UNI
To mark Antwerp Pride (August 5–9, 2026), held this year under the theme “Fearless,” Annie Gentils Gallery presents UNI, a group exhibition bringing together LGBTQIA+ artists and allies. The exhibition is curated by Annie Gentils Gallery and Tom Sanders.
Opening
Saturday, August 1, 3 p.m. Everyone is welcome! The exhibition runs through September 6 and is open Wednesday through Saturday, 2 p.m.–6 p.m.
Participating artists
Arocha/Schraenen, Kasper Bosmans, Jack Davey, Messrs. Delmotte, Marijke De Roover, Emeline Descreaux, Chris Gillis, Yann Freichels, Paul-Armand Gette, Hantrax Dolls Solutions, Sina Hensel, Philip Huyghe, Juliet Jespers, Clara Lissens, Rufus Michielsen, Ria Pacquée, Jonathan Paepens, Veronika Pot, Marc Rossignol, Lieven Segers & Johanna Trudzinski, Jesse Siegel, Luc Tuymans, Sietske Van Aerde, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Stef Van Looveren, Vanessa Van Obberghen, Tom Volkaert, Andrew Webb.
When?
Saturday, August 1, 2026, 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Where?
Annie Gentils Gallery, 40 Peter Benoitstraat, Antwerp 2018.
Workout like FLINTA*—work like Drag
A calisthenics park, but not as you know it. Workout like FLINTA* takes over public workout spaces, traditionally perceived as competitive and rather uninviting. Feminist Spaces Collective transforms these spaces into places of care, play, and radical visibility. For this special AQAF edition, drag artists lead the session: pull-ups meet lip-sync, push-ups meet performance, and the bars become a stage. This is exactly what we’re here for: queer bodies claiming space. Sport and art, discipline and absurdity, strength and softness. All of it at once, in the open air. No sports experience needed. Just the desire to move and play. Come in drag. Come as you are.
When?
Saturday, August 1, 2026, 3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Where?
Meeting point at M HKA
Leuvenstraat 32
2000 Antwerp
Antwerp Calisthenics Park – Nieuw Zuid (meeting point at M HKA)
CINEMA TICK TACK: For Your Own Good
CINEMA TICK TACK: *For Your Own Good* by Benjamin Francis (SR/NL, 1996)
CINEMA TICK TACK presents the Belgian premiere of *For Your Own Good*, a new video work created by Benjamin Francis (SR/NL, 1996). The two-week screening is part of the *Together* program, a joint initiative by Antwerp-based artists and art spaces in support of Pride 2026.
For Your Own Good was developed at On_Off_Space in Antwerp as part of the residency program at De Singel Arts Centre. For Your Own Good explores how ideas surrounding care and hygiene function as mechanisms of social control within capitalist systems. The work draws on the ideas of transformation proposed by the Russian philosopher George Gurdjieff and demonstrates how conformity and obedience are fostered under the guise of care. This results in a dark, absurd reflection on modern (corporate) life.
Projected from sunset to sunrise (CET) on TICK TACK’s street-facing facade and live-streamed on the website, *For Your Own Good* is the latest chapter in TICK TACK’s daily program of moving-image works in public spaces.
Alongside other artists and art venues such as AAIMACHINE, Annie Gentils Gallery, BURO_ASAP, C A S ST L, Club Zee, Keteleer Gallery, Kunsthal Extra City, M HKA, Pizza Gallery, Melis&Piron, and Studio Palermo, TICK TACK is supporting the Together program during Pride 2026.
Benjamin Francis - For Your Own Good
Screening and Live Stream
August 1–15, 2026
, daily from sunset to sunrise (CET)
When?
Saturday, August 1, 2026, 9:00 p.m. – Sunday, August 2, 2026, 12:00 a.m.
Where?
CINEMA TICK TACK
Mechelsesteenweg 247
2018 Antwerp
Freak Rituals
On a large pink carpet, surrounded by the audience on all sides: three queer companions inhabiting the shadows of longing, possession, and attachment trauma. *The Freak Rituals* weaves pop songs, live music, and spoken text into a performance that feels intimate, disorienting, and somehow deeply familiar.
When?
Sunday, August 2, 2026, 2:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Where?
Morpho, Provinciestraat 112, 2018 Antwerp
SweetMeat
An experimental film installation by Bart Hess, in which attraction and repulsion, macho behavior, and homoeroticism intersect. In a provocative choreography that plays with our perception of masculinity and sexuality, two opponents eat candies off each other’s bodies while a digital scoreboard tracks their progress. An intriguing installation that can really shake up emotions surrounding masculinity and sexuality.
When?
Tuesday, August 4, 2026, 10:00 a.m. – Sunday, August 9, 2026, 5:00 p.m.
Where?
3rd floor of MAS. This event is free.
An Evening with Leo Herrera
A digital lecture featuring Leo Herrera, who will participate live via video call and engage in a conversation with MAS curator Marion Wasserbauer, who will be seated in the audience alongside the public. Visitors will also have the opportunity to ask questions and join the conversation.
