- AECFest
- ASEF
- Performance
- Decolonial Narratives
- SPRING coproduction
- World premiere
IsLand Bar
Extra info about locations
Each cocktail has a designated venue. You’ll find the address on your ticket.
Venues: Café Voortuin, De Achtertuin, Theater Kikker, Twintig Utrecht, Café & Poppodium Stathe and Ubica Utrecht
IsLand Bar is a storytelling performance, set in Utrecht’s local cafés. At the bar, migrant artists serve signature cocktails infused with their personal histories and identities. Through shared drinks and intimate stories, this project creates a space to explore displacement and the experiences that shape our cultural reality.
IsLand Bar is a unique performance project that blends the art of cocktail-making with personal storytelling. Set in various cafés across Utrecht, migrant artists each host their own “island.” Here, they serve a signature cocktail that acts as a personal concoction of their history, family, and cultural identity.
The project originated as an open-source experiment by the Taipei Performing Arts Center (TPAC) and has since been developed and presented internationally. This edition focuses on stories of displacement. Working alongside a cocktail master, the artists have developed drinks — both alcoholic and non-alcoholic — that symbolize their lived experiences.
As an audience member, you are invited to take a seat at the bar, taste, and listen. The informal café setting is transformed into a space for intimacy and conversation. IslandBar is an invitation to share a drink and rethink the narratives that shape our social and cultural identities.
Locations
Each cocktail has a designated venue. You’ll find the address on your ticket.
Venues: Café Voortuin, De Achtertuin, Theater Kikker, Twintig Utrecht, Café & Poppodium Stathe and Ubica Utrecht
Share
orangcosong & guests
Credits
Artistic Direction: orangcosong
Artists & Performers Chikara Fujiwara, Eddie Hara, Eva Lou, Minori Sumiyoshiyama, Pepe Dayaw, Rino Daidoji, Scarlet Yu, Serene Hui, Tam Thi Pham Drinks Consultant Gonçalo de Sousa Monteiro (Buck & Breck, Berlin / DE)
Producers Iris Chan & Stéphane Noël (Materialise / HK)
Thanks Yoveza Wong
Production Credits
IsLand Bar (2026) is a coproduction of SPRING Performing Arts Festival (Utrecht / NL), orangcosong (Yokohama / JP) and Materialise (Hong Kong)
The project is part of the Asia-Europe Cultural Festival (AECFest) Residency Programme 2025,
organised by the Asia-Europe Foundation (Singapore)
The project is supported by The Saison Foundation (Tokyo / JP)
IsLand Bar is an open-source project by Taipei Performing Arts Center (TPAC), first initiated as
an experiment in ADAM (Asia Discovers Asia Meeting for Contemporary Performance) 2017, and commissioned in Taipei Arts Festival 2018 led by principal artists Scarlet Yu (HK/DE), Chikara Fujiwara (JP) and Lee Ming-Chen (TW)
This performance is a part of AECFest, a multidisciplinary public arts festival that alternates annually between Asia and Europe. In 2026, it will be presented as a festival-in-a-festival within SPRING, taking place from May 14 to 23. This edition marks the third consecutive year that AECFest is hosted within a major international festival platform, following editions in Italy (2024) and China (2025).
The development of the project was supported by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) through the Asia-Europe Cultural Festival (AECFest) Residency Programme 2025.
Also interesting
- AECFest
- ASEF
- Performance
- World premiere
- AECFest
- ASEF
- Dance
- Decolonial Narratives
- Game
- NL premiere
Engeki Quest
orangcosong
Fri May 15 till Sat May 23 you can determine the start time yourself
Explore Utrecht on foot with Engeki Quest, a flâneur-style adventure guided by an Adventure Book. Alone, you step into the perspective of fictional characters, uncover hidden streets, stories, and social life, and experience the city in a deeply personal and immersive way, offering a new perspective for both locals and visitors.
SoftMachine: The Return
Choy Ka Fai
Fri May 22 21:00
A decade after their first encounter, two Asian artists reunite. Through a blend of dance, documentary, and monologue, Surjit (India) and Rianto (Indonesia) explore how their bodies and homelands have evolved. From political resilience in India to the complexities of gender in Indonesia: SoftMachine: The Return is an honest, radical self-portrait. It captures a generation growing old together while redefining the future of Asian contemporary dance.
asses.masses
Patrick Blenkarn + Milton Lim
Sat May 16 13:00 & Sun May 17 13:00 uur
asses.masses is a 7.5+ hour live video game in the theatre, where spectators take turns leading a herd of unemployed donkeys through a post-Industrial world. Played by one person at a time and united through one controller, the journey only unfolds through the audience's collective actions. Cheeky, political, and playful, asses.masses explores work, technology, and freedom through an epic, collaborative experience.