Cultural Compass: Love and loss, open-air sculpture gallery and outdoor music

21/06/2026

Every Sunday, Belga English picks its favourite events from the cultural agenda. This week: an exploration of love and loss through dance, dialogue between nature and art and live music in some of the Scheldt Valley's most beautiful locations.

Love & Loss, until 28 June, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Antwerp

Love and loss have inspired some of the greatest works in dance, and Opera Ballet Vlaanderen brings them together in a powerful evening that explores both themes through movement. Love & Loss is a triple bill that unites three choreographic voices, each reflecting on transience, memory and the resilience of the human spirit.

The programme opens with a work by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, set to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Second Cello Suite. Created from the performance Mitten wir im Leben sind, it places dancer and cellist in direct dialogue, revealing the emotional architecture hidden within Bach’s music. The work gains added poignancy from the knowledge that Bach composed the cello suites during a period marked by personal loss.

Next comes Quintett, one of the most celebrated creations by William Forsythe. This lyrical and deeply moving piece was conceived as a final love letter to the choreographer’s terminally ill wife and is widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of contemporary dance.

The evening concludes with Only Light Years Away, a new creation by Canadian choreographic duo David Raymond and Tiffany Tregarthen. Exploring the limits of the body and the inevitability of change, the work ultimately celebrates endurance, connection and hope.

Ooidonk Art Festival, until 30 August, Ooidonk

Set in the idyllic grounds of the 17th-century Goed te Réables estate near Ooidonk Castle, the Ooidonk Art Festival transforms one of the Leie region’s most picturesque landscapes into an open-air gallery where contemporary art and nature meet. This year’s edition brings together around 150 works by more than 30 Belgian and international artists, inviting visitors to explore art through meadows, gardens and historic surroundings.

Rather than confining art to white-walled galleries, the festival allows monumental sculptures and installations to emerge directly from the landscape. Among the highlights are Koen Vanmechelen’s monumental marble egg, Johan Creten’s enigmatic sculptural figures and Philippe Perrin’s oversized knife cutting dramatically through the scenery.

The 2026 edition places a particular emphasis on the relationship between art and nature, with many works responding directly to the surrounding environment. Expanded walking routes lead visitors beyond the estate itself and into the neighbouring fields, creating a journey of discovery where every turn reveals a new encounter.

STROOM, until 28 June, Scheldt Valley

More than a music festival, STROOM is an invitation to experience the Scheldt Valley through sound, landscape and imagination. Set against the backdrop of the National Park Scheldt Valley, the festival brings together classical music, contemporary creation, literature and visual art in some of the region’s most remarkable natural and heritage sites.

The programme ranges from intimate riverside concerts and immersive artistic rituals to large-scale musical productions. Among the highlights is Uw vlees en bloed, a new work by celebrated Belgian pianist and composer Jef Neve, created with writer Jeroen Olyslaegers and presented as a contemporary, deeply human Passion. Elsewhere, Belgian duo schntzl transforms the river itself into a stage, performing their hypnotic blend of electronics, improvisation and jazz from a raft floating on the water.

Nature remains at the heart of the festival. The multidisciplinary project onderSTROOM combines art, reflection and ecology, encouraging visitors to see the Scheldt not as an industrial waterway but as a living landscape.

Ongoing events

Antwerp
Plantin’s Plants until 2 August
Mashid Mohadjerin: Drifting Belgians until 30 August
Antony Gormley: Geestgrond until 20 September
Treasures of Tutankhamun until 31 August
Martial Arts until 29 November
The Antwerp Six until 17 January

Bruges
The Whispering Walls Rêve
Brussels
ROTONDE
Becoming Ancestors until 28 June
Leon Spilliaert: Through Half-Open Doors until 14 August
Collection Meets Spanish Artists until 16 August

Genk
Stockmanszwart

Ghent
Chambres d’Amis until 10 January

Hasselt
Before Our Eyes until 23 August
Ludo Thys until 27 September

Jabbeke
Constant Permeke: The English Years (1914-1919) until 15 November

Kortrijk
Abby & Friends until 13 September

Leuven
Valérie Mannaerts: Antennae until 30 August