Antwerp Queer Arts Festival (AQAF) has released its 2023 programme and schedule. There are some three weeks of activities. 

AQAF runs more or less parallel with Antwerp Pride. Although both are intertwined, they are different festivals with different organisations and different people at the helm. 

Friday, 4 August

Opening Exhibition. 17:00. Extra City / Morpho, Provinciestraat 112. 

“We are back at Extra City & Morpho serving you a group exhibition featuring Alexandra Fraser, Sarjon Azouz, Marijn Kuijper and Nina Vandenbempt. Of course we will make the opening extra special with Sarjon joining us for a performance. Also performing is Krzysztof Leon Dziemaszkiewicz, a Berlin-based visual artist. You can also see him later that week as the protagonist of the documentary ‘LEON‘. 

Saturday, 5 August

Street Art Work. 13:00 – 17:00. Permeke, De Coninckplein.

“In collaboration with Queers on the Move, a Brussels-based collective, and city library Permeke, we will create a street art work. Saturday we get to know each other and lay out the first ideas for a collective work that will be created over the next two days. This activity is aimed primarily at queers with a migration background. We like you to register.”

Sunday, August 6

‘LEON’ – Belgian Premiere. 17:00. De Cinema, Maarschalk Gerardstraat 4. 7 euro general admission/ 5 euro reduction. Tickets. 

“We have a soft spot for those that dare to gloriously fail. So what better way to open our film program than with Leon, a 60-year-old performance artist, who seems to be understood only by his world famous boyfriend, the iconic fashion designer Thierry Mugler. Encouraged by Thierry, he decides to make his last big show to cure his middle-age crisis. It drives him to an emotional journey, the finale of which no one can predict. LEON is not only an intimate portrait of a troubled artist but also a film about passion and love. And above all, about accepting one’s failures and past life that you can no longer change. Belgian premiere.”

Queer Shorts. 20:15. De Cinema. 7 euro general admission/ 5 euro reduction. Tickets. 

“We curated a shorts film program with contributions by directors from Europe, Africa, Asia, North America and South America. From artistic experimental films to animation, classic drama or even comedy. Unconditional love is what director Dan Nieders connects to his film ‘Monochrome‘, where protagonist Juan is fantasizing about a love triangle. Or might it all be very real? Nadia Parfan‘s ‘It’s a date‘ portrays strength of mind and solidarity amidst the invasion of Ukraine. Emory Chao Johnson documents each step of transitioning and how one’s body is treated as a family matter in ‘To write from own memory‘.”

“Travel through the artificial landscapes that were created in ‘Colorless Spectrum‘ by Chu-Hsun Hsieh and find out how ‘Coming Out Autistic‘ works as a queer person, directed by Steven Fraser. Enjoy the weekend of five protagonists, their non-monogamous relationship and the encounter between different generations in the homage to lesbian cinema ‘A wild patience has taken me here’ by Érica Sarmet and meet a young woman discovering her sexual self-determination in Sandulela Asanda‘s coming-of-age film ‘Mirror Mirror‘.”

​Thursday, August 10: De Studio

Pay what you can: 10/14/18 euro. Tickets.

Queer Lab. “Five young aspiring artists were invited to exchange and experiment during ten days at De Studio. They will proudly present the outcome of that process! Anne, Mags, Becky, Milana and David are waiting for you.”

Helena Araújo and Karina Villafan: ‘My gentle squirt’. Helena Araújo and Karina Villafan bring my gentle wild squirts, between dance, theatre, poetry and performance, it dares to bring out the full potential of the feminine voice and its vulnerability, kink, power and sensitivity.

Llewellyn Mnguni. “With ‘Dark Matter’, dancer/choreographer Llewelyn Mnguni performs a work that is a love letter of the beauty, power and resilience of the black queer femme body.”

Parisa Madani. Parisa Madani are a women of trans* experiences from Germany and Iran. “They will perform a dream concert, connected to former experiments with immersive dream meditations. These collective sessions serve as spaces of worship, where rest is valued as a form of resisting white supremacy cultures that are so deeply rooted.”

Uranians is a queer radio show that focuses on queer music. “From electronica, pop, and hip-hop to punk and burgeoning niches. Music producer Kaat Schiltz and philosopher Maïté de Haan discuss queer themes, theory, and current affairs with a healthy dose of analysis, history, and a critical eye: it’s queer after all! They will team up with AQAF and do a live podcast, interviewing several participating artists!”

Friday, August 11: De Studio 

Pay what you can: 10/14/18 euro. Tickets. 

Queer Lab. 

​André Uerba and Short Hope. “Choreographer and performer André Uerba explores intimacy as a practice of being together, along with five performers and a musician, in his new work ‘Æffective Choreography‘.”

Madmoizel. “Classically trained, the artist from France draws upon many different influences: from neo-classical to electronic music. Her lyrical and syncopated voice transforms her performance into a cathedral techno and an electronic narrative, drawing the audience into the dancefloor.”

Saturday, 12 August

Send In The Clowns. 22:00. De Studio.

In May 1979 the left-wing activist group De Rooie Vlinder organized the first gay protest in Antwerp, where they demanded ‘a different beach’. Instead of asking for acceptance and integration of the LGBTQIA+ community into the existing heteronormative society, they didn’t want to settle anymore for this minority status. 

With the slogan ‘Faggots on the street’, they no longer just counted on solidarity from others, but first and foremost they found support in their chosen family. That’s why, for the next pride edition of Send In The Clowns, we’ve challenged a cast of SITC alumni to reach out to their co-stars to put on a show. Because a family that drags together, stays together.

