Dina Mimi, Roland Gunst, Salvatore Calcagno & Nikima Jagudajev

An artistic practice is not only the result of what has been planned, it feeds on the unpredictable encounters and what cannot yet be imagined. The Brussels art scene has often been described as a network of formal and informal exchanges, collaborations, and cross-pollination. If even the pandemic has forced artistic processes to be more isolated, in this edition the Kunstenfestivaldesarts has decided to open a temporary and shared artistic residency. For ten days, four artists – three of which are based in Brussels – work in four spaces in the Kaaistudios. While each of them works on different research projects, they have moments of collective discussion.

Visual artist Dina Mimi investigates the story of her Palestinian great-grandfather, who was subjected to medical tests. Nikima Jagudajev deeply studies choreography as a form of life. Salvator Calcagno immerses himself in researching cinema as a form of encounter, starting with Visconti’s movie Bellissima. Roland Gunst reflects on the legacy of rubber and its ability to provide a surface layer on colonial monuments in Brussels.

The School of Contamination opens the way to another sort of ‘contamination’, and to its importance within the art scene and to its future.