, with drinks and the first series of performances. At 9.30 pm, we’ll head to STUK for the performance ‘Lament’ by Tilhenn Klapper, followed by the Playground opening reception in the STUKcafé.
- Tickets: a ticket from M (€16) grants you access to all performances and installations (and the exhibitions) on that day. At STUK, you book and pay per performance: ticket@stuk.be.
Press contact
Nica Broucke
Ellen Verhelle
