20.04.26, 20:00, Jaron Vandevelde, Decentering Design, More than Human

The Atlas of Ovens is an artistic research conducted by Clémentine Vaultier, Maximiliaan Royakkers and Ciel Grommen. It focuses on heat practices by studying and using the infrastructures that contain and guide them. Starting from the idea that heat is as much a physical phenomenon as a social one, we explore how ovens function not only as containers of physical energy but also as relational infrastructures; more than mere technical shells guiding energy transformation processes, ovens radiate towards communities and can produce new forms of social relations.

In this research, the intangible of social practice becomes matter to work with by encountering firing contexts and transforming materials. Combining approaches nourished by our architectural and ceramicist backgrounds, we collect documents, stories and gather, discuss and speculate around fire in order to circulate multiple knowledges and experiences of heat and energy.

Ciel Grommen

Ciel Grommen is a Belgian architect‑artist whose transdisciplinary practice sits at the intersection of architecture, visual art, and research. She studied architecture at KU Leuven and completed a Master in contemporary art at HEAD — Genève, where she learned to embrace criticality and exchange as part of artistic spatial practice. Her work is rooted in deep engagement with contexts and communities, often beginning with inhabiting specific places, participating in local life, and building relationships with residents and materials. Through maps, constructions, installations, events, and stories, Grommen weaves new narratives of cohabitation, inviting audiences to rethink how we relate to space, environment, and one another.

Her projects frequently explore complex social, political, and ecological issues, such as seasonality and labour in rural Europe, cohabitation and migration, and the politics of public and private space. In 2017 she founded the collective Seasonal Neighbours to investigate forms of cohabitation across European agriculture, and she has collaborated extensively with Maximiliaan Royakkers on long‑term research projects such as Le Paysage Ménagé, which envisions new ways of inhabiting post‑industrial landscapes.

With Clémentine Vaultier and Royakkers, Grommen is part of Atlas of Ovens, an ongoing collaborative research project on infrastructures of heat. How and what do we fire, with whom do we share the resulting warmth? The artists research how these infrastructures can transform not only matter, but our relationships to communities and territories.

Grommen’s work has been exhibited internationally at venues including Artsonje Art Centre (Seoul), Live In Your Head Gallery (Geneva), Z33 (Hasselt), as well as in everyday settings like public spaces and temporary sites, blurring boundaries between art, architecture, and lived experience.

Clémentine Vaultier

Clémentine Vaultier is a French artist based in Brussels whose transdisciplinary practice bridges ceramics, performance, research, and pedagogy. She graduated from the master autonomous design at KASK & Conservatorium (2019), La Cambre in Ceramics (2017), and Central Saint Martins in Fine Arts – contextual practice (2011).

Although trained as a ceramist, her work focuses on the surroundings of fire — exploring how warmth is created, shared, and narrated as both a physical and social phenomenon. Her long-term research investigates the cultural, historical, and material dimensions of warmth, weaving narratives through creating, collecting, and rearranging technical, historical, and archival material in dialogue with others. This approach examines warmth as a fundamental human need that connects people, practices, and communities.

She co-initiated Atlas of Ovens, a collaborative research project with Ciel Grommen and Maximiliaan Royakkers, exploring heat infrastructures — such as ovens and baking rituals — as sites radiating both physical warmth and social connection

In addition to her research at Max and as an artist associate at Jubilee, Vaultier works as an artistic assistant in the ceramics department at La Cambre National School of Arts, where she coordinates transdisciplinary courses on heat and collective firing.

Maximiliaan Royakkers 

Maximiliaan Royakkers (1988, BE) is an artist and architect based in Brussels. His transdisciplinary practice blends artistic, educational and architectural approaches. He studied architecture at the KULeuven (2012), obtained a master’s from the Studio for Immediate Spaces at the Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam (2014) and was part of the SPEAP programme at Science Po Paris (2024). In his practice he researches social, political and ecological relationships that unfold in spaces. His work experiments with alternative forms of living together and ways to relate to places and unfolds through intensive fieldwork, collaborative research and situated spatial and performative gestures. His work always develops in collaboration with others; artists, local communities and experts from a wide variety of fields.

Recent work has focused on temporary forms of cohabitation produced by industrial agriculture (Seasonal Neighbours), the transformation of a former coal mine landscape (Le Paysage Ménagé) and our relationship to energy infrastructures (Atlas of Ovens).

