Line-up 2026

The full line-up for the 10th edition of The Crystal Ship has been announced. For this anniversary edition, curator Matthias Schoenaerts, who works under the artist's name Zenith, brings together more than twenty national and international artists to Ostend. The line-up features established names and upcoming talent from the worlds of graffiti, street art and contemporary painting. Rooted in the three disciplines that form the foundation of the curator’s artistic vision, these artists will transform Ostend’s streets starting at the end of March. With this edition, Schoenaerts aims to create a dialogue in which the three disciplines meet, challenge each other and grow stronger together. For Schoenaerts, the walls of Ostend are not mere backdrops but a necessity: once the 20+ artists bring their work into the streets, the artworks become accessible to all. For Schoenaerts, art finds its truest meaning in an open and shared public space.

“In Ostend, where James Ensor once let his masks laugh like sardonic drunks and Leon Spilliaert let the night lean against the sea, art should not politely whisper between white walls and polished floors. The 10th edition of Crystal Ship becomes a mural festival that sends contemporary painting, graffiti, and street art out into the streets, it’s not decoration but a revolt. It is paint that refuses to behave, a wall that talks back, a city looking itself in the eye.

Art in public space is not a luxury; it is oxygen. It turns passersby into witnesses, neighbors into conversation partners, strangers into accomplices. It grates, it disturbs, it connects, and reminds us that imagination is not a hobby for those who can afford a ticket, but a necessary muscle in the body of a city. A necessity. It weaves ropes between people who would otherwise never meet each other’s gaze and stitches cracks in the social fabric with color and defiance.

And so a city that might otherwise shrivel into concrete and policy regains a backbone of imagination and becomes something wild again, something that breathes, something that gathers people together like a fire in a time too cold.” — Matthias Schoenaerts

From 30 March to 11 April 2026, more than 20 selected artists will work across Ostend. For two weeks, the city will transform into a temporary open studio where empty walls become the backdrop for new stories in paint and colour. Residents and visitors can experience the creative process up close.

Theme

“I love the ephemeral nature of murals, the way the seasons become part of the work.” – curator Zenith / Matthias Schoenaerts

With this edition of The Crystal Ship, curator Zenith / Matthias Schoenaerts invites passers-by to be curious. The murals invite you to stop, look again and experience the city in a different way each time. Each work appears where life unfolds: between houses, along routes and in places where people cross paths in Ostend.

The Crystal Ship 2026 is thus not a destination festival, but an encounter in public space: between chance passers-by, residents, artists and the performers that Schoenaerts brings together.

Guided by a simple yet powerful invitation to curiosity, Schoenaerts sets the direction for this edition. In his view, we look away too often, out of habit or because it is easier. Together with more than 20 artists, he wants to invite the public to keep looking at the city and the works with fresh eyes.

“My collaboration with The Crystal Ship is about giving, not taking,” emphasises Schoenaerts. “For me, art in public spaces is a democratic force: art belongs on the street, where everyone can see it. That way, everyone on the street can view, experience and respond to the works in their own way.”

Line-up

TCS+

Timings

  • 30/03 - 11/04: Artists at work
  • 03-04/04: Inside Out Project JR
  • 11/04: Artworks finished

Discover the works:

  • ‘Ostend City Walks’ free application (for iOS or Android). Here you get text, photo, audio and video with each artwork.
  • A free handy plan that you can pick up at Tourism Ostend (Monacoplein 2) during the Easter holidays. The final brochures will be on sale from the beginning of May at Toerisme Oostende and in Visit Oostende's webshop.
  • The free chatbot via Facebook Messenger at m.me/thecrystalshipoostende