On Friday evening, TivoliVredenburg will be filled with a unique programme of talks, interviews, music, art installations, film and live research. Among them are many alumni and researchers from HKU, as well as Utrecht University, HU University of Applied Sciences, University of Humanistic Studies and UMC Utrecht.
Big names on the ballot
The 2026 Betweter line-up features big names, including writer and journalist Roxane van Iperen and migration expert Marcel Lubbers, who will discuss how to break the playbook of the radical right. Writer and anthropologist Joris Luyendijk and European affairs expert Femke van Esch will explore the question: Can Europe stand on its own independently?
Art by HKU makers
This year, HKU makers can be found all over Betweter. They challenge you to express your frustrations about the world, confront you with suffocating beauty ideals, and invite you to reflect on your (digital) identity and the need for stillness. Fifteen makers will fill TivoliVredenburg with installations, performances and unexpected experiences. Here, art and research intersect at every turn: sometimes beautiful, sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes utterly alienating, but always prompting new questions.
Note that the majority of activities are in Dutch, but there are plenty of seminars and workshops with English as the language of instruction.Neurodiverse art education
HKU student Amy van der Steen will also join Judith Leest from the Critical Creative Pedagogies research group for an interview with Yanti Danoekoesoemo at Silent Science about neurodiverse arts education.Can a robot touch your heart?
HKU professor of practice Nick Degens (Dis)connected Technology & Creativity) and social robotics researcher Sander Goetzee (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) are also investigating whether generative AI can do more than provide clever answers. Can it also offer comfort, surprise us or get a conversation going?
In Can a robot move you?, you will have a live conversation with Reachy Mini, a robot being developed to interact with older people in care institutions. You are both test subject and scene partner: through scenes and stories, we explore when interacting with a robot really moves you – and when it doesn't.
Betweter Festival is organised by Utrecht University, University Medical Center Utrecht, HKU, HU University of Applied Sciences and University of Humanistic Studies, in co-production with TivoliVredenburg.
Betweter Festival
Friday 25 September 2026
TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht
betweterfestival.nl
