Forum on European Culture: Art Against the Tyrants
Five days, 30+ programs, 40+ international artists, writers & thinkers, art installations, film screenings, talks and more
June 25 – 29
Who’s afraid of art? Now that tyrants are on the roll and more and more people in the West seem to be falling for the autocratic alternative, De Balie brings together over 40 international artists, writers, and thinkers. During Forum on European Culture, we celebrate the subversive power of art and literature.
It is no coincidence that – alongside opposition leaders and journalists – artists are among the first to be arrested when a society turns autocratic. The very existence of an autonomous realm of thought is, in itself, a threat to the tyrant.
So, we aim to create just that: a free realm of ideas and experimentation. With international guests like Anne Applebaum, Nino Haratischwili, Andrey Kurkov, Georgi Gospodinov, Mounira al Solh and Ece Temelkuran, among many others, we oppose the rise of authoritarianism and build coalitions for a free, pluralistic, and democratic world.
The strongest weapon of the tyrant is apathy. The belief that nothing can ever change; that the strongmen will get their way anyway. During Forum 2025, we curate works of opposition that challenge this culture of resignation. We showcase the work of artists who have endured times of war and depict their experiences in profound, sometimes playful works of art. We invite writers who tell the histories autocrats want to erase and imagine the futures autocrats fear.
It is not a given that the tyrant gets his way. Democracy can be maintained. If we care enough about it.

Theater: De nar

Supra, a feast with Nino Haratischwili

Christian Guerematchi: Loved2Death

In conversation with Tash Aw

Anne Applebaum: How Autocracy Became a Business Model

Why We Need to Talk About Crimea

Anne Applebaum x Volodymyr Yermolenko

Theater: De nar

How to Lose a Democracy – with Marietje Schaake and Ece Temelkuran

Georgi Gospodinov: the Weaponization of Nostalgia

You Can Kill the Messenger, but not the Message

Gaia Vince: Climate, food and migration

Želimir Žilnik: Cinema of the Marginalized

Art Under Fire, with Anton Varga (Open Group), Tetyana Ogarkova, Mounira Al Solh and Elma Čavčić

Bektour Iskender: Investigative Journalism in the Age of Autocracy

Art Against the Tyrants: Interview Marathon

European Literature Night: Against Indifference

I Give Up: Arnon Grunberg Meets Adam Phillips

Die Zeiten They Are A-Changing

Feminists Against the Tyrants

In our Time: Azu Nwagbogu x Tino Sehgal

Želimir Žilnik: Early Works

Želimir Žilnik: Marble Ass

Iswanto Hartono: Kemuning (a Prologue)

Our Daily War: the World of Andrey Kurkov

Eighty Plus, including talk with Želimir Žilnik and Geert Mak
Art installations / expositions

Forum on European Culture 2025 is made possible with the support of:



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