When?
Wednesday, August 5, 2026, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Where?
MAS, Hanzestedenplaats 1, 2000 Antwerp
Introductory Guided Tour: Queer Tour
The KMSKA is committed to contributing to a more inclusive society and being a safe space. During the queer tour, you’ll explore the museum’s collection alongside a guide—and through a queer lens. How do we view old art from a queer perspective? Which artists played with gender norms? Which paintings show us what was considered modest or immodest? How does the queer community reclaim certain representations from the past?
Let this tour inspire you to look at art from a different perspective and be completely yourself! Because why be normal when you can be fabulous?
Practical Information
Duration: 1.5 hours
Where: meeting point in the entrance hall, level +0
Capacity: limited to 18 participants per tour, so book quickly
Price: admission ticket + €10 for the guided tour
When?
Thursday, August 6, 2026, 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Where?
MAS, Hanzestedenplaats 1, 2000 Antwerp
Absence, Returned
C A S S T L presents *Absence, Returned*, a new exhibition by Antwerp-based artists Yves de Brabander and Cedric Jacquemyn, opening during Antwerp Pride.
Yves de Brabander and Cedric Jacquemyn have lived and worked side by side for many years. Their practices have evolved in close proximity, shaped by a shared focus on material, transformation, and the relationship between presence and disappearance.
"Absence, Returned" explores what remains after something has disappeared: a garment without a body, an image removed from its original context, a fragment that carries the presence of something incomplete. The exhibition traces these shifts between absence and presence, and the ways in which objects and images continue to change over time.
In *E/Motion of a Garment*, Jacquemyn views clothing as a form that outlives its wearer. Coats, jackets, canvas works, and textile constructions retain the suggestion of a body that has withdrawn, while continuing to respond to movement, gravity, and time.
De Brabander’s new installation, *Ancestral Inferno*, draws on inventories of looted and missing cultural heritage. Taking the form of a fictional lost altarpiece divided into fragments, the work explores how images are transformed through loss and displacement. The fragmented panels become the remains of a work of art that never existed, raising questions about how histories are constructed and passed down.
Together, the works reveal two different ways of addressing what is absent: through the body’s imprint on material, and through the survival of images beyond their original form.
"Absence, Returned" is part of TOGETHER, a citywide initiative supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, launched by Carla Arocha and developed in collaboration with Stéphane Schraenen, Vanessa Van Obberghen, Jesse Siegel, Tom Sanders, Philip Huyghe, Lieven Segers, Luc Tuymans, and Clara Lissens, through which a network of Antwerp art spaces come together in the context of Antwerp Pride.
C A S S T L is a nonprofit artist initiative founded and run by Carla Arocha, Stéphane Schraenen, and Luc Tuymans since 2017. Our goal is to offer an experience that is not limited by the traditional and practical constraints of an institution or commercial space. We organize project-based events, including exhibitions, performances, readings, screenings, and publications by local and international artists.
Where: C A S S T L, Braziliëstraat 27, 2000 Antwerp
When?
Thursday, August 6, 2026, 6:00 p.m. – Friday, September 11, 2026, 5:00 p.m.
Where?
C A S S T L, Braziliëstraat 27, 2000 Antwerp
BAM BAM SLAM
The recurring BAM BAM SLAM open mic night during Antwerp Pride, at Het Bos. Come share your words, your performance, or just your presence at this open mic night hosted by Happy Crappy Queers.
Thursday, August 6. Location: Het Bos, Antwerp. More info: happycrappyqueers.be and uitinvlaanderen.be.
When?
Thursday, August 6, 2026, starting at 8:00 p.m.
Where?
Het Bos, Ankerrui 5-7, 2000 Antwerp
Walk-in Tour | Queer Tour
KMSKA aims to be a safe space and work toward a more inclusive society. On this tour, you’ll explore the museum’s collection alongside a guide and a pair of pink glasses. How do we view old art from a queer perspective? Which artists played with gender norms? Which paintings show us what was considered modest or immoral? How does the queer community reclaim certain representations of the past?
On this tour, let yourself be inspired to look at art from a different perspective and just be yourself! After all, why be normal when you can be fabulous?
Practical Information
Duration: 1.5 hours
Where: meeting point in the central hall, Level 0
Places: limited to 18 participants per tour, so be sure to book early
Price: admission ticket + €10 for the guided tour
When?
Friday, August 7, 2026, 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Where?
MAS, Hanzestedenplaats 1, 2000 Antwerp
PRIDE - The Fuller Picture by Claire Lefèvre
"The Fuller Picture" is a performative lecture based on Claire Lefèvre’s latest stage work, “LOIE (is a fire that cannot be extinguished).” In this low-tech, high-drama version of the performance, Claire interweaves archival research with personal stories to draw attention to systematic erasures within the history of dance.
By examining her own embodied archive through the lens of her encounters with the lesbian choreographer Loïe Fuller over the years, she navigates a spectrum between infatuation and disillusionment. With care, critical insight, and skepticism, Claire interrogates her performative lineage and reveals the heteronormatively straightened and whitewashed legacy of modern dance.
