Spain will star in the Europalia 2025 biennial in Brussels with Goya as the artistic epicenter

Spain will be the protagonist country of the international biennial based in Brussels Europalia and will have Francisco de Goya as artistic epicenter of a program that will bring together around 300 activities related to the performing arts in order to serve as a cultural platform for social conversation.

Meeting this Thursday in the Belgian capital, the festival organizers have revealed a first preview of the program for the thirtieth edition of Europalia, which will be held from October 7, 2025 to January 18, 2026.

As they have revealed the artistic directors of the exhibition, Maral Kekejian and Dirk Vermaelen, Goya will be the “heart” of artistic inspiration and conceptual around which this edition will revolve, a figure that has been chosen for “symbolizing freedom and commitment to reality.”

Thus, the Zaragoza painter’s Whims, Nonsenses and Disasters will form the backbone of a discourse that aims to link the past with the present, the local with the global and identity with the international.

“Spain has been at the forefront of artistic innovation for centuries, but Spanish culture is not just the past.”highlighted the general director of Europalia, Christian Salez, who advocates overcoming nostalgia to also make room for emerging artists.

For this reason, the Europalia calendar also highlights contemporary artists such as the singer Silvia Pérez Cruz; the choreographer and dancer Candela Capitán, with her viral performance ‘SOLAS’; the set designer Marta Pazos or the visual artist Félix Luque, among others.

Furthermore, this edition seeks for the festival to transcend Brussels and expand throughout the Belgian territory with twenty thematic exhibitions that highlight the country’s ties with Spain and that can be seen from Bruges to Antwerp via Charleroi.

In this sense, the Spanish ambassador to Belgium, Alberto Antón Cortés, has highlighted that Europalia “represents an incredible opportunity to showcase the vibrant and contemporary Spanish art scene” in an edition that “promises to be an extraordinary celebration of culture.”

“This cultural exchange goes beyond entertainment,” added the ambassador, as he believes that the biennial also contributes to “strengthening mutual respect, understanding and cooperation.”“, because “in a world that often focuses on differences, culture has the profound ability to unite.”