Spa for Spirits is a traveling meeting place that questions conventional notions of human well-being.
Since 2021, performers Leonie Buysse and Lili Vanderstraeten have led Spa for Spirits—a wellness center inhabited by otherworldly creatures. Together with artists and experts from various artistic and life domains, they create interactive and participatory installations and performances, where individual art practices interweave through collective play, exploration, and wonder.
Participants are invited to step beyond the ordinary and embrace new ways of seeing, thinking, and being by rediscovering everyday activities, loosening them from their monotonous rusty patterns and reconnecting them with diverse crafts and techniques. The peculiar rituals that emerge from this process aim to ground participants in their bodies, reawaken the senses, and grow a more conscious engagement with their surroundings.
By occupying diverse public and semi-public spaces, we disrupt and queer them from their usual identity and function. We reimagine them through artistic and sensory exploration; this transformative process invites an unexpected mix of participants—local residents, passersby, and communities—to engage in new and surprising ways. Through these explorations the otherworldly hosts of Spa for Spirits strive to reconnect humanity with its fundamental needs.
In collaboration with: Henny Baeken (body-oriented therapy advisor), Renske Maria Van Dam and Francesco Apostoli (architects), Nora Vanderstraeten (graphic design and documentation), Alice Dooreman (documentation), drag queen collective House of Lux - Theo Bonne and Daan Dekeyser (performers, makeup and look development), Luna De Mey (performer & chef), Oscar Pichard (sound artwork), Sybren Janssens (scenography), Wim Pelgrims (sound artwork), Anton Cla (video work), Aidan Abnet (costumes), Noam Youngrak Son (graphic designer), Mats Van Droogenbroeck (dramaturg), Antonio Triolo / Nino Kooks (chef), Heike Langsdorf (mentorship), Jonas Baeke (dramaturg and writer).
With support from: 404 (in collaboration with Nachtzwemmen), GC Nekkersdal (in the GAG cabin), Buda (residency), De School Van Gaasbeek (residency), Nightshift / Gouvernement (for the GIF festival), Kyoto University of the Arts (AGxKansai conference), De Grote Post (residency), Broei (residency and open studios), Brussels Gallery Weekend (Generation Brussels), Theater De Nieuwe Vorst (Murf/Murw festival), Pleasure Island (residency), Campo Nieuwpoort (A Shot at Love), De Koer (residency and open studios), Fomu (with Melanie Bonajo), Radical House (residency), MSK Ghent (Pride and Paintings), Dr. Guislain Museum (with Lucinda Ra for Psycho Jazz).
With financial support from: the Flemish Community Commission, Alleskan, the City of Ghent, and Kunstendecreet (Flanders State of the Arts).