The CCQOfficers

Pascal Gielen (1970) is full professor of sociology of culture and politics at the Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts (Antwerp University – Belgium) where he leads the Culture Commons Quest Office (CCQO). Gielen is editor of the international book series Antennae – Arts in Society (Valiz). In 2016 he became laureate of the Odysseus grant for excellent international scientific research of the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders in Belgium. In 2022 he was appointed by the Flemish Government as curator for conference Culture Talks. Gielen has published many books which are translated in Chinese, English, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian. His research focuses on creative labour, the common, aesthetics, urban and cultural politics. Gielen works and lives in Antwerp, Belgium.

Aart van der Maas is a PhD researcher at the University of Antwerp for the Department of Sociology and ARIA (the Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts). His research focuses on the relationship between culture commons and community cultural centers (in Dutch: wijkcultuurhuizen) in Utrecht. Van der Maas studied musicology at the University of Amsterdam. He currently works at HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht as education manager for the master in Community Development and as a researcher/coordinator for the focus group on the social impact of art and culture within the Research group Participation and Urban Development. During his career, Aart worked as a musician, composer, director, teacher and chairman for various social, cultural and educational organizations.

Further information about Aart can be found here (in Dutch):

https://www.hu.nl/onderzoek/onderzoekers/aart-van-der-maas

Alexandra Tryanova is a Ukrainian independent curator based in Antwerp. She holds Master’s degrees in cultural studies and law, and in 2022 she graduated from the KASK Curatorial studies course. She was a curator at the Museum of Odesa Modern Art (2018/19) and the PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv (2019/21). Since 2017 she has been running an independent non-production residency Kunsthalle Lustdorf based on a temporary independent artistic and curatorial associations for open practices and technologies in the area of the Green Valley in the suburbs of Odesa.

Alexandra Tryanova’s curatorial interests are focused on the research of recreational practices and their transformation with contemporary art, gender, institutional critique, and Eastern European post-war avant-gardes. Currently, she is developing research on the role of horizontal relations and collective work in conceptual practices in the art of Odesa in the 1980’s, activating discussion on the notion of subordination, periphery, landscape, artistic autonomy, and knowledge exchange.

Alexandros Kioupkiolis is Associate Professor of Contemporary Political Theory at Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece. He has studied Classics (BA, University of Athens), and Contemporary Political Theory (MA, Essex University, DPhil, Oxford University). His research interests are focussed on radical democracy, the commons, social movements, and the philosophy of freedom.

He has directed an ERC COG project on these topics (Heteropolitics, 2017-2020), and has published numerous relevant books and papers, including the monographs Τhe Common and Counter-hegemonic Politics (Edinburgh University Press 2019), Common Hegemony, Populism, and the New Municipalism: Democratic Alter-Politics and Transformative Strategies (Routledge 2022).

Andrea Marsili is a young researcher with a strong interest in public art. He holds a BA in Art Studies and Policy and is concluding a Research Master’s with a concentration in cultural sociology, while working as a research assistant at CCQO. His previous studies have focused on  cultural practices in the urban fabric, especially on their role in the processes of social innovation after traumatic experiences. What he is fond of is understanding how culture transforms the state of things. This means that his interests range from culture-led urban regeneration, to contemporary art practices (including grassroots digital creative expressions) and art-led community and urban development.

He recently collaborated with Stroom Den Haag, publishing on social interaction and artistic intervention in the post-pandemic public space. To know more about the project: 
​https://walkingseminar.stroom.nl/essay/this-too-shall-pass-urban-interventions-artistic-interventions-and-new-visions-in-public-space/​

Anna Geukens is preparing an application as PhD researcher. She wants to research culture (policy) in an international context. The working title is: ‘The (meaning and the) role of culture in geopolitics and international relations’, case studies Japan, South Korea.

Some of you, know her, others don’t …

In 2021 she was involved in a research trajectory with CCQO and M HKA. The aim was to concretise the concept ‘constituent museum’ to a specific museum taking account of its context.

Anna worked at different culture policy levels, provincial, Flemish Community (culture cabinet, administration) and at the European Commission (DG EAC), studying and advising on culture policy development with a focus on visual arts and design, (eu)regional and European cooperation, finance opportunities, mobility of artists & culture professionals, international relations, … .

She participated in different kinds of working groups and managed culture projects in visual arts, design and heritage. For some time she was preparing the foundation of the Provincial Centre of Visual Arts and (ad interim) leading it. She is interested in multidisciplinary approaches, her personal driver is lifelong learning.