Together with Ciel Grommen he has initiated the research collective Seasonal Neighbours. With Clémentine Vaultier and Grommen, Royakkers is part of Atlas of Ovens, an ongoing collaborative research project on infrastructures of heat. Maximiliaan is a member of Jubilee, a platform for artistic research and coordinates master studios at faculty of Design Sciences of the UAntwerpen.

His works have been exhibited at Bureau Europa, Jan Van Eyck Academie Maastricht, De Singel Antwerp, Z33 Hasselt, Le Grand Hornu Mons, Beaux Arts Paris…but also appear outside of institutional contexts, in public spaces and the fabric of everyday life of places.

Disarming Design From Palestine is an independent, non-profit design platform and label that fosters thought-provoking design rooted in Palestinian experiences. More than a commercial platform, it uses design to tell stories, challenge assumptions, and invite reflection on daily life under occupation. Its objects — from domestic tools and textiles to jewellery and games — carry personal narratives, political realities, and cultural memory.

Founded in 2012, the project brings Palestinian and international designers in dialogue with craftspeople into dialogue through collective workshops and shared production processes. These collaborations translate lived realities — such as restricted mobility, unequal access to resources, and everyday forms of resilience — into tangible artefacts that circulate globally, carrying and amplifying local stories into new contexts.

At its core, Disarming Design From Palestine positions design as cultural resistance; objects function as conversation starters, unsettling dominant narratives and inviting reflection on power, solidarity, and the politics embedded in everyday life.

In this lecture, Annelys de Vet, graphic designer and co-initiator, and Gaza-born architect and designer Ibrahim Muhtadi will discuss the project’s methodology, collaborations, and the role of design as a cultural and political practice.

Annelys de Vet

Annelys de Vet, PhD, is a Belgium-based designer, researcher, and educator whose practice centres on long-term, participatory design projects that engage with urgent social and political issues. The body of work explores the role of design within public and political discourse, seeking to develop methods, structures, and tools that support and empower a pluralist society through design. Design is approached as a form of critical practice—one that can operate as a tool for activism, social change, and can reimagine collective futures.

De Vet is the founder of Subjective Editions, a publishing initiative that collaboratively maps regions from within—through the lived experiences and perspectives of local communities. The series includes, among others, the Subjective Atlas of Bosnia & Herzegovina (2025), the Subjective Atlas of Brussels (2018), and the Subjective Atlas of Palestine (2007).

She is also the co-founder of Disarming Design from Palestine, a design platform that develops thought-provoking artisanal products in and in relation to Palestine. The initiative fosters alternative narratives that challenge dominant representations of life under occupation through critical design and international exchange.

De Vet completed her doctoral research at Sint Lucas Antwerp / ARIA in 2024, with the dissertation Disarming Design: Politics of Participatory Practices, and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Antwerp.

From 2020 to 2022, de Vet led the temporary master’s programme Disarming Design at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam—an experimental curriculum exploring design practices within contexts of oppression. She previously served as Course Director of the institute’s MA Design programme from 2009 to 2019, and currently teaches in the Master’s Context: Socio-Political at Sint Lucas School of Arts in Antwerp. She regularly lectures and facilitates workshops internationally on alternative cartography, critical pedagogy, and relational design.

Ibrahim Muhtadi

Ibrahim Muhtadi is a Palestinian designer and architect from Gaza City. He holds a Master’s degree in Architecture and works across architecture, product and jewelry design, calligraphy, and cultural craftsmanship. His multidisciplinary practice draws on cultural heritage and identity, reinterpreting traditional forms into contemporary expressions.

His professional experience includes long-term collaboration with organizations in Gaza such as UNRWA’s Sulafa Embroidery Centre, as well as serving as lead designer at Atfaluna Crafts, where he played a central role in product design, craft production, and business development. Ibrahim has also collaborated with numerous cultural institutions and social initiatives locally and internationally, using design as a tool for empowerment and the preservation of cultural heritage.

He currently works with Disarming Design from his studio in Brussels, contributing to production development, quality control, communication, and sales coordination. In addition, he represents the organization at cultural events, workshops, markets, and public activities.

Ibrahim is Co-Chair and Design Adviser of the UK-based Palestinian History Tapestry, where he has been a key contributor since 2012, providing creative and technical guidance on embroidery design and large-scale textile production.

He has participated in numerous local and international design exhibitions, markets, and cultural events, advocating for Palestinian design as a form of storytelling and cultural continuity. He is an alumnus of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), USA (2016). Following the destruction of his studio in Gaza city in 2023, Ibrahim continues his professional practice from Belgium.

Through his design practice and collaboration with Disarming Design, he has contributed to the development and design of several products that are now part of the Disarming Design collection.

