15.01.26, 15:00, Doctoraatsverdediging Tom Callemin
On 15 January 2026, Tom Callemin, artistic researcher at KASK & Conservatorium, will defend his doctoral reasearch to obtain the title of Doctor of Arts. On behalf of the candidate's supervisors, Dr. Anouk De Clercq (KASK & Conservatorium) and Prof. Dr. Koenraad Jonckheere (UGent), we would like to invite you to this event.
The public defense will start at 15:00 in the Zwarte Zaal on Campus Bijloke. Afterwards, you are welcome to attend the reception. The exhibition Double Reality (Research Output) can be visited at the same location before and after the defense. Please confirm your attendance at the public defense by emailing tom.callemin@hogent.be.
Tom Callemin's artistic research starts from the question of how identity and meaning arise within our perception of images. These processes are constantly changing now that digital and artificial techniques effortlessly generate convincing realities. The photographic images we are confronted with every day increasingly show us a fictional illusion. A fundamental tension is particularly evident in portraiture: behind the skin of the synthetic body lie not psychology or emotions, but merely mathematical calculations of data.
Based on this theme, Callemin explores how we can still understand or trust images. He works with analogue materials such as plaster, wood, clay, shadow and light to construct new situations that exist on the border between reality and illusion. These tangible, material elements counterbalance digital representations and at the same time reveal that every image – however convincing – is a constructed reality.
His images therefore function as mirrors: they turn the gaze back to the viewer and to the process of meaning-making itself. What exactly do we see? Can we believe the image as it presents itself? And to what extent do our own expectations, doubts and projections determine what we perceive? Callemin's research makes it clear that the encounter between image and observer creates a constantly shifting landscape of interpretations, in which identity and meaning are never stable data, but are constantly being reshaped.
The research project Hidden in Plain Sight was funded by the HOGENT Arts Research Fund.
Praktisch
Due to roadworks at the Godshuizenlaan / Groot-Brittanniëlaan intersection, it is very difficult to reach Louis Pasteurlaan by car and to park there. Please use public transport as much as possible. From Gent Sint-Pieters, you can take tram T1 or T3 to Bijlokehof. Here you can find instructions on how to reach the Bijloke site during the roadworks.
The most accessible route (including for wheelchair users) is via the entrance at STAM, Godshuizenlaan 2.
