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 foster 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.
Continuous collaborations with experts and other artists Henny Baeken (body-oriented therapy), Renske Maria Van Dam (architecture) and Francesco Apostoli (architecture), Nora Vanderstraeten (graphic design and photography), Alice Dooreman (photography), members of dragqueen collective HOUSE OF LUX Theo Bonne and Daan Dekeyser (performers, make-up and look), Oscar Pichard (Sound), Sybren Janssens (scenography), Wim Pelgrims (Sound), Anton Cla (Animation artist), Aidan Abnet (fashion designer), Noam Youngrak Son (graphic designer), Luna De Mey (performer & cook), Jonas Baeke (dramaturg).
Supported by Stad Gent, AllesKan and Flanders State of the Arts with De Grote Post (Ostend), BUDA (Courtrai), 404 (Ghent), De Koer (Ghent), Pleasure Island (Ostend), School Van Gaasbeek (Brussels), Broei (Gent), Radical House (Brussels), Fomu (Antwerp), Dr. Guislain Museum (Ghent).
12 - 15 May '21, performance at 404 invited by Nachtzwemmen - Lieselot Siddiki , Ghent (BE)
10 Jul '21, atelier / collective action during Celestial Bodies Festival at CEA, Moita (PT)
4 - 6 Aug '21, performance at 404 invited by Nachtzwemmen - Lieselot Siddiki, Ghent (BE)
18 Aug '21, atelier / collective action, OKAN Zomerschool, Ghent (BE)
23 - 29 Aug '21, residency & ongoing play at wooden cabine GAG with GC Nekkersdal, Brussels (BE)
18 - 31 Oct '21, art residency at BUDA, Kortrijk (BE)
25 Dec - 2 Jan '22, art residency at School van Gaasbeek, Brussels (BE)
26 - 29 Jan '22, performance at GIF with NightShift / Gouvernement at empty shop in shopping center Zuid, Ghent (BE)
11 - 15 Mar '22, videoscreening & Q+A during the conference AGxKANSAI 2022 - Kyoto University of the Arts, Kyoto (JP)
28 Mar - 9 April '22, art residency De Grote Post, Ostend (BE)
May - Oct '22, residency with ateliers at BROEI, Duivelsteen Ghent (BE)
8 - 11 Sep '22, expo & performance during Brussels Gallery Weekend - Generation Brussels, Brussels (BE)
1 - 2 Oct '22, installation & performance during Murf/Murw festival - Theater de Nieuwe Vorst, Tilburg (NL)
12 Sep - 15 oct '22, art residency & performance at beach cabine Pleasure Island, Ostend (BE)
9 Dec '22, installation and performance at CAMPO Nieuwpoort for A Shot at Love, Ghent (BE)
Jan '23, art residency at De Koer, Ghent (BE)
29 - 30 Apr '23, festival with open ateliers at De Koer, Ghent (BE)
20 May '23, food ritual during workshop by Melanie Bonajo When the body says yes at FOMU, Antwerp (BE)
29 Jun - 16 Jul '23, art residency at Radical House, Brussels (BE)
September - November '23, expo in gallery KOMMET supported by CWB, Lyon (FR), CANCELLED
2 May '24, performance during Pride & Paintings, invited by House Of Lux at the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent (BE)
5 - 7 June '24, performance during Psycho Jazz at Dr. Guislain Museum with members of theatre group Lucinda Ra, Ghent (BE)
5 December, performance during Museum Nacht at Dr. Guislain Museum with Daan Dekeyser (Krietjur), Ghent (BE)
