Slow Touring with LIE NING

The Goethe-Institut's new Slow Touring project combines sustainability with fresh soul and pop music from Berlin. This autumn, musician, model and dancer LIE NING will be travelling across Europe by train and ferry, as part of a resource-efficient concert tour.

In addition to environmentally conscious modes of transport and a positive carbon footprint, this innovative tour concept also focuses on counteracting fast-paced and fleeting concert tours. At each tour stop, LIE NING will have time to engage with local communities and collaborate with international musicians.

In Brussels, we will focus on sustainability and its impact on marginalized groups, particularly queer and BIPoC communities. These communities, often overlooked in climate discussions, are often the most affected by global warming, even though ironically specifically BIPoC communities have traditionally long practiced sustainable living. Witnessing how neocolonial and imperialist policies contribute to the climate crisis, our program reacts to the need to include marginalized perspectives in the debate and offer a space for communities to come together.

LIE NING is invited by Goethe-Institut Brussels and the experimental cultural centre De Vaartkapoen in Molenbeek to share their music and perspective with local queer and BIPoC networks. We will kick-off with a concert on Friday night with a local supporting programme, curated by Black queer collective Shoga Shoga, featuring a mezmerizing live set by future star Gabriel Eden and their powerful voice as the opener, and an energizing DJ set by J Prince X as the closer. The following days you are invited to community events at VK, like a communal kitchen hosted by Pacifique Cooking or public conversations on topics such as the state of sustainability and of inclusion and representation of Blackness and queerness in the contemporary music landscape, a.o. in collaboration with the London collective Dope Black Queers.

We will make an extra effort to use locally produced resources such as stage elements and equipment. This not only supports the local economies, but also further reduces the tour's carbon footprint. This concert and the contextual program is offered free of charge to ensure everyone can attend, regardless of their circumstances. However, we want to emphasize that the production is of high value, with many dedicated individuals contributing their time and effort. If you are curious about behind-the-scenes footage and impressions from the concerts, you can follow the tour online on Instagram @goetheinstitut_irland.

You can find the programme for the other tour stops here.