Afrovibes Festival / XL

From 6 to 8 October, the 20th edition of the Afrovibes Festival will be held in Maaspodium with performances from Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ivory Coast and Senegal/The Netherlands. They are makers and artists who, from an African perspective, give artistic shape to current questions and themes that also live in our lives and who have an idiosyncratic vision on this. 2023 is marked in the Netherlands as a commemorative year for the end of slavery by the Netherlands. The festival uses this as the core of the theme Liquid Traces | Liquid Traces with the oceans as protagonists. Stories about the history of colonization and migration often highlight the materiality of a country over the centuries.

Theme of Afrovibes in 2023 – Liquid Traces | Liquid Traces
Afrovibes Festival 2023 will connect both the past and the future. The violent past has left its mark deep in what happened on the oceans, but the ocean is also like mercury. It changes and transforms.The festival theme Liquid Traces also shows the carvings of unexpected alliances in a post-colonial world that are fertile and valuable. Characteristically, water also appears in many healing rituals, ceremonies and practices in many African cultures.

This year's programming includes work by artists that (in)directly connects to the Liquid Traces theme. The program will be supplemented with a context program consisting of panel discussions, artist talks, music and spoken word performances by young talents and workshops/masterclasses by African artists. In this range of interactions, myths and stereotypes about Africa are deconstructed, while excellent art is experienced.

A ticket gives you access to both performances and the peripheral programming per day. Food is available on all days of the Afrovibes festival and there is an artistic talk after the performance. The evenings end with music and a DJ.

All performances are in-depth programs for the public with introductions and discussions. Under the supervision of a moderator, makers discuss the story behind the performance and the context.