What's on: reggae festivals and surrealist art
Boundary-breaking festivals, musical bike tours and intimate performances tackling raw, traumatic events, it's all happening in Flanders this week
MA FESTIVAL
The concert series this year explores the connections between God, man and machine, with highlights including Bach on an electric cello via surround sound and Vox Luminis’s glorious rendering of Purcell’s King Arthur. But concerts and operas are only the beginning. The boundary-breaking festival includes the musical bike tour VéloBaroque, fringe concerts for young ensembles, an exhibition of historical instruments and the Musica Antiqua international competition. 2-11 August, across Bruges
BE-PART KORTRIJK
Part of the Be-Part collaboration between Kortrijk and Waregem, this duo exhibition in West Flanders juxtaposes works by the Kortrijk-born Tinus Vermeersch with works by the Mexican Santiago Borja. Many of Vermeersch’ surrealist works use traditional media like ceramic tiles that reveal his fascination with artisanship. It’s a love shared by Borja. The Be-Part Kortrijk show for instance includes a monumental Borja work covered by woven pieces of fabric that bring to mind traditional Mexican fabrics. The Be-Part collaboration continues in Waregem later this month with the opening of the ‘Sarah & Charles’ In The Hands Of Puppets’ exhibition. 28 July - 6 October, Korte Kapucijnenstraat (no street number) and Broelkaai 6, Kortrijk
ANNE MEETS JEFFREY
Head to the Theater Aan Zee festival for this live performance centred on the face-to-face encounter of the London-based performance artist Emma Berentsen (pictured left) with the man who raped her as a teen. Created together with Tiffany Murphy, this intimate performance explores the challenges associated with witnessing and remembering traumas. Anne Meets Jeffrey is a performance about fear of dying, losing dignity and reclaiming power by facing one’s biggest fear. In English. 2-4 and 6-9 August, cc DGP, Hendrik Serruyslaan 18a, Ostend
REGGAE GEEL
With Burna Boy, Rockers and Beenie Man, the 41st edition of this reggae festival in the Kempen managed to book some major headliners this year. There will be dozens of other acts of course, including Queen of Reggae Marcia Griffiths, Half Pint, Randy Valentine as well as local performers like the Soul Shakers and Roots Dynamite. This edition of the festival will also feature a special ‘Tallawah’ stage and bar where Jamaican beers will be on tap. 2-3 August, Geel
Photo by Luxxxer