ANNELYS DEVET (she/her, 1974, NL) is a designer, researcher and educator based near Brussels. Her practice focusses on long-term participative design projects that engage in social and political struggles. She founded the temporary masters programme ‘Disarming Design’ (2019–2022) committed to design practices in situations of oppression, at the Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam – where she headed the MA in Design from 2009 to 2019. De Vet currently holds a position as PhD researcher at ARIA (Antwerp Research Instituut for the Arts). In 2012 she co-founded the design platform ‘Disarming Design from Palestine’ that fosters thought-provoking design from Palestine. She initiated Subjective Editions that map countries from inside out, from a human perspective; publications include Subjective Atlas of Brussels (2018), Subjective Atlas of Colombia (2015), Subjective Atlas of Pakistan (2018) and Subjective atlas of Amsterdam (forthcoming, 2022). She edited ‘Design Dedication, adaptive mentalities in design education’ (Valiz, 2019) and regularly lectures on topics such as alternative cartography, critical pedagogy, and relational design practices, among others at KASK Ghent, Lasalle Singapore, Design Academy Eindhoven, ISIA Urbino, Fabrica, Bolzano University, Gothenburg University, Polish-Japanese Academy Warsaw, Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano Bogota, HEAD Geneva, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, Beacon house National University Lahore, Indus Valley School of arts and architecture Karachi, Designskolen Kolding, Granada Center for Visual Anthropology and The Glasgow School of Art.

www.bureaudevet.be

www.subjectiveeditions.org

www.disarmingdesign.com

www.weavingfutures.lu

www.dailydecisions.space

www.uncommonsessions.space

Arne Herman (1991) is a researcher in the field of music aesthetics at the University of Antwerp. His research pivots around questions of sustainability in the field of symphony orchestras. The influence of the musical canon on aesthetic development, social patterns and organisational structures of symphony orchestras, will be the main focus for cases studies in Amsterdam, Berlin, London and Antwerp. Arne Herman holds a master’s degree in Musicology and a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the KU Leuven and a master’s degree in Clarinet from the LUCA School of Arts. As a freelance dramaturg, Arne Herman was engaged in various projects for Flanders Opera House, La Monnaie and Flanders Festival. In 2014, his master’s thesis on German romantic music aesthetics was awarded the René Lenaerts Prize by the Royal Flemish Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2017, an extended version of this book will be published as Gesamtkunstwerk: de ontwikkeling van een idee (Gesamtkunstwerk: the development of an idea). Arne Herman is regularly invited as a guest speaker and writer at deSingel, Concertgebouw Bruges, Flemish Opera House, La Monnaie, Bozar and Davidsfonds.

Publications

Arturo Cancio Ferruz is a researcher in the context of the Postdoctoral Program from the Basque Country Government. His current research focuses on the presence of commoning art practices on the Internet. He carries out this study as a researcher of Gizaartea research group at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU and the Culture Commons Quest Office. He also collaborated with OXOt vzw as an external advisor of the wwiw ERASMUS+ project. 

Bart Caron researches the foundations, characteristics and conditions of a progressive cultural policy. The pursuit of a cultural policy – arts, heritage, social-cultural work, participation … – cuts just as much through the ideological and political fault lines as social economic policy. Although there are very different policy choices within the political spectrum (an absent or very limited versus generous support for artists and art organizations; different emphasis on art participation; a small versus important role for market forces, etc.), the difference between a conservative and progressive cultural policy is rarely or never explicitly stated.

Bart Caron was a Flemish parliament representative and chairman of the Committee for Culture, Youth, Sport and Media in the Flemish Parliament. Before that, he was head of cabinet for Culture, Youth and Sport with two ministers of the Flemish government. Previous to that, he worked as a culture officer for the City of Kortrijk, as a staff member for Culture at the Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities and was coordinator of Bruges 2002 (European Capital of Culture). He is also a double bass player with various ensembles.He is the author of the books “Niet de kers op de taart. Waarom kunst- en cultuurbeleid geen luxe is,” and “Vanop de Frontlijn, Reflecties bij het cultuurbeleid” together with Guy Redig.

Benjamin Ikoma is a multidisciplinary artist and designer based in Antwerp. He works in the cultural field and experiments with traditional crafts and high technology. Simultaneously he instigates communal spaces and events for experiment.

In 2020 he co-founded the artist run space Onder Stroom in Antwerp were he curated and organised happenings. At this moment he’s working on various projects in collaboration with Cameltown.

Denise Pollini is a researcher, educator, and curator who lives between Porto, Portugal, and Antwerp, Belgium. She is currently developing a Ph.D. at the University of Antwerp under the theme “The Commons and Museums: the Commons as a Pathway to a New Institutional Dynamic.” Her research engages with the concept of Commons to propose New Institutionalities in relation to Museums. 