“Do you think you got what it takes to take the stage as a drag performer? We would like to see it! Apply through the form on De Studio website and get your five minutes of fame in front of a cheering crowd on our Open Stage.”

If you buy a ticket for the show, you get free entrance to the party. There are also separate tickets for the party available.

Sunday, 18 August

Literary evening. 20:00 – 22:00. Permeke Library, De Coninckplein. Tickets. Pay what you can: 3/6/8 euro.

“In collaboration with Behoud de Begeerte, we invited some very interesting authors and spoken word artists for you. Nikki Dekker, Steff Geelen, Nouha Rannoun and Alara Adilow among others. Eloquent host for the evening is Anne-Laure Vandeputte.”

Sunday, 20 August

‘The Radical‘. Belgian premiere. 17:15. De Cinema. € 7/5. Tickets.

‘The Radical’ is an intimate portrait of the world’s first openly gay imam. Muhsin Hendricks was a fashion designer in South Africa, who struggled to reconcile his sexuality with his faith. He studied in Pakistan to become an imam, a religious leader, so that he could understand Islam more deeply.

After deciding that he had to be truthful to himself and the world, he came out in 1995, and established the radically-inclusive mosque in Cape Town that gave rise to the global queer Muslim network. Today, Hendricks leads a devoted group of LGBTQIA+ Muslims and allies, based in a working-class neighborhood of the city. He decides to take his work to where it is needed most: the East African communities living under anti-LGBTQIA+ laws.

The film provides first-person accounts of growing up queer in a society caught between the liberalism of the South African Constitution and the conservativeness of its cultures and history. In the wider African context, it chronicles individual journeys to acceptance amidst the struggle for LGBTQIA+ rights on the continent.

‘Labor‘. Belgian premiere. 20:15. De Cinema. € 7/5. Tickets.

“Hanna leaves her family and her girlfriend behind to go to San Francisco. She dreams of exploring her sexuality way beyond what is possible in her small Swedish hometown. At a party in San Francisco she gets to know two experienced sex workers: Chloe, a professional domina with dreams of a better life and Cyd, a playful and shameless escort, selling sex to gay men. Together with them Hanna embarks on a journey. For the first time in her life she starts to feel like she could belong somewhere. But staying in San Francisco is expensive. To be able to remain in the city Hannah wants to try sex work herself and starts working with Chloe. Chloe and Cyd are at a different part of their journey, wanting to create more stable lives for themselves in a city that is rapidly gentrifying. There are both ups and downs to sex work for all of them and while Hanna is beginning to live the life she’s been dreaming of, there is something looming at the horizon. Hanna’s new way of life doesn’t align with the values of her loved ones back in Sweden. But maybe her girlfriend will understand Hanna’s choices better after she comes to visit? And maybe if Hanna dares to be open to her parents they would actually become closer?”

Saturday, 26 August

Finissage party. 20:00. Extra City / Morpho. “Last calls! Nina Vandenbempt will join us with a performance. Then DJ and party baby!”

All information, links to tickets etc. at QueerArts.be. 

Antwerp Pride 2023 & Antwerp Queer Arts Festival 2023

• 2023 Antwerp Pride Parade route includes Kloosterstraat and a hello to czar Peter the Great.
• Antwerp Pride 2023 Festival at Cockerillkaai.
• ANTWERP PRIDE 9-13 AUGUST 2023 ‘BRAVEOLUTION’ | Make Antwerp a brave and safe.
• ANTWERP PRIDE 2023 | ‘Braveolution’ to Brave Space Antwerp.
• Antwerp Queer Arts Festival 2023 seeks contributors.
• ANTWERP PRIDE | Geert Van Praet succeeds retiring chairperson Bart Abeel.
• PHOTOS | Antwerp Pride 2023 from Wednesday 9 to Sunday 13 August.

Darklands 2023-2024

• ANTWERP | Darklands 2024 going into ‘The Void’ under new, stricter city rules.
• “Darklands: The Hotel was an idea of A-Stay”.
• DARKLANDS 2023 | Programme and schedule.
• DARKLANDS 2023 | A-Stay to become official Darklands: The Hotel.
• Darklands 2023 from Tuesday 7 to Tuesday 14 March in Antwerp.
• Darklands 2023 to and from Deep Space.

Queer Antwerp

• Antwerp Pride, Jeffrey’s, Marie Antoinette, Armand Everaert win 2023 Touristico Gaylive Awards.
• ANTWERP | LGBTQIA+ bookshop Kartonnen Dozen stops.
• Rainbow zebra crossings of Antwerp.
• Rainbow zebra crossing in Borgerhout.
• Rainbow zebra crossing in Berchem.
• City chronicle ‘De kleur van de stad maakt mijn ziel amoureus’ recounts Queer Antwerp history.
• ‘Masculinities: Liberation through Photography’ exhibition at FOMU, Antwerp’s photography museum.
• Antwerp’s LGBTQI+ bookshop Kartonnen Dozen wins Çavaria Media Award.
• PHOTOS | Rainbows lit Antwerp.
• Flemish LGBTQI+ press support rainbow community in Ukraine.
• ALLEMAAL ANTWERPENAAR | Antwerp launches campaign to motivate citizens to stand up against discrimination and intimidation.
• Borgerhout flies intersex inclusive Rainbow Progress Pride Flag for IDAHOT.