Registration costs €3,50, but you get that amount back in drink tokens. This talk will be held in English.

Since it became known that major festival investors also have interests in Israel and on the West Bank, many artists are faced with a difficult dilemma: can we even play there anymore? Protesting against the establishment is deeply ingrained in the DNA of musicians, but how freely can you oppose something when you depend on those money flows that you criticise?

During performances at Glastonbury and Paradiso, the duo Bob Vylan shouted “Death, death to the IDF” and “Free, free Palestine” – statements that cost them performances, bookings and their agent. Their story doesn’t stand alone: more and more artists are refusing festival deals or calling for boycotts due to ties with investment fund KKR.

In this conversation with Saddie Choua (visual artist and filmmaker), Willem Ardui (producer-singer), Tamer Nafar (rapper, actor, screenwriter, author and social activist) en Lieven De Cauter (philosopher, writer and activist) we explore the tension between artistic freedom, economic dependence and moral boundaries. Where is the line between engagement and survival? What does solidarity even still mean in an industry that is all about capital? Everything will be guided smoothly by moderator Jasper Van Loy (journalist De Morgen & Humo)!

FYI That evening, Palestinian rapper Tamer Nafar will be performing at our club, so catch him first in the talk and then vibe at his show.

Saddie Choua
Saddie Choua is a visual artist and filmmaker. She lives and works between Brussels, Ostend and Lychnaftia. She is a lecturer at RITCS Brussels and Sint Lucas Antwerp. She is part of the artist collective ROBIN. End of August 2025 Saddie interrupted her summer residency at Rhizome gallery in Kortrijk, organized by art center BE-PART to sail with the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza.

Willem Ardui 
Over the past few years, Willem Ardui has built a reputation as one of the most idiosyncratic voices in Flemish pop and hip hop. While he is known with blackwave. for his danceable grooves, his solo work deliberately seeks out silence, friction, and nuance.
Beyond the stage, he is actively involved with Antwerp for Palestine, and with blackwave. they also actively use their platform to shed light on the ongoing genocide. They have done so, among other things, by collaborating with Oxfam on a radio campaign and by using their stage at Pukkelpop to address the abuses committed by Israel.

Tamer Nafar  
Regarded as the godfather of Arabic hip-hop, Tamer Nafar is a rapper, actor, screenwriter, author and social activist.  As a Palestinian citizen of Israel, fluent in Arabic, Hebrew, and self-taught in English, Tamer has established himself as one of the most outspoken Palestinian voices in Israel, using his art and writing to communicate the realities faced by Palestinians in the region. 

Lieven De Cauter  
Lieven De Cauter is a Belgian philosopher, writer and activist. He published some 20 books. His books in English are: The Capsular Civilization. On the City in the Age of Fear (2004); Heterotopia and the City. Public Space in a Postcivil Society (2008), co-edited with Michiel Dehaene; Art and Activism in the Age of Globalization, co-edited with Karel Vanhaesebrouck and Ruben De Roo (2011); Entropic Empire. On the City of Man in the Age of Disaster (2012); The Dwarf in the Chess Machine. Benjamin’s Hidden Doctrine (2018); and Ending the Anthropocene. Essays on Activism in the Age of Collapse (2021). He has been teaching in several institutions, but mainly the Department of Architecture of KU Leuven and the art school RITCS. He is now retired and lives in Brussels.

Jasper Van Loy
Jasper Van Loy (born 1994) has worked for Knack, Knack Focus and Studio Brussel. Today, he writes about music for De Morgen and Humo and has his own Substack platform, The Notes in My Ears.