Since 2022, she has been a member of the Research Center “Culture Commons Quest Office '' (CCQO) in Antwerp, led by sociologist of culture Pascal Gielen.

Between 2015 and 2021, she was Head of Education at the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto, Portugal, and previously held the same position at the Museum of Brazilian Art São Paulo, Brazil, between 1999 and 2015.

In 2023, he curated, together with Pascal Gielen, the international conference and workshops: “Common: For the Politics and Aesthetics of Sharing”, held in São Paulo, Brazil, at Sesc (Serviço Social do Comércio). An initiative of SESC - SP, University of Antwerp, Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal and Consulate of Belgium in São Paulo.

As an academic background, Denise Pollini holds a master’s degree in Performing Arts from the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, and a degree in Visual Arts from Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation (FAAP), Brazil. She has been a fellow of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), in Portugal since 2022.

Giuliana Ciancio is a postdoc researcher, curator, cultural manager and lecturer in the live performing arts.

In her PhD – titled “Cultural policy and emotional clusters in the post-global context.Performing arts and emotions between top-down and bottom-up negotiations” – Giuliana focuses on the role that emotions play in the negotiations between top-down cultural policymaking and bottom-up cultural practices. The EU Creative Europe programme, with the implementation of its Audience Development (AD) priority, and the city context of Naples, with its season of the commons, are the two key case studies.

Starting from the performing arts sector, on the one hand, she analyses the various forms of cultural participation and civil engagement in their mutations in a period of significant global phenomena between the 2008 financial crisis and the one starting with the global spread of the Covid-19 virus in 2020. On the other hand, she looks at the behaviors embraced by policymakers, activists, political actors, artists, curators, cultural professionals, the change of emotional status and hence the impact of the latter on the cultural policymaking. So, while  scrutinizing the global interdependency in which these participatory practices have grown, flying into personal attitudes and beliefs, she questions if we are going into a new phase defined as a post-global condition.

Being profoundly convinced of the key role of cultural cooperation in the development of nowadays societies, together with her research path, in her career Giuliana has been also the co-author and curator of awarded project proposals at national and European level. Since 2014, she is the co-curator and project manager of “Be SpectACTive!”, an EU-funded large-scale project on active spectatorship in the performing arts sector realized together with 19 partners in 15 European countries. In 2018 she founded the Italian social enterprise Liv.in.g. (Live Internationalization Gateway) aiming to support cultural organizations in international cultural cooperative processes.

(photo: Vitor Barros)

Publications

Born in Milan, Ilaria Lupo is a visual artist who has been based out of the Middle East (Palestine/Lebanon) from 2006 to 2018. She develops a public space practice through participative projects, with a research focusing on issues of political ecology.

She collaborated with several organizations in the Middle East and in Europe, such as Ashkal Alwan, The Beirut Art Center, The Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, 98 weeks, APEAL, T.A.P. Temporary Art Platform, Al Riwaq Art Space, Heinrich Boell Foundation, Institut Français Du Liban, Zoukak Theatre, Al-Mahatta Gallery, The Middelheim Museum, AIR Antwerpen, FARE, Archiviazioni, ZK/U Berlin.

Jan Beddegenoodts is a documentary filmmaker and the mayor of CAMELTOWN.

He uses a cinematographic style to portray people with their passion and struggles. His work zooms in on a micro-reality to bring urgent matters to a world wide audience. You can watch his films online at www.cameltown.org

As a psychiatric nursing lecturer and creative therapist, Joost Willems relies on art as an influential means in the recovery process of vulnerable people as it helps break down the barriers to integration and resocialization. Some 15 years ago, he was at the foundations of OXOt vzw, an inclusive platform for artists running on volunteers that operates in Westerlo Ghent and Antwerp. As a sculptor, he was involved in several collective artworks in addition to his individual work. His practice interfaces with classical, primitive, and pop art, with a specific interest in outsider art. A strong social commitment can be noticed in his work, as he uses art as a glue to connect, as a pill that increases well-being, and as an antidote to stigma.

Karina Beumer holds an interactive artistic practice which stays alive by being in conversation with — or being captivated by — something or someone else. She makes drawings of conversations, situations and observations and does real life actions that she approaches as a case study or unannounced performance. In a dream-like universe she connects banal issues with personal fantasies using strategies of existing structures such as pop songs, blockbusters and live action role playing.

In 2020, Beumer hired a substitute to take over her artistic practice. In 2021, together with Peter Lemmens, she organized the UHF Film Fest in Antwerp’s last video store. Beumer published several books (via Geen Pijn productions), for example Terms of Conditions, a choose-your-own-adventure book about a freelancer who fires herself (and is fired by herself at the same time). In 2022 her film '(…)' was released, a mental journey through someone else’s head.

