surprise me + art & exhibitions + at night + only idm & experimental + only thursday + only free
Nothing matched only thursday and only free together, so I dropped that and kept the rest.
ADE picks
Striptopia
Wed 21 · 19:00 · Melkweg · Melkweg OZ · Amsterdam
It’s sexy, thrilling and thought-provoking! Striptopia is a captivating two-hour show that challenges stigma and celebrates the art forms of pole dance, drag, stripping and performance. This reimagined strip club is built on the values of honesty, safety, inclusivity and joy. Striptopia brings you face to face with outspoken performers in a fully interactive experience, where tipping via the Striptopia App, cheering and making contact are encouraged. Here, strip-club culture becomes something to celebrate, reflect on and reappraise. About Striptopia: This isn’t a strip club relocated; it’s strip culture turned inside out. Built on consent, inclusivity and performer autonomy, Striptopia is a space where respect and celebration go hand in hand. Performers own their stage and boundaries, while guests are invited to explore and let go responsibly. Doors : 19:00 Show : 20:00–22:00
Dome Concerts presents: THYLACINE - visuals by Julius Horsthuis
Wed 21 · 19:30 · Fabrique des Lumières · Amsterdam
A cinematic fusion of electronic music and immersive visual art This ADE, Dome Concerts opens a new chapter at FABRIQUE DES LUMIERES — one of Amsterdam's most extraordinary cultural venues. Across four days, internationally acclaimed artists transform this monumental space through sound, light and architecture. French producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist THYLACINE has established himself as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary electronic music. Blending organic instrumentation with rich electronic textures, his work is shaped by a deep curiosity for travel, culture and the places that influence human experience. From recording aboard the Trans-Siberian Railway and exploring the landscapes of the Andes and the Faroe Islands to learning the Turkish bağlama during his travels, Thylacine transforms every journey into music. His acclaimed Roads series reflects an ongoing search for new perspectives, where movement itself becomes an essential part of the creative process. For this special performance at Fabrique des Lumières, Thylacine is joined by internationally acclaimed fractal artist JULIUS HORSTHUIS . Together they create an immersive audiovisual experience where cinematic soundscapes, monumental architecture and evolving visual worlds merge into one extraordinary journey through music, light and space. Dome Concerts is an immersive 360° live audiovisual series taking place throughout ADE at ARTIS Planetarium and Fabrique des Lumières .
Swan Lake Remixed for ADE
Wed 21 · 19:45 · Gashouder · Amsterdam
This show is sold out. Due to the high demand for tickets, an additional Swan Lake Remixed for ADE show has been added. More details on this page . Classic ballet, hiphop dance, electronic music and digital art come together. For the opening of 30 years of ADE, the Dutch National Ballet, ISH Dance Collective, Amsterdam Dance Event and Gashouder bring their worlds together around one of the most iconic ballets ever created. The story of Swan Lake revolves around desire, freedom and the tension between light and darkness. Swan Lake Remixed for ADE brings these themes into the present day. Because questions of identity, freedom and boundaries are more relevant than ever. Dancers from the Dutch National Ballet and the Junior Company share the stage with performers from ISH Dance Collective and guest dancers from a variety of dance worlds. Together, they bring ballet and urban dance into dialogue, creating a performance in which tradition and innovation reinforce one another. CREDITS Dutch National Ballet dancers Principal dancers: Salome Leverashvili, Timothy van Poucke, Giorgi Potskhishvili + large corps de ballet + dancers from Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company. Total: 35 dancers. ISH Dance Collective: performers Gino Jagessar, Herrold Anakotta, Lars de Vos, Ethan Elkaim, Lisha Chen, Oscar Starink, Paris Crossley, Raquel Tijsterman, Shane Boers, Sophia Mason, Stasy Terehhova, Thersa Bergmann Guest dancers: Zoë Greten, Rutkay, Ahmad Joudeh, Sedrig Verwoert, Nnamdi Nwagwu Direction: Ernst Meisner (Director of Dutch National Ballet) and Marco Gerris (Artistic Director of ISH Dance Collective) Composer: Rik Ronner Lighting design and video: Ben Kreukniet Costume design: Oliver Haller Partners: Dutch National Ballet, ISH Dance Collective, Amsterdam Dance Event, Gashouder and XSAGA Thanks to Zadelhoff Cultuurfonds
Doka Culture x Live Coding Sessions
Wed 21 · 20:00 · Doka · Amsterdam
Live Coding Sessions and Doka Culture present an Algorave during Amsterdam Dance Event 2026. As the city welcomes the global electronic music community, we’re excited to celebrate the live coding scene alongside it. An Algorave (a combination of algorithm and rave) is a club night where music and visuals are created by writing code in real time. Rather than performing pre-recorded tracks, artists improvise throughout the night while their code is projected for the audience to follow, making the creative process part of the performance. We're thrilled to welcome a fantastic line-up of artists, with first-time Live Coding Sessions guests Hellocatfood, MYNA, Sol Sarratea, Deaxmachina and Den Ree, alongside returning favourites Jobi, Joyce den Hertog and Lil Bleep. We'll introduce each of them over the coming weeks. Live Coding Sessions is initiated and organised by Saskia Freeke, Klasien van de Zandschulp and Sabrina Verhage. This event is a collaboration between Doka Culture and Live Coding Sessions. Live Coding Sessions is kindly supported by Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK)
Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest x EINDER by Boris Acket
Wed 21 · 20:30 · Centrale Markthal · Amsterdam
One monumental art installation. Two weeks on view. Four extraordinary concerts. Celebrate ADE’s 30th anniversary with EINDER by Boris Acket . On 21 October , monumental music, art and architecture come together to celebrate 30 years of ADE. The Concertgebouworkest will perform Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony with 70 musicians inside Amsterdam’s monumental Centrale Markthal. Enjoy this true classic from 1808 conducted by Riccardo Minasi , beneath the largest-ever version of Boris Acket’s EINDER. The rhythmic motif of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is repeated constantly, taking on ever-changing forms, and in this way Beethoven builds his symphony layer by layer. While EINDER will shift and reshape above the orchestra creating a dance that is never the same twice. Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony was revolutionary 200 years ago, and it still is today. This energetic music never ceases to surprise. About EINDER EINDER is an artificial sky in constant motion. A vast expanse of ultralight fabric floating above the space, animated by hundreds of electronically controlled fans. The system is precisely programmed, yet what happens overhead can never be entirely controlled. Air currents collide, gravity pulls and turbulence interrupts, turning every movement into something new. At times, EINDER resembles a rolling sea. At others, a passing cloud or the beginnings of a storm. It moves somewhere between choreography and weather. Always changing. Never performing the same way twice. This is a production by artist Boris Acket and Making Waves. Acket has previously collaborated with institutions and artists including the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Van Gogh Museum, Lowlands and Fred again. The production is realised by Goonie Crew. EINDER brings together movement, space, sound, material and light in an installation that invites people not only to observe, but to experience. Note: To celebrate the opening night of Einder, we're extending the concert programme. Artist Boris Acket will open the concert with a personal introduction, and you will experience a unique glimpse into Einder, composed especially for this evening. With these additions, the performance will run for approximately 55 minutes and offer something you won't hear anywhere else. As a result, it is no longer possible for us to host two concerts on the same evening. Instead, we'll present one unique concert, taking place from 20:30 - 21:25 on Wednesday, 21 October. If you already purchased tickets for the initial time slots, your tickets will remain valid, and the updated time will also be reflected on your ticket. Get your tickets now! Explore more ADE Arts & Culture events at Centrale Markthal here .
Melting Image
Wed 21 · 21:00 · The Cristel Ballroom Gallery · Amsterdam
Melting Image is a quiet resistance to how we consume images today — against the passive, one-dimensional scroll of the digital screen, it asks for presence instead of speed. Here, looking takes time, and the image only reveals itself to those willing to give it. An image is silkscreened onto layers of transparent material, then heat-formed until it lifts off the flat surface and takes on an organic, sculptural shape. Displayed in the gallery window, it turns the glass into a screen between street and space. Lit from behind by a slowly shifting projection, each layer catches the colour differently: parts of the image surface, others fade, never quite settling into one form. The longer you look, the more it keeps changing. Romina Koopman is a visual artist working at the edge of the tangible and the virtual, questioning how the digital image reshapes our perception of reality. The artwork will be displayed in the gallery's window throughout the ADE week, day and night.
Charged by Jaco Schilp
Thu 22 · tba · ADE Lab Village Westergas · Amsterdam
Every person who walks into Charged becomes exactly that. A cloud of light gathers around you, pulled in by your presence, and moves when you move. Some people you meet in it carry the same charge as you, and so push each other's energy away. Others carry the opposite, and your clouds fold into each other before either of you has decided to merge. As magnetic poles repel, opposites attract. The work is about how we change each other's environment simply by being in it, positively or negatively, whether we mean to or not. Charging and discharging as a way of interacting between persons. The more people step in, the more chaotic it becomes. With only a few, it settles into something calm and connected. The visuals in Charged were built with TouchDesigner, while its eye uses an open-source AI vision model called YOLO, which has become the standard way for a machine to find people in a camera image. Its own creator walked away from it in 2020 because he could no longer ignore its military and surveillance uses. In Charged, artist Jaco Schilp give it a different job: it doesn't know who you are, but only where you are and how you move. No record of the images is kept. Technology born for watching, reimagined as a tool for connection and play. Jaco Schilp explores how these systems can transform when placed in a different light. Charged is a public light installation in Westerpark. It can be visited for free at any time of day or night during ADE week.
Dreaming Babies: illi by Yoon Chung Han
Thu 22 · tba · ADE Lab Village Westergas · Amsterdam