Constant

Weft: Patient, patience

mia — 2025-04-10T10:38:20Z

In the context of the thematic year A cane, sticky notes, another body we looked at various perspectives on time, and invited Al Versieux to work on a weft*. This article took a snapshot of what time perspectives can look like in the context of chronic and terminal illness.

*A weft is an article that Constant publishes specific to a thematic central to the current works in constant, transversal to several activities.

This article is an edit of a conversation, held on the 24th of June 2024. It was recorded with automatic closed captions in the open source video conference software BigBlueButton (BBB), and later edited into a somewhat coherent piece of text. Parts of the text were also written as audio transcription, because the English became too blurry for BBB closed captions to follow, so sometimes you might see time stamps. It is split into 7 parts, and can be read as a whole, as a remix or the bold text only.

You can read the weft "Patient, patience" here.

View online : https://constantvzw.org/wefts/time....

Zine launch: A Cane, Sticky-notes, Another Body

Peter Westenberg — 2025-03-28T14:22:08Z

Constant is very happy to invite you to the launch of its yearly Zine!

In 2024 accessibility was central to our program. This Zine gives an impression of different perspectives and reflections on accessibility that were developed during our activities.

The Zine was compiled during a three day sprint by Constant's team, graphically guided by Sarah Garcin, and printed at Chez Rosi in Brussels.

You can have a look at the Zine in web format here or download and/or order a copy on Constant Calibre library.

During the event, we'll have live contributions by artists Kamo ( Francesco Luzzana ) and Gülce Padem, as well as a remote insert by Sarah Garcin*.

Join us for this festive launch. Snacks and drinks will be provided on this early evening hour.

*Bios
Francesco Luzzana (kamo, sumo, tofu, maya, and all the other aliases) develop custom pieces of software that address digital complexity, often with a visual and performative output. They like to work on collaborative projects as a way of facing contemporary issues from multiple perspectives.
(https://monoskop.org/Francesco_Luzzana)

Gülce Padem is a performance and sound artist.

Sarah Garcin is a graphic designer who develops, cooks, make radio shows and draws. She is interested in collaborative writing practices, knowledge sharing, pedagogy, alternative publishing systems, free software, wild gathering, multi-streaming and layering.
(https://sarahgarcin.com/)

ChezRosi is a Brussels-based risographic workspace initiated by the organisation Plus tôt te Laat.
(https://chezrosi.wordpress.com)

In collaboration with iMAL.

ACCESSIBILITY INFO
You can find them here: https://www.imal.org/en/visit
Persons with reduced mobility: The building does not provide ideal access to all floors. Please do not hesitate to contact iMAL for any specific request: info@imal.org

Constant Zine 2024 in progress

Donatella — 2025-03-17T14:48:56Z

During its 2023-2027 artistic programme, Constant publishes an annual Zine showing a subjective overview of what happened during the year. The focus of 2024 was on accessibility, and in this small but warm publication we tried to recount our experiences, reflections, discoveries and disillusions.

The publication will be made collectively using etherpad, paged.js and lots of php/css/js. The making and finalising of the zine will be facilitated by graphic designer Sarah Garcin and it will be printed by at chez Rosi in Brussels as well as be available as pdf on Constant Calibre online repository.

Keep an eye on our website for the announcement of the festive launch, which will take place in the first half of 2025!

A.I., as in, Awkward Inscriptions, ...

imane — 2025-03-17T11:27:54Z

On the 12th of December, between 14:00 and 17:00, Constant invited artists from its network to spend some time discussing together A.I., as-in, Automated impossibilities, Agnostic Inventions, Affective Infrastructures, Astringent Influxes...

This session was dedicated to taking practical steps for orienting ourselves at Constant and the people close to us in relation to the sprawling presence of the financial, technical and political construction usually called "Artificial Intelligence".

It was part of an ongoing effort to try and figure out how to link different politics of refusal, offering concrete support to the negotiations and ultimatums that many close to us face in their respective institutions, workplaces, collectives, etc.

Some of us do it intuitively and individually but we want to make a collective effort towards more tangible resources that can help our work and be shared with our networks.

We had first a round of introductions mapping out some shared questions, concerns and tools we were busy with. Then we will had two short contributions from Vivien Garcia and Femke Snelting*, who shared their different perspectives on what they convened to call "the AI scam" :) After we had a moment to respond to the contributions and discuss further.
We closed off the session by splinting in smaller groups and looking back at the mapping of questions we started with and centered our discussions around some concrete scenarios we came up with.

* Vivien García has a doctorate in philosophy and is a research associate at the Philosophy, Practice and Language Laboratory at the University of Grenoble Alpes. He is also a translator and writer. Femke Snelting develops projects at the intersection of publishing, feminisms, and free software. In various constellations she works on re-imagining computational practices to dis-invest from technological monoculture. She is part of The Institute for Technology in the Public Interest, a trans-practice gathering of activists, artists and theorists.

