We are always in a collective mode. So join us for an evening where AQAF teams up with Merhaba and BelGeo.
Practical Information
Date: Friday, August 14, 2026, from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.
Location: Het Bos (Ankerrui 5, 2000 Antwerp)
Tickets: Order here or on site. Is the ticket price a barrier for you? Contact: lou@merhaba.be
Program
18h - 02:00 Expo
Lika Kalioras (BelGeo) – Visual artist
Lika Kalioras is a lesbian refugee from Georgia, living in Antwerp for one year. Through illustration and drawing, she brings queer experience to life visually, rooted in her own journey of migration, identity and freedom. For this event, she is preparing a new series of works that hold both the vulnerability and the strength of queer existence.
Tender Ruins (Tbilisi Pride)
Alongside the exhibition, a symbolic installation of broken and burned objects. Where Pride in many Western European cities is a celebration, queer visibility in Georgia often means fear, violence and danger. These objects are silent witnesses to hatred and to resistance.
18:00 Volxkeuken
Queer Chef Miranda Okujava (BelGeo)
Miranda Okujava (BelGeo) serves warm Georgian food. Miranda is a trans activist and refugee from Georgia, living in Antwerp for eight years. Through cooking, she creates a space where culture, solidarity and community come together. A gesture of care as much as a meal.
20:00 Performance
Andro Dadiani
Andro Dadiani is a Georgian multidisciplinary artist, performer and poet, currently living in Belgium as a political refugee. His work moves between performance, poetry, photography and installation, exploring identity, migration, queer existence and survival under repression. Since 2017 he has worked under a pseudonym and often with masks, because in Georgia, queer visibility can still be dangerous. His practice is a direct response to that reality.
20:30 Open Stage
AQAF X MERHABA X BelGeo
A stage, a microphone and 6 minutes. That is all you beautiful courageous creatures need. Do you want to take part in the open stage? Contact Lou: lou@merhaba.be
21:30 Henna Night Reimagined
Can Bora
What if tradition could tell a new story?
Henna Night Reimagined takes the Turkish Henna Night, once a ritual centred on the bride-to-be, and opens it up to everyone. Through live storytelling, spontaneous stage editing and audience participation, the performance becomes a celebration of love, care and community beyond fixed roles and boundaries.
Ancient ritual meets queer possibility. Division gives way to reciprocity.
22u30 DJ's by Merhaba - DJ Blacksapho & King Kovaci