With one anecdote after another, she lays bare layers of (her) choreographic history that have shaped the way she moves through the world and across a stage.
“The Fuller Picture” also resonates with the work of Rik Wouters and his muse, Nel Wouters. Just as Wouters captured Nel’s moving body in his dancing sculptures and drawings as a source of freedom, vitality, and modernity, Claire Lefèvre explores how bodies, movements, and the people who inspire them are made visible—or, rather, disappear from history. The dialogue between these artistic legacies invites us to re-examine who is remembered, who is depicted, and who helps shape the narratives of modern art and dance.
Practical Information
Where? 4th floor
When? August 7, 2026, at 3 p.m.
Admission? Free with a museum ticket; no reservation required.
Language? English
When?
Friday, August 7, 2026, 3:00 p.m. – Saturday, August 8, 2026, 12:00 a.m.
Where?
KMSKA, Leopold de Waelplaats 1, 2000 Antwerp
Jam Session: Wishing Well
The Wishing Well is an interactive sound installation that records voices, edits them in real time, and loops them into an evolving collective soundscape. On August 8, Sasa is opening it up to everyone. Come and contribute your voice. No experience needed. No performance required. Just show up and make sound together. The Wishing Well has been quietly archiving queer voices since its inception, viewing the voice as a place of embodied memory, carrying echoes of past queer lineages. When we come together through sound, something else becomes possible: a form of intimacy that doesn’t rely on physical touch, and yet is full of it. This open jam is an invitation to experience that for yourself. Sasa will be there to welcome you into the installation and guide you into the soundscape. The more voices, the richer it gets.
Where: M HKA, Leuvenstraat 32, 2000 Antwerp
When: August 8, 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
When?
Saturday, August 8, 2026, 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Where?
MuHKA, Leuvenstraat 32, 2000 Antwerp
Walk-in Tour | Queer Tour
KMSKA aims to be a safe space and work toward a more inclusive society. On this tour, you’ll explore the museum’s collection alongside a guide and a pair of pink glasses. How do we view old art from a queer perspective? Which artists played with gender norms? Which paintings show us what was considered modest or immoral? How does the queer community reclaim certain representations of the past?
On this tour, let yourself be inspired to look at art from a different perspective and just be yourself! After all, why be normal when you can be fabulous?
Practical Information
Duration: 1.5 hours
Where: meeting point in the central hall, Level 0
Places: limited to 18 participants per tour, so be sure to book early
Price: admission ticket + €10 for the guided tour
When?
Sunday, August 9, 2026, 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Where?
MAS, Hanzestedenplaats 1, 2000 Antwerp
Non-Binary Electronic
Workshop: Non-binary Electronics is a collaborative, playful, and hands-on learning experience where we’ll collectively explore the creative possibilities of electronics by experimenting, making mistakes, sharing, playing, and challenging hegemonic notions of technology and gender. We’re going to build a small synthesizer and create electronic oddities using some of the main CMOS 40XX integrated circuits. During the workshop, we’ll learn about basic electronic components, how to read circuit schematics, and how to use a breadboard to build our own handmade synths. The goal of the workshop is to embrace a more inclusive approach to electronics, to “queer” technology, to make noise, and to short-circuit binary systems. No prior knowledge is required—just come and have fun!!
Where: Morpho, Provinciestraat 112, 2018 Antwerp
When: August 9, 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
When?
Sunday, August 9, 2026, 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Where?
Morpho, Provinciestraat 112, 2018 Antwerp
slower, softer, closer
"Slower, Softer, Closer" transforms the exhibition space into a soft, intimate counter-space within Antwerp Pride. For one day, BURO_ASAP becomes a haven of rest, dedicated to tenderness, vulnerability, and queer kinship. Queerness as radical slowness, as radical softness.
Join us on Sunday, August 9, for a day centered on small moments and quiet encounters. There will be a reading area, a place to sit, space to linger, and room to just be. This is a gentle form of pride—quiet and romantic. The space becomes a place to connect, offering a respite from the fast pace of daily life.
We are pleased to present artists whose work explores the intimacy of queerness, inviting the audience to experience moments of shared vulnerability and care through performance.
About TOGETHER
"slower softer closer" is part of TOGETHER, a citywide initiative supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, launched by Carla Arocha and developed in collaboration with Stéphane Schraenen, Vanessa Van Obberghen, Jesse Siegel, Tom Sanders, Philip Huyghe, Lieven Segers, Luc Tuymans, and Clara Lissens, through which a network of Antwerp art spaces come together in the context of Antwerp Pride.
Participating galleries and art spaces:
AAIMACHINE · Annie Gentils Gallery · BURO_ASAP · C A S S T L · Kunsthal Extra City · Pizza Gallery · Melis & Piron · Studio Palermo · TICK TACK
Poster design by Ilva Ieva, artwork by Günther De Beuckelaer.
When
Sunday, August 9, 2026, 4:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Where
BURO_ASAP, Eikelstraat 9, 2600 Antwerp