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Two-week Intensive International Training in Belgium

13-25 November 2023

With Petra Van Brabandt Head of Research and Dr. Ann Laenen, Director of KdG Sint Lucas Antwerpen School of Arts

    • In November, the invigorating atmosphere of KdG Sint Lucas Antwerpen welcomed our SFAD and SOM participants, marking the commencement of an enriching exploration into the realms of artistic research and the 3-year international partnership of PWU and Karel de Grote Sint Lucas Anterpen. Throughout the 2-week intensive, participants engaged in individual presentations, workshops, discussions, and practical sessions on academic writing, methodologies, critical theory, sharing research, and art studio practice. The program concluded with participants equipped with enhanced research skills, deeper insights, and a network of connections to further their artistic research endeavors.

    On November 13 the group had an engaging tour of the school campus. From November 14 to 25, animated discussions resonated as participants ardently sought to define the essence of their research questions. Invited speakers from other Belgian and Dutch art institutions provided insight into their own artistic research journeys, sparking inspiration among the eager participants.

    Additionally, workshops dedicated to printmaking offered participants a hands-on experience in screen printing and Aquatint Engraving. These sessions became laboratories of creativity, fostering not just understanding but active engagement with these artistic processes, enriching the participants’ grasp of various research methodologies. They also established camaraderie amongst the participants.

    Speakers like Wendy Morris illuminated the path toward understanding artistic research publications, while Marnie Slater’s session on sharing research became poignant moments of reflection and guidance. Discussions also included the wide potential of artistic research, focusing on collective ways of working and social engagement. Lecturers from the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, sharing their artistic research from the field of music, also illuminated the group’s understanding that artistic research is not limited to the visual arts. For participants from the School of Music, the presentations of these artist researchers opened their eyes to possibilities by which music instruments can further be explored as part of artistic research.

    As the program drew to a close on November 24, a reflective aura settled upon the gathering. Discussions meandered through the intricacies of coaching junior faculty, shaping future paths, and offering constructive feedback. The program concluded not with finality, but with a sense of continuity, as participants crafted blueprints for the next steps of their artistic research, how these can contribute to the university’s requirements from faculty, as well as how to establish a Center for Artistic Research in PWU to support them. For the School of Music, artistic research impacts both the ethnomusicology and performance programs of the department. It can lead graduate students to an academic and performative track in which creative work is deftly combined with research; a pathway that has not been fully explored in academic programs in music conservatories. For the ethnomusicology program, artistic research opens a pathway by which ethnomusicologists are encouraged to be bi-musical as they explore the creative side of the music they are studying in the field. For the music performance program, artistic research refocuses student artists to look deeper into the performativity of music and reflect on the complexity of its processes. Artistic research allows a holistic approach to the study of music.

    In addition, the participation of the School of Music in the three-year program establishes an active collaboration with the School of Fine Arts and Design. This would mean a scope of the Center for Artistic Research that encompasses the visual, design, and musical arts. It also opens unlimited possibilities for collaborative work between the two schools to produce outstanding creative and research works. This aligns with the University’s thrust towards internationalization as it points the School of Fine Arts and Design and the School of Music to current global trends in research and artistic practices.

    Invited Guests from other institutions

    Dr. Vivi Touloumidi – (Royal Academy Antwerpen) is a contextual artist, researcher and a craftswoman trained in contemporary craft and jewellery. She is lecturer at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp and a co-curator of the artistic research seminar METHOD/ART .

    Florian Cramer – is a writer, photographer, filmmaker and theorist. He is a reader in 21st Century Visual Culture at Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam, an art and design school which is part of Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool Rotterdam).

    Dr.Garine Gokceyan – (Sint Lucas Antwerpen) is an independent graphic designer based in Brussels and born in Beirut, working on multidisciplinary pedagogic and social projects using Armenian, English, French and Arabic languages.

    Dr.Wendy Morris – (South African/Belgian) is an artist and professor in contemporary art at KU Leuven and LUCA. Unique to her current practice are her Libraries, Diaries, Dictionaries, Letters and Travelogues.

    Coaches and Facilitators

    Dr.Ann Laenen – is the Dean/director of the KdG Sint Lucas School of Arts Antwerp.

    Dr. Petra Van Brabandt – is the Head of Research of the KdG Sint Lucas School of Arts Antwerp.

    Dr.Kurt Vanbelleghem – is the director of the Centre for Unfinished Businesses and Open Future (KdG-SLKA alumni center), a curator, critic and publisher specialized in the field of contemporary artistic practices.

    Marnie Slater – is a visual artist from Aotearoa New Zealand, currently living in Brussels, whose work engages with multiple formats, including sculpture, collaboration, editing, performance, painting and installation.

    Annelys de Vet – is currently a PhD candidate at ARIA, a practice-led doctoral study at Sint Lucas School of Arts and University Antwerp, where she researches the conditions of design pedagogy to counteract oppression and injustice through the act of design.

    Dr. Kim Gorus – (Lecturer Master of Visual Arts : theory Researcher) is the artistic and financial director of KultuurKaffee, a multidisciplinary arts center at the heart of the Free University of Brussels (VUB).

    Participants

    • Teresita Mellanny A. Aquino – SFAD
    • Melanie S. Botor – SFAD
    • Ma. Bienvenida T . Candelaria – SFAD
    • Earl Clarence L. Jimenez – SOM
    • Amiel Kim Q. Kapitan – SOM
    • Sammuel A. Occeno – SFAD
    • Mervy C. Pueblo – SFAD
    • Josephine L. Turalba – SFAD

    Subjective Mapping Workshop with Annalys De Vet