Anal Pompidou (Simon Van Schuylenbergh) celebrates the solidarity of artists through self-organised performance evenings. At Toneelhuis, he is creating an “Anal Special” to conclude the BURNING BURNING festival.
Anal Pompidou is the new alter ego of performance artist Simon Van Schuylenbergh. In August 2025, Anal opened a DIY performance cabaret above a restaurant in the centre of Brussels. With his bottom-up initiative, Anal invites the local performance scene to a series of short spontaneous performances. A striking number of performances flirt with pop culture, connect the high and the low, are self-critical, and make use of sharp humour and energy.
Anal Pompidou reflects on cultural giants such as Kanal - Centre Pompidou, with their top-down logic and inflated discourse on inclusion and community work, and the space that these kinds of projects occupy within the arts field.
At a time when numerous arts centres are investing in renovation and refurbishment plans, and the subsidising government is looking for solutions to a huge budget deficit, Anal Pompidou celebrates the solidarity of artists through self-organised performance evenings in the opposite direction.
For the tenth anniversary of LAFS and the closing of the BURNING BURNING Festival, Anal Pompidou is going on a city trip (on a budget) to Antwerp. The money has run out. The Airbnb turned out not to exist. So Anal sets up the stage in front of the Bourla Theatre, with his back to the auditorium. Together with five other artists from Anal Pompidou, Anal invites you to a special “Anal Special”.
'I am so high on art, but I am so low on money, high meets low, low meets high, where am I?' - Simon Van Schuylenbergh
By: Anal Pompidou - Light installation: Max Adams - With Simon Van Schuylenbergh, Charlotte Nagel, Mira Maria Studer, Vivi Focquet, Nathan Felix-Rivot