Katinka de Jonge (1989, NL) lives and works in Antwerp (BE). In her artistic work she explores ‘locality’, focusing on the complex relationships between design and everyday life, emphasizing on polyphony and the function of language and dialogue in specific contexts. This can be a neighbourhood, but also an (art) organization or a specific (oral) history surrounding a building, a park, a monument… She works with different media, which are often approached in a participatory way: audio, text, performance and (spatial) installations are recurring forms. The works try to break with the idea of the work of art as unique and explore the possibilities of ‘publishing’ in the broad sense – often work is done in editions, multiples, and series (see, for ex., ‘Dudas’, 2020; ‘About Us’ , 2022).

In recent years her work has been shown at and/or supported by (among others) M Hka, Netwerk Aalst, KAAP, CIAP, Extra City, Werktank De Koer and Vooruit. She is currently a PhD researcher at Hasselt University, investigating the boundary between artwork and artist-run organization, in which the precarious socio-economic position of the artist is central. In the context of this project, an official organizational structure is set up that functions simultaneously as a work of art. The organization is a mobile platform that explores and tests different models of artistic (self-)organization through relationships and collaborations with artists and non-artists.

De Jonge has worked in various collaborations (including the artist-run organisation Sorry, as a duo with Liesje De Laet, Tina Cake Line) and has a broad interest in how a collective artistic practice is organized.

Kato Everaert is a PhD researcher at the University of Antwerp for the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Physiotherapy. Her research focusses on elucidation of psychological and social risk factors for low back pain in dancers. Kato received her Bachelor and Master degree as a physiotherapist at the University of Antwerp. She wrote her master thesis about injuries in young dancers and won the price of “Best Master Thesis” in the department Rehabilitation Science and Physiotherapy. Kato is since 2019 a member of HeArts (healthcare for Artists), a collaboration between the University of Antwerp and the University Hospital Antwerp. She works together with ARIA (Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts) to gain more insights of the social factors related to low back pain in dancers.

Katrien Reist – van Gelder is a Brussels-based, curator, researcher, art activist, producer, art-worker, policy advisor and transition coach to both individual artists and art organisations. She is currently co-coordinating the platform State of the Arts (SOTA).

Educated as an artist in the field of ‘public art’ (art in public space), her practice is driven by a deep interest in the systemic relations between art production and the financial – and organisational structures that enable it. Since the mid 90’s, Katrien has researched artist driven and self-managed models, of both art organisations and individual art practices and (local) cultural policy towards the needs of emerging art practice. Katrien is founding member of Jubilee, a platform for artistic research and arp: Brussels and worked as a project coordinator and business manager for a.o. Extra City Kunsthal Antwerp, Institute for Human Activities (Renzo Martens), Netwerk Aalst, iMAL Brussels.

With the 2024 elections on the way, Katrien Reist is currently investigating the notion of the ‘representation’ of the Flemish art field in the political realm. Questioning the legitimacy of the classical organisation of the so-called ‘social partners’, their hierarchical and hegemonic organisation structures, she is interested in reorganising the dynamics of classical representational bodies (i.a. working unions, network and lobby organisations, advisory boards etc.) and restructure them towards more inclusive and participatory forms, that include newly emerged voices and currently informal consultative structures, that need recognition. Aim would be to ameliorate and strengthen the relationship between politics, the governmental/ administrative bodies and the public parties/civil society and repair their relation to daily practices and realities ‘on the workflow’.

Within this focus, Katrien is working on these projects.

Guitarist Kobe Van Cauwenberghe is a dedicated performer of the music of today. He holds master’s degrees from the Conservatory of Ghent and the Manhattan School of Music in New York. He performed concerts all over the world both as soloist as in different formations. In 2015 he released his first solo CD on the New York label Carrier-records, which was internationally acclaimed in Wire Magazine and others.In 2017 he created the project ‘No [more] Pussyfooting’, with music by Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, with which he toured on various international stages and festivals.

Van Cauwenberghe is currently affiliated with the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp for an artistic research project on the music of Anthony Braxton.

Van Cauwenberghe is a member of the electric guitar quartet Zwerm, which he co-founded in 2007, and he is also a permanent member of the Nadar Ensemble. With guitarist Matthias Koole he forms the guitar duo Oh Mensch with whom he received a scholarship for a residency at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart. As a freelance guitarist he regularly plays with the Ictus ensemble in Brussels and has been a guest with various international ensembles such as 2E2M, Wet Ink, Talea, Signal a.o.

