Aminata Cairo

Aminata Cairo is an anthropologist, psychologist, educator, storyteller, “love-worker”. She is an independent consultant “who works with people”. She is the former lector of Inclusive Education at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. She was the first and only lector of African descent in the Netherlands. Born and raised in the Netherlands to Surinamese parents, she left for the US to pursue her college education. She obtained Master’s Degrees in Clinical Psychology and Medical Anthropology and a Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology. As an international woman of color she experienced firsthand the challenges of diversity and inclusion. In her applied anthropological work with students, education and community organizations she has continually strived to promote inclusion at both the academic and the community level. She received the International Education Faculty Achievement Award and the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian award at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2013 for her efforts. In 2016 she received the Honorary Order of the Palm, a state decoration by the Government of Suriname for her contribution in culture. She is particularly interested in using her academic, artistic and community skills to support, honor and celebrate the voices and stories unheard, overlooked, silenced and marginalized.

Her work is exemplified in her book: Holding Space: A Storytelling Approach to Trampling Diversity and Inclusion (2021).

Stine Marie Jacobsen

Stine Marie Jacobsen is a conceptual artist working on long term participatory & educational projects such as Direct Approach, Law Shifters and Group-Think, where she engages a global public in sharing statements on violence, writing own laws and training collective intelligence. With a focus in law, violence, film, language and gender, she creates platforms for critical thinking and new ways of looking at ethics, identity, control, fear and trust. In Law Shifters, the artist engages young citizens in law and democracy by giving them the chance to act as both judges and lawmakers. The project makes young people discuss their political opinions, ethical views and sense of justice as they re-judge real court cases and write new law proposals that reflect the reality that they are part of today.
In 2015, Jacobsen was awarded an innovative educational grant from Node curatorial studies in Berlin and in 2016 she was awarded a peace Fellowship by the Rotary Foundation and won the Berlin Art Prize. Her work has been shown at the Manifesta Biennial 2020, Marseille, France, Momentum Biennale 2019, Moss, Norway, Riga Biennial, Latvia 2018 amongst many others.

Kai Syng Tan

Dr Kai Syng Tan FRSA SFHEA is a UK-based artist, academic and busybody. Kai seeks to catalyse conversations and actions for a more equitable and creative future, through mobilising artistic and artful processes to gather diverse/divergent ideas and people together, and trespass disciplinary/cultural/geopolitical boundaries. Kai’s work is distinct for its ‘eclectic style and cheeky attitude’ (The Sydney Morning Herald) and ‘positive atmosphere’ (The Guardian). Kai has ‘done the most’ (Filmer 2019) in re-framing running as an arts and humanities discourse. This draws on her PhD research at Slade School of Fine Art. Co-created with disabled colleagues, the £4m Opening and Closing Ceremonies of 8th ASEAN Para Games was applauded as ‘game-changing’ by the Singapore Association of the Deaf. The Pan African Congress 75th Anniversary Celebrations PAC@75 which she co-curated for Black History Month 2020 reached 18.2m worldwide. Her art-psychiatry commission #MagicCarpet has been enjoyed by more than 10,000 people and is ‘held as an innovative integration of art and science’ (Professor of Psychiatry Philip Asherson). Kai has taught in 100 HEI’s and is currently Senior Lecturer at Manchester School of Art. She has founded, co-chairs and/or volunteers for UK Adult ADHD Network, Hear Me Out, Running Cultures Research Group (90 members) and the Neurodiversity In/& Creative Research Network (300 members), and is the first artist on the Editorial board of the British Journal of Psychiatry Bulletin (University of Cambridge for Royal College of Psychiatrists).

CLOSING PANEL

Aslı Çiçek
Aslı Çiçek graduated from the architecture and design department of Academy of Fine Arts Munich. After working for several architecture offices in Europe she founded her practice in Brussels in 2015, with a focus on exhibition and interior architecture. From 2009 to 2020 has been a lecturer and guest professor in the interior architecture department of KU Leuven, campuses Brussels and Ghent. Currently she is professor in architecture departments of Hasselt University and of Ghent University. She regularly contributes to publications on architecture and art, co- edited the 11th Flemish Architectural Review and is member of the editorial board of OASE journal for architecture.

