ANTWERP PRIDE 2025

The 18th edition (since 2008) of Antwerp Pride takes place from Wednesday 6 to Sunday 10 August 2025 in Antwerp. This year’s theme is “Do not just march! Listen. Understand. Commit”. Prides are a mix of celebration – parties – and activism and advocacy. For the 2025 edition, the organising committee focuses on belonging. Belonging to the society at large – the ‘outside world’ – but also belonging within the rainbow realm.

From 6 to 10 August 2025, the Museum aan de Stroom (MAS) in Antwerp will once again host MAS Darling, a multi-day festival dedicated to showcasing and celebrating the strength, resilience, and diversity of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Now in its third edition, MAS Darling offers an inclusive and thoughtful programme filled with talks, workshops, performances, and films, reflecting a broad spectrum of queer experiences.

One of the central features of the festival is Nonbinary, an immersive audiovisual exhibition running throughout the five days. This interactive presentation explores gender as a fluid spectrum, intricately connected to culture and history.

Drawing on global research, personal interviews, and engaging visual maps, the exhibition reveals the often-unseen realities of non-binary individuals and invites visitors to reimagine the possibilities of gender identity.

Save queer lives

Another ongoing installation, ‘Compassion Can Save Queer Lives‘, brings colour and dialogue to the museum’s walls. Artist Alex Ottenwaelter from Berlin creates a lively mural that expresses queer joy, strength, and solidarity.

Designed to evolve through participation, the mural serves as a space for collective creation and reflection, with workshops encouraging connection and visibility in the public sphere.

An exquisite corpse

The festival’s opening evening on Wednesday 6 August includes ‘Our Exquisite Corpse‘, a participatory artwork that responds to the often painfully long waiting times for transgender healthcare in Belgium and the Netherlands.

This collective quilt project transforms time into textile, as each participant contributes a few minutes, representing a shared total of 1,314,900 minutes of waiting. Visitors are invited to contribute their time and solidarity by adding to the ever-growing artwork.

Sing a song

Later that evening, the Antwerp Queer Choir will offer an open rehearsal of ‘queerPassion‘, their upcoming production at the Antwerp Opera. The rehearsal will be followed by a panel discussion with Isaak Duerinck, Anthony Bastos, and Michael Hell, exploring the place of queerness in classical music and how it intersects with performance and identity.

Who cares?

On Thursday 7 August, ‘Who Cares‘, a performance by Bert Roman, addresses the systemic issues facing queer people in accessing healthcare.

Drawing on his own experiences as a queer nurse in the United Kingdom, Roman offers a condensed version of his powerful performance, examining the emotional labour and institutional barriers within healthcare systems.

Later that day, MAS curator Marion Wasserbauer will lead a panel discussion on Queer Care, joined by artists The Pink Cube and Bert Roman. The conversation will focus on the lived experience of waiting and the emotional toll it takes on trans individuals in need of urgent care.

Pussy

Friday’s programme includes Interview with ‘A Notorious Wild Cat’, a video installation and performance that delves into the experience of inhabiting a shifting body—part human, part lynx.

The work explores themes of transformation, shame, pride, and the liminal space between them.

That evening, MAS curator Selm Merel Wenselaers will moderate ‘Breaking the Binary‘, a conversation with artists masharu and Tristan Elísabet Birta. Together they will discuss how gender equality can extend beyond surface-level conversations and encompass broader societal, cultural, and personal dimensions.

Female boyfriends

The festival concludes on Saturday night with Female Boyfriends & Not Your Techno, a queer club night welcoming FLINTA individuals (female, lesbian, intersex, non-binary, trans, and agender people) and their friends.

This post-pride party promises a celebratory and inclusive atmosphere to close the week in style.

MAS Darling is organised in collaboration with the Antwerp Queer Arts Festival (AQAF), a partnership that reinforces the festival’s artistic quality and community engagement.

As Antwerp prepares for Pride, MAS Darling once again positions itself as a vital space for queer expression, reflection, and visibility.

Trip By Trip

ANTWERP PRIDE 2025 | MAS Darling 2025, a celebration of queer strength and creativity at the MAS

Save queer lives

An exquisite corpse

Sing a song

Who cares?

Pussy

Female boyfriends

Antwerp Queer Arts Festival 2025

Darklands 2025-2026

The latest on LGBTQIA+ events such as prides in Belgium

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Save queer lives

An exquisite corpse

Sing a song

Who cares?

Pussy

Female boyfriends