Publication: A ritual of openness. The (meta-)reality of Anthony Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music

Recordings:

• Ghost Trance Solos, all that dust, 2020
• Ghost Trance Septet plays Anthony Braxton, el Negocito Records, 2022

Koen Wynants (1979) transformed into a commoner and a commonist. After his master studies (Biology), Wynants started his career in 2003 as one of the first 13 ‘local environmental health workers’ in Flanders. As a ‘neutral’, governmental mediator/facilitator, he brought together different actors and stakeholders to co-govern complex, heavy metal hotspots in the Campine area. In 2010 he ‘switched’ his career/role. He started working for the citizens collective ‘Antwerp speaks’.  For more then seven years he tried to start up participatory policy processes. But now from the bottom up in his hometown Antwerp. In 2018 Wynants founded Commons Lab, the first citizen driven ‘Commons lab’. Commons lab got structural funding from the Flemish government since January 2021. Since January 2022, Commons Lab and CCQO collaborate started a ‘academic-collective’ partnership, they share their office, networks, knowledge, …

​

Lara García Díaz is doctor in social sciences and hybridizes fields of action such as academic and artistic research, cultural mediation, social participation, pedagogy and critical thinking. Her work relates to studies on precarity politics, psychopathologies, ethics of care and cultural and urban commons in the European context. Her research can be found in a variety of books, exhibitions, journals or fanzines and it has been translated into languages such as English, Spanish, Italian, Dutch or Thai. Lara is co-founder of the feminist cultural collective Larre and has shared ideas in spaces such as Oslo Biennale (Norway, 2019), ZonaMACO (México, 2020) or Thailand Biennale (Thailand, 2021).

Currently, Lara is a collaborator lecturer at universities such as Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and Instituto Europeo Design (IED), participates in research projects and European networks such as Arc-hive or University of Possibilities, and coordinates and co-facilitates Larre’s long-term project Te(n) Cuidado.

Publications

Maria Francesca De Tullio is post-doc researcher in Constitutional Law at the Federico II University of Naples. She was on research stay at the Université Paris 2 Panthéon Assas in 2017 and then post-doc researcher at the University of Antwerp within the EU project Cultural and Creative Spaces and Cities. She is a member of the “Constitutions in the Age of the Internet” IACL research group and of the RICDP – Red Internacional de Cátedras, Instituciones y Personalidades sobre el Estudio de la Deuda Pública. Among other publications, she authored a monograph on “Substantial Equality and New Dimensions of Political Participation”.

Her post-doc is funded by European Union (PON R&I 2014-2020) within a research project concerning the use of digital technology in the agricultural sector, with a focus on the new ‘right to food’, currently guaranteed by Article 117, paragraph 1, of the Italian Constitution and by international treaties. The aim of the project is to protect the right to food, which is a projection of the right to health (Art. 32 Const.) and the duty of rational land use (Art. 44 Const.).

Her main research areas are: commons, cultural policies, counter-terrorism and legal states of emergency, Internet law, European economic governance.

Additionally, she engaged as an activist and juridical expert in the dialogue on commons between grassroots movements and administration in different cities of Italy.

Publications

Marija Maruna (1968) is a full professor at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade. She teaches courses in the field of planning theory, urban governance and strategic urban design. She is the head of the Laboratory for Planning Culture and Spatial Policy Design at the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade. Her research focuses on urban governance and planning in post-socialist transition, spatial development politics and higher education in planning.

She became laureate of several national awards and recognitions for her scientific, research, professional and mentoring work, among which are the award of the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce for the best doctoral dissertation (2010), First Prize for Publication of the Association of Landscape Architects of Serbia (2017), First Prize for Publication at the Salon of Urbanism (2020), Charter on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Association of Engineers and Technicians of Serbia (2019) and Grand Prix of the Architecture Salon in Belgrade (2022).

https://raf.arh.bg.ac.rs/browse?type=author&value=Maruna%2C+Marija

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9015-0683

Nikolay Karabinovych (born 1988, Odesa, Ukraine) lives and works between Antwerpen, Belgium and Kyiv, Ukraine. Graduated from the National University Mechnikov, Department of Philosophy, Odesa. In 2020, he graduated from HISK (Higher Institute for Fine Arts) in Ghent. In 2017, Karabinovych was an assistant curator of the 5th Odesa Biennale. In 2020 and 2018, he was awarded the first PinchukArtCentre Prize. The artist works in a variety of media, including video, sound, text, and performance.

Nikolay Karabinovych touches on complex personal and collective histories in his work. He tries to make these visible, to commemorate them and to search for contemporary translations of these stories.

