‘Freiraum Festival’

During the Freiraum Festival you would have the opportunity to travel from location to location in Brussels - and in many other cities - in search of what freedom in Europe means during this corona crisis. The stricter measures recently been taken no longer allow this festival to take place physically, but once again underline the importance of this event. That is why Freiraum Festival will now be exclusively happening online. You can follow the online summit on the festival's website from 30.10 to 1.11, registration is not required.

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“What is the state of freedom today in (post-)corona Europe?” The Freiraum Festival will attempt to answer this key question through a series of online and live events. Organised by the Goethe-Institut from 30 October to 1 November as part of Germany’s Presidency of the EU Council, the event brings together partners in culture and the arts, the research community and civil society from 42 European cities.
In Brussels, Paul Dujardin, the Director of BOZAR, and Elke Kaschl Mohni, Director of the Goethe-Institut Brüssel will open the festival with a full programme at BOZAR, on 30 October. The floor will then be given to the Belgian philosopher Philippe Van Parijs, whose presentation is entitled “Real freedom for all in the corona era”.
One of the day’s highlights will be the presentation of the “Freiraum Manifesto”. Drafted by all the project’s European partners, it will be read by slam poet Samira Saleh before it is handed over to European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel.
Visitors will also be able to follow the live streaming of a round-table of several international experts who will discuss how to change our ways of life after lockdown. Participants will include Eva Illouz, Professor of Sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris; Ivan Krastev, President of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia and Permanent Fellow of the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna; and Johannes Ebert, Secretary General of the Goethe-Institut.
The following day, the festival will be hosted by Beursschouwburg. Click here for the full Belgian programme of the festival.