bosch parade returns with floating sculptures and inflatables on dommel river in netherlands

Floating sculptures and inflatable at bosch parade 2026

Bosch Parade to return to the Dommel River in the Netherlands, showcasing large-scale and floating sculptures and inflatables. For its 11th edition, the event flows through the city where the medieval painter Hieronymus Bosch was born and worked, the main inspiration of the event. Viewers can see the site-specific artworks perform live as they pass the riverbanks between June 18th and 21st, 2026 and intentionally designed as vessels. The theme of the upcoming edition is Powered by Defects, where it explores Heironymus Bosch’s own paintings as catalogues of human failure: sin, folly, corruption, and bodies gone wrong. The floating works address collective and personal shortcomings, from oil dependency to selective listening to the legal prosecution of a dog in 16th-century Leiden.

David Bade takes over as curator, a multidisciplinary artist and co-founder, with Tirzo Martha, of the Instituto Buena Bista contemporary art centre, replacing outgoing artistic director Miesjel van Gerwen. Bade is. He is joined by director Koen van Seuren and composer Nicoline Soeter for the Bosch Parade 2026. Some works have already been announced, including Het Arkoor by Domenico Mangano and Marieke van Rooy, a large wooden ear built as a floating vessel. Inside, four musicians produce sound by whistling, blowing, and tapping ceramic sculptures. Simultaneously, around one hundred musicians performing in five ensembles across the city can be heard from the riverbank, drawing on the ear depicted in Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights.

Thespian Lennie Visser creates circus performances with Boost Producties | images courtesy of Bosch Parade

artworks that address collective and personal shortcomings

During the Bosch Parade 2026, Fanfare van Oliedom (The Floating Band of Fuelessness), made by community group WijFamilie from ‘s-Hertogenbosch, also floats, an orchestra built from oil drums. Performers drum on the barrels as the work floats past, and the piece echoes the dependence on fossil fuels and the consumption habits that sustain it. There’s also Monstrous Voices by French duo Aurelia Noudelmann and Laëtitia Delauney of Le Bateau, which is constructed entirely from discarded materials. It draws on the Greek myth of Scylla, a nymph transformed into a monster, and carries sound compositions performed by the Queer Choir Amsterdam.

Meerklank, by Studio Onderstroom comprising Annabel Schouten, Jurriaan de Vos, and Gemma Luz Bosch, is also present with a large water-bike instrument. Uneven sound wheels, each rotating at its own speed and pitch, produce a rhythm that never settles. The performers propelling the vessel move in the wrong direction, meaning they must keep walking to avoid sinking. The Inflatable Inquisition, by Topsy Collective, stages a criminal trial during the Bosch Parade 2026, drawn from a real historical case, where in 1595, a dog in Leiden was sentenced to death for biting a child. Als Verlangen Dansen (Longing to Dance), by visual artist Froukje de Boer, also floats with a triptych featuring a group of women who dance together every week despite injuries, illness, pregnancy, and age. The festival Bosch Parade 2026 runs from June 18th to 21st in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.

The voyage of the ship of fools (2024) by Simone Serlenga and Amy Evans

Evolution Of Demons: Characteristics In Overdrive (2024) by Boost Producties

ZZNAKE (2024) by Rob van Dam

De mythische kinderen van Sisyphus (2024) by Daniel Arthuus

De stem van het water by Observatorium

Meerklank (2026) by Gemma Luz Bosch, Annabel Schouten, Jurriaan de Vos

Sending out an S.O.S (2026) by Fenna Koot & Emmie Liebregts

project info:

name: Bosch Parade | @boschparade

location: ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

dates: June 18th to 21st, 2026

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