Mirjam van Tilburg just finished her PhD at the Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts and the University of Antwerp (ARIA). ‘Studies in kunstvakidiotie’ is the doctoral research of Mirjam van Tilburg. This is a study in arts education from within the arts. She tries to shift the dominant image of life-long-learning (LLL) and provide insight into the possibilities that this LLL space also provides to art teachers.

Mirjam van Tilburg is a researcher and lecturer at the Master of Arts Education at Fontys Academy of the Arts in Tilburg. She is trained as a fine artist and educator and resides in Rotterdam. She teaches, observes, reflects, writes, and does research in art education.

Robin Vanbesien is an artist, filmmaker, researcher and educator. In his work, he explores the intricate reciprocities between artistic poetics and social practices. His recent projects, ‘the wasp and the weather’ (2018-2020) and ‘Solidarity Poiesis’ (2016-2018) – including film, installation, performance, study circle, workshop, writing – commit to the study of the poetics and imaginaries of various self-organized and emancipatory social practices. Vanbesien is a Ph.D. candidate at ARIA, a practice-led doctoral study at University Antwerp and Sint Lucas School of Arts. At the latter, he is also the coordinator of the MA in a Socio-Political Context. Vanbesien’s work has been presented widely internationally: Centre Pompidou (Paris), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), Contour Biennale (Mechelen), Athens Biennale, Sculpture International Rotterdam, WIELS (Brussels), Lumiar Cité (Lisbon), Netwerk (Aalst), Mu.ZEE (Ostend), Beursschouwburg (Brussels), Extra City Kunsthal (Antwerp), Vooruit (Ghent). His last publication is ‘Solidarity Poiesis: I Will Come and Steal You’ (b_books: Berlin, 2017).

Sigrid Bosmans currently works as Head of Policy Development for Culture for the City of Mechelen. She is vice-chairman of the Strategic Advisory board for the Sector Council Culture and Heritage in Flanders. Previously she was director of the Museum Hof van Busleyden for which she developed a museum concept that placed participation at the heart of the museum. One of these participatory projects was De Grond der Dingen (The Ground of Things). In collaboration with ARSENAAL/LAZARUS they work on this long term project in which every citizen of Mechelen received a square meter of ground to build a shared future together.

Sigrid Bosmans wants to investigate how experimental practices and needs of artistic and heritage communities can give meaning to urban (Mechelen) cultural policies (participation, cooperation, and innovation). What can these experiments mean for the day to day operations of urban cultural players? How can you moderate an open attitude to the field of tension between policy and community, innovation and stability, process and product and create a shared space for debate on this issue so that it becomes meaningful for policy makers, cultural players and society?

Thijs Lijster (1981) studied philosophy at the University of Groningen and the New School for Social Research in New York. In 2012 he received his PhD in philosophy (cum laude) at the University of Groningen, for a dissertation on Walter Benjamin’s and Theodor W. Adorno’s concepts of art criticism. He lectured on philosophy of art and culture at the Faculties of Philosophy and Arts of the University of Groningen, and the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Amsterdam. Currently he is researcher at the Culture Commons Quest Office of the University of Antwerp and assistant professor of philosophy of art and culture at the department of Arts, Culture and Media studies of the University of Groningen. Lijster won several awards: in 2009 he received the ABG/VN Essay prize, in 2010 the Dutch/Flemish Prize for Young Art Criticism, and in 2015 the NWO/Boekman dissertation award. He contributed to books such as Conceptions of Critique in Modern and Contemporary Philosophy (eds. De Boer and Sonderegger), Institutional Attitudes and No Culture, No Europe (ed. Gielen) and was coeditor of De Nieuwe Duitse Filosofie (The New German Philosophy, 2013), De Kunst van Kritiek (The Art of Critique, 2015), and Spaces for Criticism. Shifts in Contemporary Art Discourses (2015). He is also a regular contributor to magazines such as De Groene Amsterdammer and Metropolis M. He recently published the book De grote vlucht inwaarts. Essays over cultuur in een onoverzichtelijke wereld (The greap leap inward. Essays on culture in a complex world). In 2017 his book Walter Benjamin and Theodor W. Adorno on Art and Art Criticism: Critique of Art will be published by Amsterdam University Press.

Publications

Thomas R. Moore (1980) studied music performance at Indiana University (1998-2002), the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp (2004-2007), and earned a PhD in the Arts from the University of Antwerp in 2022. He is currently the trombonist and conductor of Nadar Ensemble as well as head of the brass department and lecturer of artistic research at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp.

www.thomasrmoore.co.uk

thomas@thomasrmoore.co.uk

Vivi Touloumidi is a contextual artist, researcher and a craftswoman. She is interested in exploring adornment as a multifaceted cultural phenomenon and in its manifestations of the human condition, while taking into consideration today’s social challenges. Her practice investigates the wearable and the body-related object as a medium of agency to carry sociopolitical messages, evoke discourse and position the body in the public realm.

