In the late 1920s, Nâzım Hikmet introduced free verse to Turkish poetry, and he was thus the first modern Turkish poet. He wrote the majority of Human Landscapes, his magnum opus, while in prison. The five hundred-page epic was only published posthumously, divided into five ‘books’. Michiel Vandevelde staged Book I last year, commissioned by steierische herbst. Book II now follows.

Landscape Orchestra seeks a musical answer to the question of how we can depict departure, travel, and arrival. The production visits the landscapes that we traverse on our way to different and better places. A series of portraits shows people for whom the world is difficult but not necessarily less poetic.

Claire Croizé engages with two of her favourite sources of inspiration: Bach and Rilke. She places both masters in the hands of Matteo Fargion, the British composer and multi-instrumentalist. They have not created slavish interpretations of Bach and Rilke, but rather opted for a playful, somewhat unruly tribute.

The vocal ensemble HYOID and artist-in-residence at Kaaitheater Benjamin Vandewalle are adapting Indianerlieder (1972) by Karlheinz Stockhausen, an iconic but rarely performed work. They are creating a gesamtkunstwerk that aims to reveal the vitality and timelessness of Stockhausen’s music. They are abandoning the original scenography in order to place the audience at the very centre of the three-dimensional ritual.

In In Many Hands, artist-in-residence Kate McIntosh explores tactility. She invites you to test and to touch, but also to listen and to smell. Along with other visitors, but without speaking, you will experiment with materials in a series of sensorial ‘situations’. In Many Hands is part laboratory, part expedition, part meditation: follow your nose and your curiosity!

What happens exactly when we fall asleep? What is it like to be a viewer watching other people fall asleep in a theatre, to witness this most intimate act? The Guardians of Sleep is a collective attempt to withdraw in a world that is always ‘switched on’ – and where an ‘off’ button simply doesn’t seem to exist.