For the fourth year in a row you are welcome at Bijloke Wonderland, a Ghent summer culture festival from Thursday 17 August through Sunday 3 September at the bustling Bijlokesite. Expect stimulating concerts at sunrise, free summer bar concerts, theatre, dance, literature, art & guided tours for young and old. This unique programme is presented by organisations at home on the Bijlokesite: LOD muziektheater, Muziekcentrum De Bijloke, the STAM, laGeste, Ontroerend Goed and KASK & Conservatorium, in collaboration with VIERNULVIER. The full programme will be online and ticket sales start on Thursday 15 June at 10:00 on http://www.bijlokewonderland.be.
Muziekcentrum De Bijloke presents free summer bar concerts in the courtyard: jazz, classical, contemporary and family performances. On top of that, in the Concert Hall there will be a special new music concert for the 30th anniversary of SPECTRA and a jazz concert by the Vansina Orchestra feat. Magic Malik. More top names? I SOLISTI, BL!NDMAN, Jeroen Van Herzeele (Gratitude Trio), the acclaimed production 'Oerhert x Maris' by Astrid Haerens & Mariske Broeckmeyer and much more.
LOD muziektheater organises three unique sunrise concerts again, in collaboration with Jazzlab and SPECTRA. During Bijloke Wonderland, 'Josse Jnr.' will also premiere (LOD / Ahilan Ratnamohan, Josse De Pauw & Etuwe Bright Junior). And furthermore there are among others 'Umwelt' (LOD / Steve Salembier & Joachim Badenhorst), 'Figurine' (by soprano & theatre maker Lieselot De Wilde) and 'Halleluja' (by Fleur Khani, in co-production with VIERNULVIER).
Ontroerend Goed performs 'A Game of You' (2010), a one-on-one encounter in which five actors want to get under your skin. After hundreds of performances, remakes in Moscow and Vancouver, and tours from Avignon to Adelaide, Ontroerend Goed together with Conservatorium Antwerpen makes an update of this classic in the repertoire.
With the STAM (Ghent City Museum) you can explore the museum, on the Bijlokesite and this year you can even take a step further – or higher. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday there are guided tours 'De zusters van de Bijloke', 'Honger naar Gent' and 'De geheimen van de Bijlokesite'. And during the first and last weekend of the festival you can even book a combined visit for the very last time: the temporary STAMexpo 'SkYline' in combination with an exclusive visit to the belvedere of the Boekentoren.
laGeste brings 'promise me' twice on Sunday 3 September in a unique location. The choreography by Joke Laureyns & Kwint Manshoven with live music by Thomas Devos is performed especially for Bijloke Wonderland outdoors, in the Hortatuin of the Bijlokesite, instead of indoors in a hall. This gives the performance a new dimension.
KASK & Conservatorium presents graduation projects by master students in the open air. Between the rest of the programme, they provide a visual intermezzo of installations with quicksand, soundscapes and a flower kiosk filled with drawings.
VIERNULVIER is also a guest on the Bijlokesite as usual with 'Buitengelezen', full of tips for better summer books. Presenter Ruth Joos discusses this with Angelo Tijssens, Ibe Rossel and Melissa Giardina. 'Buitengelezen' is the summer variant of 'Uitgelezen', the book programme of VIERNULVIER and Behoud de Begeerte which starts a new chapter from January 2024.
BIJLOKE WONDERLAND
Culture festival by and on the Bijlokesite, presented by LOD muziektheater, Muziekcentrum De Bijloke, STAM, laGeste, Ontroerend Goed and KASK & Conservatorium In collaboration with VIERNULVIER
PROGRAMME & START TICKET SALES
Thursday 15 June at 10:00 on http://www.bijlokewonderland.be
PRACTICAL
From Thursday 17 August to Sunday 3 September 2023
Bijlokesite, Godshuizenlaan 2, 9000 Gent
photo: (c) Michiel Devijver