Since 2010, her work has been published and shown in museum exhibitions internationally, such as the Pinakothek der Moderne (DE), CODA Museum (NL), Grassimuseum (DE), Imatra  Art Museum (FI), ITAMI Museum (JP), Hellenic Museum (AUS), World Crafts Council (BE) and Lithuanian National Museum (LT). Art fairs include SOFA (USA) and COLLECT (UK), while her artworks belong to the public collections of Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim (DE) and the MARZEE Collection (NL), among others.

She is lecturer at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp (2018-present), a co-curator of the artistic research seminar METHOD/ART and contributing author for Art Jewellery Forum. Vivi was born and studied in Athens, Greece, before continuing her education in Germany and Canada. She holds an MFA in the Crafts from Konstfack University in Stockholm and concluded a PhD in the Arts at ARIA and University of Antwerp.

Vivi’s research is an on-going enquiry into the social significance of wearable craft and body-related objects in engaging with the current times. On this trajectory, in 2022 her publication “Pharmakos” was launched, as also her article in Forum+ magazine under the same title. She has been repeatedly an invited speaker on the theme at events such as PARSE, the 4th Biennial Research Conference in Sweden.

For more info and recent news—>  website: www.vivitouloumidi.com

Walter van Andel is professor on creative entrepreneurship at the University of the Arts, Utrecht (HKU), and previously worked as a researcher on entrepreneurship and creativity at the University of Antwerp, and the Erasmus University Rotterdam. His research focuses on the role of business models in harnessing organizational tensions at creative companies. In 2012 he authored the book “Creative Jumpers” in which business models for fast-growing companies in creative industries are examined. Walter received a bachelor and master degree in economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam, and a MBA from Western Illinois University. Before joining the Culture Commons Quest Office of the University of Antwerp, Walter worked as a program manager for international educational programs in the United States and Mexico, was a marketing research analyst at the academic competence center Institute Intelligence of Western Illinois University and worked as a researcher and instructor at Antwerp Management School. In 2020, Walter obtained his PhD with his dissertation titled: “Balancing the creative business model”.

Publications

Selected publications

Journal articles

• Van Andel, W. (2020). Balancing the creative business model. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 40(2), 230–246.
• Van Andel, W. (2019). Tactical Shapeshifting in Business Modeling. Journal of Business Models, 7(4), 53–58.
• Gielen, P., Volont, L., & Van Andel, W. (2018). Creativity under pressure. The effects of de-institutionalization and marketization on creative labour. Art and Identity Politics, 19, 15–34.

Book

• Van Andel, W., & Vandenbempt, K. (2012). Creative jumpers: Businessmodellen in creatieve industrieën. Leuven: Acco. (in Dutch)

Book chapters

• Van Andel, W. (2019). Een cultureel businessmodel in balans. In A. Schramme & B. Delft (Eds.), Businessmodellen in de culturele sector. Hype, noodzaak of schrikbeeld? (pp. 15–26). Leuven, Belgium: Lannoo Campus.
• Van Andel, W., & Volont, L. (2018). Blockchain: Tragedy in Cyberspace? How the Commoner Could Benefit from the Free-Rider. In N. Dockx & P. Gielen, Exploring Commonism – A New Aesthetics Of The Real. Amsterdam: Valiz.
• Schramme, A., & Van Andel, W. (2018). Businessmodellen in de modesector. Theorie en praktijk. In R. Houben, G. Straetmans, E. Van Zimmeren, & Vanhees (Eds.), Mode & Recht (pp. 15–31). Antwerp, Belgium: Intersentia.
• Van Andel, W., & Schramme, A. (2015). Exploring entrepreneurial actions of creative entrepreneurs and its consequences for entrepreneurship education. In O. Kuhlke, A. Schramme, & R. Kooyman (Eds.), Creating cultural capital. (pp. 56-68). Delft, the Netherlands, Eburon Academic Publishers.
• Van Andel, W., Demol, M., & Schramme, A. (2014). Internationalization strategies of the fashion industry. In A. Schramme, F. Rinaldi, & K. Nobbs (Eds.), Fashion Management (pp. 101–122). Tielt, Belgium: Lannoo Publishers.
• Van Andel, W., Jacobs, S., & Schramme, A. (2014). Contribution of the creative industries to innovation. In A. Schramme, R. Kooyman, & G. Hagoort (Eds.), Beyond Frames: Dynamics between the creative industries, knowledge institutions and the urban context (pp. 20–28). Delft, the Netherlands: Eburon Publishers.
• Van Andel, W. (2013). De noodzaak van groei. In A. Schramme (Ed.), Geld & Cultuur. Cultureel ondernemerschap in financieel moeilijke tijden. Leuven: Lannoo Campus. (in Dutch)

