About the research week 2024
This year, SLARG Research Week will feature both a Research Exhibition and a Performance Night.
SLARG Research Exhibition presents the work of artists and researchers such as Tundé Adefioye, Bianca Baldi, Sammy Baloji, Annelys de Vet, Loraine Furter, Garine Gokceyan, Ruth Razan Loos, Wesley Meuris, Joud Toamah, Danial Shah, Robin Vanbesien, Saskia Van der Gucht, Pierre-Antoine Vettorello, and Việt Vũ.
The exhibition showcases works-in-progress, experiments, and proposals, offering an inside look at SLARG’s one-year, two-year, and PhD research projects. Practice-based research in the arts is a slow, often challenging process, and this exhibition pushes the boundaries of what is typically expected in an art exhibit. It encourages visitors to slowly engage with the work, inviting them to explore the complexities and ongoing challenges faced by the researchers. Our researchers will be present to discuss their work with you, and they look forward to engaging in dialogue. Research is an ongoing, collaborative process, and your feedback and insights are valuable contributions to their journey.
The exhibition will be open from Thursday 25 – Sunday 28 October and Thursday 31 October – Sunday 3 November, 14:00-17:00, and will include several guided tours.
On the opening night, 24 October, you can meet the researchers or join a guided tour (19:00) led by Petra Van Brabandt, head of research at Sint Lucas Antwerpen. Petra will guide you through the various projects on display.
Following the tour at 20:00, you’re invited to experience the performance Assume calibration pose: this breath isn’t mine by Myrthe Bokelmann & Cèlia Tort Pujol, part of the Algorithmic Gaze research project. This performance examines how technology mediates and extends the communication between dancer and musician, exploring the interaction between human and machine, and how both shape each other.
The Performance Night on 25 October will feature three performances.
16:00 – Biyi Zhu, a participant in the 2023-24 Advanced Master of Research in Arts and design program, will perform Re:Orientation, which explores digital kinship and queer migration.
17:00 – PhD researcher Mona Hedayati will present Curves and Reverbs III, the third in her series exploring sound affectivity. Mona’s work aims to evoke the intensity of migration and exile, using technology to make bodily rhythms both audible and visible. Her performance seeks to create a space of shared emotional experience, where technical apparatuses facilitate the transmission—or rather, the transduction—of affective intensities.
19:00 – PhD researcher Hoda Siahtiri, together with Azertyklavierwerke, will perform Scream Manifesto, a powerful sonic statement against war, violence, and the destruction of human and non-human life.
We’re also proud to announce the premiere of hold on to her, a feature film by dr. Robin Vanbesien, at the Ghent Film Festival on Wednesday, 16 October. This is a significant accomplishment and an affirmation of Robin’s important PhD research at Sint Lucas Antwerpen - ARIA, which he successfully completed in July 2024.
As we organize this SLARG Research Week, we also acknowledge that for the second consecutive research week we are witnessing the ongoing destruction of human and non-human life in Gaza, Palestine. We stand in solidarity with our Palestinian research partners and colleagues.
SLARG Research Week/ Exhibtion is therefore not a celebration, but a reminder and call to work together towards a world where justice prevails.