Practical info about the session:

If you would like to join, send an email to martino@constantvzw.org or imane@constantvzw.org

Artistic commission #2: Loraine Furter

Donatella — 2025-03-17T10:16:41Z

For the second artistic commission in 2024, Constant was happy to invite graphic designer Loraine Furter.

The idea was to develop further her interest in feminist, intersectional and accessible design taking Constant's website as a study case and doing so, helping us developing a new website where hopefully accessibility and experiments and active archives will go hand in hand.

Taking a critical look at web standards and at the long history of Constant's online presence on the world wide web, we questioned how we can integrate a clear and concise structure without oversimplifying and loosing the sense of adventure and curiosity that sparks when navigating through the many projects, folders, documentation processes that have been part of Constant throughout the years.

Bio
Loraine Furter is a graphic designer and researcher based in Brussels since 2007, specialized in editorial design, hybrid publishing and intersectional xfeminism. She designs and edits paper publications as well as web and digital ones, and is particularly interested in the interaction between these media.

Image: Loraine Furter | Just for the record

View online : https://www.lorainefurter.net/en

Public presentation: A Cane, Sticky notes, Another Body

Peter Westenberg — 2024-10-31T09:35:38Z

This year Constant focused on the critical topic of accessibility and its many intersections in the physical and virtual spaces. During the worksession A Cane, Sticky notes, Another body, a group of 30 people from different backgrounds collaborated and experimented with playful ways to 'go online', while working with the beauty of dysfluency, the unusual routine, and going off-track. The worksession was held in Museum Dr Guislain in Gent from 2 to 7 December 2024.

In the afternoon of Saturday 7th of December we shared this research publicly through a spatial set up, a playing field that functioned as a way to make the digital physical and multi sensorial. What can, could or should be considered through thinking with an 'accessibility interface' ?

ConfusingCodingSituations - Forever work in progress

imane — 2024-10-25T09:54:50Z

During this ConfusingCodingSituations we shared our unfinished, stored, failed, slowly forgotten projects — those bits of code, ideas, and experiments that never reached the finish line. Instead of focusing on polished results in a world that constantly pushes for efficiency, quick solutions, and relentless productivity, we took the time to appreciate the value of the unfinished and embrace the rhythms of the creative process — the pauses, false starts, and unexpected directions.

We explored this idea through the concept of 'crip time', which invites us to slow down, rethink progress, and honor the messy, non-linear nature of creation. Crip time resists the idea that productivity is the ultimate measure of value, reminding us that there is worth in the incomplete and the unresolved. This is part of a counter-narrative that questions the very culture of efficiency.

We began with a short reading that critiqued the obsession with efficiency and invited us to consider different ways of thinking about time.

Participants could bring their unfinished projects and stories!

Places are limited during the ConfusingCodingSituations, so to join, please send an email to imane@constantvzw.org

ConfusingCodingSituations - Loops with crochet

imane — 2024-09-30T07:23:05Z

Imagine a crochet workshop where patterns are seen as living algorithms, where each stitch is a step in an unfolding pattern. While computers may generate crochet patterns, it's the human hand that brings them to life — feeling each loop, navigating each stitch, and making adjustments along the way.

This meeting invited participants to slow down and explore the process together, breaking down each stitch into simple, accessible steps.

Participants were welcome to join us at Constant's office on Saturday 19 October 2024 from 14:00 to 17:00.

Our colleague Elodie Mugrefya helped guiding us through the process of crochet.
No prior crochet experience was needed to join and everyone was welcome, including left-handed participants.

Places are limited during the ConfusingCodingSituations, so to join, please send an email to imane@constantvzw.org

Feedback pool on A cane, sticky notes, another body

Elodie — 2024-07-10T13:42:17Z

Feedback pools are a series of meetings where Constant invites a group of people to review our programme of activities, reflect on the specific research topic of the ongoing year and provide feedback.

In 2024 the feedback pool consisted of Ren Britton, Tundé Adefioye and An Vandermeulen.

Open call Worksession: a Cane, Sticky notes, Another body

Peter Westenberg — 2024-07-03T10:32:42Z

This was an open call to participate to the worksession that took place in Museum Dr. Guislain in December 2024.

INDEX
▩ INTRODUCTION
✦ WORKSESSION
▇ WHAT ARE WE DOING THIS SESSION?
▲ WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
◪ WHY MUSEUM DR. GUISLAIN
⫸ PRACTICAL INFO
Ⓐ ACCESSIBILITY
◉ HOW TO REACT TO THIS CALL

▩ INTRODUCTION
In the context of Constant's 1-year research on accessibility, titled "A cane, Sticky-notes, Another body", we are launching an early bird open call for a week of work on accessibility, at the intersection of art, activism, technology and research. This early call is going out before our program for the week is fully set, is open to anyone but will prioritise people with lived experience with disability, neurodivergence, or other mental and/or physical conditions.