Research reports

• Van Andel, W., & Schramme, A. (2015). Creatieve Industrieën In Vlaanderen: Mapping En Bedrijfseconomische Analyse. Leuven: Flanders DC – Antwerp Management School kenniscentrum.
• Barth, B., Van Andel, W., Schramme, A., & Roelofs, B. (2015). Inventarisatie en studie mediasector Vlaanderen. Analyse en clusterstrategie. Antwerpen/Nijmegen: Antwerp Management School / Buck Consultants.
• Marichal, K., & Van Andel, W. (2013). Ontwikkeling van beginnend ondernemerschap. Antwerpen: Antwerp Management School.
• Kenis, P., Michielsens, P., & Van Andel, W. (2013). Kom op tegen Planlast! Antwerp: Antwerp Management School.
• Jacobs, S., Demol, M., Van Andel, W., & Schramme, A. (2013). Bijdrage van de creatieve industrieën tot een innovatief Vlaanderen. Leuven: Flanders DC – Antwerp Management School kenniscentrum.
• Jacobs, S., Van Andel, W., Huysentruyt, M., & Schramme, A. (2012). Dominante denkkaders in de creatieve industrieën in Vlaanderen. Leuven: Flanders DC – Antwerp Management School kenniscentrum.​

Louis Volont (1989) is a Belgian sociologist, active at the crossroads between urban and theoretical sociology. He was a member of the CCQO between 2016 and 2021. During those years he wrote a PhD concerning the architectural production and (post-)politicization of ‘common spaces’ in Antwerp, Rotterdam and London (Shapeshifting: The Cultural Production of Common Space, Antwerp University Press). Subsequently, he was a Fulbright post-doctoral fellow at MIT’s Program in Art, Culture & Technology, where he co-taught the course Arts & The Public Sphere. Currently, Louis holds a postdoc position at the HafenCity University Hamburg, where he is a member of the ‘Urban Future-Making’ research group. He now performs a three-year inquiry into social imaginaries of energy production in London and Helsinki. Louis’ work has been featured in journals such as City & Community, Antipode, Space & Culture and Social Inclusion. He lives in Hamburg and loves dogs.

Marlies De Munck (°1979) studied at the Institute of Philosophy in Leuven and was visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York. In 2012 she obtained a PhD in the philosophy of music with a dissertation on the concept of musical meaning. She currently teaches at the Philosophy Department of the University of Antwerp and is supervisor of artistic research at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp and the Royal Conservatory of Ghent. She regularly gives lectures on themes in the philosophy of music and publishes articles on various topics in aesthetics. She is co-editor of the essay-collection Muziek ervaren (Damon 2014) and author of Waarom Chopin de regen niet wilde horen (Letterwerk 2017), De vlucht van de nachtegaal: Een filosofisch pleidooi voor de muzikant (Letterwerk 2019), and Ik zie Bergen weer als Bergen (Poespa 2021). With co-author Pascal Gielen she wrote the longreads Nearness. Art and Education after Covid-19 (Valiz 2020), and Fragility. To Touch and Be Touched (Valiz 2022). She regularly writes columns as an opinionator for the Belgian newspaper De Standaard.

Dr. Hanka Otte is senior researcher and university teacher in the field of art sociology and cultural policy. She participated in CCQO from 2016-2022. Currently, she teaches at Groningen University (NL) at the study Arts, culture and media and works as a freelance researcher. In her research, she mainly focuses on the civil value of art and how policy can help generate culture commons. In CCQO she performed several case studies on cultural commoning practices initiated or supported by municipal policy: Montaña Verde in Antwerp, Tower of Babel in Antwerp and De Grond der Dingen in Mechelen. In 2018 Hanka was awarded the NWO Boekman Dissertation Prize for her thesis Binding or Bridging? On the Relation between Art, Cultural Policy and Social Cohesion. In 2022 she worked together with Aart van der Maas (CCQO and Hogeschool Utrecht) and the province of Utrecht to explore the possibilities of setting up a common based cultural policy.

Publications

​Anastasia Leonova is a publisher, art manager and curator, co-founder of IST Publishing house based in Ukraine. With a background in sociology and art history she has a focus on experimental book making practices, particularly artbook and photobooks. From 2014 to 2020 she ran a small independent art gallery of contemporary art in Kharkiv. Leonova is the curator of the BOOK CHAMPIONS WEEKEND festival and coordinator of the Eastern region of the UPHA (Ukrainian Photography Alternative).