Yosser Dekker
Design Researcher, curator and owner of Bureau Ruimtekoers, Yosser Dekker works on urban and cultural research presented as accessible art and community projects. Together with artist, residents, public, local governments and entrepreneurs, Yosser uses the public space in cities to explore new ideas, dreams and directions for living together in future cities and communities.
Led by artists, designers, musicians and performers, Yosser invites creative practitioners to participate in a year-long residency and research project to explore the city and develop programmes which, in various ways, bring the line of discourse between the city council its local inhabitants back to a synergy. Through an accessible programme, Yosser is also able to reach diverse audiences prioritising simple but important daily practices which almost everyone holds dear, sharing ideas and stories through food and music. But the audience doesn’t just take a passive role, they are the central and active participatory ingredient in the programme. The creative space is opened out for people who might typically consider the cultural sector an uninviting place. In this way "cultural participation also receives another layer of meaning".

Mattias Staelens
Mattias Staelens is a co-founder of Horst Arts & Music and founding member of the Brussels based studio Onkruid. He studied architecture at Sint Lucas Ghent, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia and did field research regarding informal settings in Cape Town. For about four years Mattias gained experience in architecture within practices in Brussels and Antwerp. Gradually he put more effort in Horst Arts & Music, and gained interest in the design of temporary spaces and places at the intersection architecture, club culture and informal use. Up until today he is responsible for the architectural design and artistic coordination for Horst Arts & Music, and the projects of Onkruid Studio.

Mariske Broeckmeyer
Mariske Broeckmeyer (Belgium) is a Brussels-based singer and sound artist. Her work oscillates between avant-pop and voice collage. Broeckmeyer holds a Master of Jazz degree from Royal Conservatory Brussels and she is currently doing a PhD at LUCA School of Arts and KU Leuven on the artistic relation between migraine and music, and the aesthetics of a failing voice in a failing body. Broeckmeyer is part of the research constellation Deep Histories Fragile Memories. She presented her music in Reykjavik, New York and Belgium (AB Brussels, Handelsbeurs, Kunstencentrum Nona, STUK, etc.). Her first solo album entitled On Gods and Other Things was released on RAT Records in 2016. By Virtue of the Absurd, Broeckmeyer’s second album, was be released on WERF Records in October 2021. Broeckmeyer currently also collaborates with artist and researcher Wendy Morris. Together they have created several audio installations, presented in Belgium and São Paulo.

LUCA School of Arts

Even though LUCA School of Arts is a young art college, its history goes back more than 150 years. The art school combines the strengths and expertise of five renowned Flemish higher education institutions for art and design, in Brussels, Genk, Ghent and Leuven. Today it is the only university college in Flanders exclusively dedicated to art and design.
More than 3300 students can choose from over thirty programmes in Audio-visual Arts & Techniques, Interior & Product Design, Construction Technology, Music & Drama and Visual Arts & Design. LUCA School of Arts offers both professional and academic bachelor's degrees, master's degrees and advanced bachelor's and master's degrees. In co-operation with KU Leuven University, which LUCA is associated with, LUCA also offers a PhD-programme.
Students at LUCA School of Arts are taught by a dedicated team of renowned practising artists, designers and architects. Rather than imposing a particular style or way of working, the faculty guides students to find and formulate their own artistic solutions.
LUCA School of Arts works with numerous partners in Belgium and abroad. That is what makes LUCA what it is today: an intriguing biotope where creativity flourishes even after school hours.

The campus Sint-Lukas is the largest Brussels campus of LUCA School of Arts, situated between the Paleizenstraat, the Rogierstraat and the Groenstraat. This modern campus with historic reminiscences consists of two new and one renovated building designed by Polo.Architects.

Photo credits: Jeroen Lindeboom

KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture

The Faculty of Architecture, which originated from the Sint-Lucas programmes, stands for renowned architecture education. The history of the faculty and the proximity of the professional and academic art courses of LUCA School of Arts help determine its individuality. Lessons are given from teachers who are in practice and who enthusiastically transfer the knowledge and skills from their architectural office to students. The Faculty of Architecture offers an extensive range of programmes from Bachelor to Doctor, both Dutch and English, on two campuses: in Ghent and Brussels. The Faculty of Architecture is part of KU Leuven.

With the kind support of