U?, the freely accessible city program of Le Guess Who?, is dedicated to celebrating local and creative communities based in the Netherlands, with a strong focus on Utrecht. Through public programming, U? aims to connect people and foster personal encounters.
U? returns 8 & 9 November to Utrecht for its fifth edition. The festival now reveals the community curators for the 2025 edition.
U? aims to collaborate intensively with a diverse selection of creative partners from Utrecht and beyond. Following the success of last year, U? is excited to continue co-creating the festival program with upcoming Netherlands-based curators. These curators will share the story of the community that surrounds them through music, audiovisual art, poetry, workshops, or any other discipline or format.
Community Curators - U? 2025
Aslıhan steps forward as an individual, but she carries with her the echoes of the many communities that have held her. She is a queer, Turkish, Muslim woman, born and raised in the Netherlands, a weaving of identities that refuses to–and should not–be contained.
For this collaboration, she envisions a multi-faceted approach to a curation that centers not only those of the community, but also the embodied experiences of the community, including the exhibition Taboe Tabee by Bo Diversity and a decolonial dance performance by Fazle Shairmahomed. On 9 November, she presents a program that does not just invite community in, but builds from within it.
Luna van der Laan, founder of 030HARDCORE, invites everyone from all ages who crave for an authentic hardcore connection, expression and creative energy. On 8 November, she presents her curation at Kabul à GoGo, a venue (formerly Central Studios) that carries a rich hardcore legacy going back to the 90s and now sets the stage for a new wave of raw, collective experience.
During U?, you can dance your way through a hardcore BPM journey with DJs, live sets and performances showcasing (new) forms of art and sound by local hardcore talents. Seek out the hidden exhibition space and tap into your own core with the hard sound.
With the rise of far-right politics and growing political tensions, artists from marginalized communities engage with the urgent question: How do we create when the very act of creation is under threat?
Libraries Are Not Supposed To Be Quiet, the curation by Al-Shaheen Falcon, examines the question of art legality through a public intervention program. In the months leading up to the festival, a series of interventions will unfold across various public libraries, where artists – many of whom have already been pushed beyond conventional art spaces – confront the looming fear of political censorship.
On 9 November, the artists of Libraries Are Not Supposed To Be Quiet will gather in Moira and collectively review, reflect and celebrate their work.
U? 2025
On Saturday, 8 November, U? presents a festival playground in the Cartesius area and on Sunday, 9 November, several events throughout the city are presented.
