This talk draws on interviews conducted with staff and students who have made complaints within universities that relate to unfair, unjust or unequal working conditions and to abuses of power such as sexual and racial harassment. It approaches complaint as a form of diversity work: the ordinary and often painstaking labour of trying to transform institutions so they are more accommodating. Sara Ahmed explores the significance of how complaints happen “behind closed doors,” and shows how doors are often closed even when they appear to be opened.  

Under the title Hyperpresent, five contemporary thinkers will give a talk on a new idea that they introduced themselves. Afterwards, they will engage in a conversation with philosopher Laurent De Sutter – who curated this series. Rosi Braidotti is a philosopher and feminist theorist. Her work explores the transformation of the subjective induced by the technical and political shifts of the present.

Paying tribute to the Moroccan sociologist Fatima Mernissi, Iman Humaydan and Rosa Yassin Hassan will read from their own work and talk about their authorship against the background of revolution, censorship, and their shifting social positions.

WORKING TITLE FESTIVAL — Kasper Vandenberghe climbs on a scaffolding clad in a protective suit and then drops down like a rock. It is calculated recklessness. It is a poetic search for how vulnerable we can still allow ourselves to be and how we can understand vulnerability as a force. It is dancing on the loose rope between two deeply human desires: the desire for balance versus a bottomless leap into the unknown.

In a choreography that transmits itself only by means of Stine Sampers’ photos, Vera Tussing and Esse Vanderbruggen re-situate their work in the urban landscape of Brussels, and then upload it to Instagram. On Dance Day, they invite you to Kaaitheater for a discussion on the meeting of their practices, and a physical sharing of the digital material.

For the seventh edition of the Night of Knowledge on Brussels, researchers and experts from Brussels are joining forces to draw up a polyphonic overview of the major challenges facing Brussels today and to question both citizens and politicians about possible solutions and alternatives. This rich encounter alternates between varied scientific syntheses, debates, quizzes and musical interludes.

A discussion on performance art and art fairs with Ellen de Bruijne, Liv Vaisberg, Julie Vandenbroucke, and Sarah & Charles. Moderated by Emmanuel Lambion.

Dan Graham's work provocatively analyses the historical, social and ideological functions of contemporary culture, including architecture, rock music, and television. Deconstructing the act of viewing, he manipulates your perception with time delay, projections, closed-circuit video, and mirrors.