Where care is often measured in time and systems, design and art open up space for attention, proximity and meaning. They slow things down, ask questions and reveal what often remains unspoken: how care feels, how it is shared and how it takes shape in everyday life.

In this lecture, two practices meet. De Ambulanten bring art into a residential care context and work with small, caring gestures that deepen relationships and soften everyday life. Merel Stolker's art practice explores how social structures and interactions shape our interactions with each other, and how these can be broken down through participatory and performative methods. Together, the speakers show how art and design can approach care as a shared, human practice — supported by attention, imagination and encounter.

Merel Stolker 

Merel Stolker (1992, NL) works between rituals, visual arts and social-artistic practices. Her work always arises in interaction with others. It takes the form of interactive rituals, scores, texts and handmade tools made of ceramics or textiles. These are created within long-term participatory processes, in which process and humanity always come first. Fascinated by our daily manners, she searches for new ways of being together, leaving room for both the beautiful and less beautiful sides of life.

Merel obtained a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts at St. Joost Den Bosch (NL) and a Master's degree in Autonomous Design at KASK & Conservatorium. She is based in Ghent (BE) and has collaborated with Kunsthal Gent, 30CC Leuven, workspacebrussels, KOAS Brussels, Lasso Brussels, manoeuvre Gent and CAMPUSatelier Gent, among others. Her work has been exhibited at Kunst & Zwalm, Het Entrepot Brugge and BLANCO Gent.

De Ambulanten

De Ambulanten is a collective initiated by Rasa Alksnyte, Justine Maxelon, and Ann Weckx.

Rasa Alksnyte is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on participatory practices and actions. In recent years, she is particularly active in working with neurodiverse groups and people from other vulnerable strata of society. She is a member of international network FoAM and artistic collaborator at MUS-E. 

Justine Maxelon is a dancer and performance artist whose artistic practice explores the relationship between voice, body and environment. Her work deals with improvisation, structures of repetition, vocal identities, listening and care. In 2015, she founded oracle, a body-voice practice, with Caroline Daish and Michel Yang. She is a member of the core group of State of the Arts and Engagement Arts.

Ann Weckx worked in the performing arts for 25 years, first as a costume designer, later also as a scenographer. Since 2016, she has been working part-time at TOPAZ, the palliative, supportive day centre at UZ Brussel, where she creates connections between culture and care. She also creates her own artistic work, such installations and photos.

Three recently completed book projects inspire an evening of reflection. From very different angles these projects look for ways to think and act beyond anthropocentrism. They challenge the idea of the human as a singular, dominant maker of the world, seeking to demonstrate a rich plurality of perspectives instead. How can artists and designers be receptive in their work to the voices of the non-human entities we live among?

Disobedient Bodies marks the first public moment for two newly formed research clusters at KASK & Conservatorium: The Body Plural and Disobedient Practices. Members of both clusters will present their work and engage in dialogue around these themes, inviting new ways of imagining our relationships with the entities around us.

The event will consist of a small exhibition, informal presentations and an in-depth conversation about the areas where the books and the research clusters overlap. The evening will be moderated by curator and researcher Edith Doove.

The following books will be subject of discussion:

• Tju|ho – Thoughtful Ways of Making and Walking

Published by Jap Sam Books, Tju|ho – Thoughtful Ways of Making and Walking is a fully bilingual (English and Ju|’hoan) publication that explores thoughtful design, showing how place and community shape sustainable ways of making and walking.

The book centres on the re-creation of the traditional hunting sandal N!ang N|osi in Nhoma, Namibia, and its true owner, the Eland. Since 2021, the project has evolved through close collaboration with the Ju|’hoan communities of Nhoma and Tsumkwe.

At its heart, Tju|ho is a living process of annotation and re-narration, aimed at showing different ways of perceiving and relating to the environment.

The publication is edited by Catherine Willems, Festus Soroab, Anca Ușurelu, and the Ju|’hoan Transcription Group in Tsumkwe, Namibia. Catherine Willems is affiliated with the research cluster The Body Plural.

• Decentering Design – Practice in a More-than-human World

An invitation to journey beyondhuman-centric thinking and into the more-than-human world. By merging theory with practice, the publication offers strategies, insights, and exercises that cultivate a deeper sensitivity to the interconnected more-than-human community we form with all living beings. With diverse contributions by architects, landscape architects, product- and interaction designers, artists, photographers, philosophers, academics, curators, policy makers and policy officers. Contributions include FormaFantasma, Superflux, Eva Meijer, