Designers in Residence Kortrijk 2023 (Belgium)

The residency program will run from Friday 1st of September to Thursday 26th of October, 2023.

During this period the three designers in residence will take inspiration from the community in Kortrijk, and work in relation to the varied approaches to “PHENOMENA” of other artists.

You will produce contextual work, investigating the nature of reality. You will take part in inspiring excursions and talks and will be mentored by curators Laure Decock and Lise Van Tendeloo.

PHENOMENA is an inquiry into the nature of reality. Since ancient times, man has questioned his surrounding environment. From Plato’s Allegory of the Cave to the dystopian future of The Matrix, the visible universe has been compared to the metaphorical tip of the iceberg.

As science continues formulating ever more detailed answers the essence of how the world is created remains elusive. In this quest for the substance of elementary particles, the properties of matter were investigated resulting in the molecular and atomic models governed by physics and chemistry. As the atom (named after the ancient Greek atomos: that what cannot be cut) was quickly after its discovery found to be itself made up of electrons, protons and neutrons, which in their turn are now divided into fermions such as quarks and other subatomic particles. It appears that each answer generates further questions, and ultimately the world as we know it seems to evaporate into thin air...

According to scientific models, everything we perceive as matter and seem to touch is actually interacting electromagnetic fields constructed from countless interacting particles moving at incredible speed in what is for the largest part empty space. In quantum field theory, the notion of the particle moving in space is abandoned in favour of probability distributions and wavefunctions.

Mysteriously, quantum mechanics approximates one of the central principles of Buddhism: the illusory nature of all things. According to these teachings all things, especially thoughts, perceptions and feelings, are the creations of our own minds obscuring the ultimate reality from our view. Experiments in physics confirm that the act of observation itself determines the result, a photon is both a particle and a wave until you decide how to measure it. Ultimately, the reality is what you make it.

Apply here. Deadline: June 23, 2023.