People from any discipline are welcome to apply to participate to a week of working and thinking together with a focus on 'digital accessibilities'.

Among other things, we aim to work around voice recognition, audio interfaces and screen stimulation. Therefore, we consider for example, the point of view of vision impairment, neuro-diversity and hearing impairment as angles to share from and combine in this session. The title of the session is a reflection of incorporating ideas around physical tools, mental tools and how we live in relation to each other with our various human bodies.

If this speaks to you and you would like to participate, either with a proposal for a contribution to the program or just to join us thinking together around this topic, please contact us latest by 15th of August.

✦ WORKSESSION
Constant is an artistic organisation based in Brussels. We use artistic formats to critically engage with technology. A 'worksession' organised by Constant is a form of collective artistic residency. We bring together people with different backgrounds to do open-ended research. We invite people who want to rethink and experiment with concepts, phenomena, tools and infrastructures related to digital culture and digital life. As a collective of artists, designers and researchers concerned with and about technology, we wonder how digital tools can foster togetherness and inclusivity, how we can collectively share responsibilities and knowledge so that the digital works with us, not against us. We bring curiosity and solidarity and mutual support, making it a welcoming working environment for all who participate. Brainstorms are alternated with hands-on workshops or lectures and collective study moments. No pressure is placed on the creation of a finished product, but there is space to think together about ideas and prototypes for future development. An informal sharing moment open to the public takes place at the end of the week.

▇ WHAT ARE WE DOING THIS SESSION?
Together, we will look at experimental or playful ways to 'go online', while working with the beauty of dysfluency, the unusual routine, and going off-track. We don't believe in expertise, but we value exchange of experience. We aim to mix the digital and non digital. We do like art and weird stuff. We warmly invite you to bring something to share, something banal, extra-ordinary, something frustrating or intriguing, something appealing that could trigger the imagination or curiosity.

▲ WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
During one week, you will be part of a group of about 30 people who are disabled and non-disabled.
We try things with electronics, we read together, study and exchange. Together we make proposals that stimulate the imagination, that question norms, that critically explore the sensory possibilities of digital means.
This work-session is 'experimental' in style: this means that we will try things out, which are allowed to fail. We do not aim for easy, universal solutions, but mainly want to engage in collective modes of finding out.
Oh, and Tuesday 3 December is International Day for Persons with Disabilities. We will spend that day together. 5 December is museum night, which is a special moment in Museum Dr. Guislain.

◪ WHY MUSEUM DR. GUISLAIN
We work at the Museum Dr. Guislain in Ghent. The museum develops a "contrarian, utopian, bold, creative and playful" vision of accessibility and mental well-being. (https://www.museumdrguislain.be/en/ourmission)
"Museum Dr Guislain is a welcoming place for young people, immediate or distant neighbours and dreamers. A visit is much more than a look at a medical collection or local history, but an unforgettable experience. In an ever-changing narrative, past and present intertwine and science and history connect effortlessly with the great and lesser-known arts. It pushes illusions and stereotypes about illness, health and the arts to the limit. Mental health is not the pursuit of specialised hospitals, not the work of psychologists and psychiatrists alone, but of artists and our entire culture."

⫸ PRACTICAL INFO
Where:
Museum Dr Guislain
Jozef Guislainstraat 43 b
Ghent
Belgium

When:
Monday 2 December - Saturday 7 December 2024

Conditions:
Travel costs, accommodation and lunches are covered.

Ⓐ ACCESSIBILITY

* The museum as well as the lodging venues are wheelchair accessible.
* A quiet, low-sensory room to rest will be available during the week. Movement, stimming, taking breaks etc. are welcome there, but no chatting or louder noises.
* Parking spaces are available in front of the museum and near the hostel.
* Gender neutral and wheelchair accessible bathrooms
* Guide and assistant dogs are welcome
* We provide masks, hand-gel and will air out the spaces regularly. We trust people to inform us and stay at home if they have contagious viral infections.

Please communicate your accessibility needs to us, and feel free to go in detail (for example: audio describers, sign language interpretation, childcare ... ) and we will let you know exactly what we can accommodate before you commit to participating in the worksession.

◉ HOW TO REACT TO THIS CALL
Last day to apply to this round: August 15.
Confirmations of this round: 15 September

Send an email to: info@constantvzw.org
Your email contains:

A short proposal and/or a short letter of motivation: why are you interested ? (maximum 1 A4)
Something about yourself, interests, challenges, life experience, CV, ... ?
What are your access needs?
Feel free to drift of from the above.

This worksession is organised by Constant, in collaboration with Museum Dr Guislain and Kaaitheater.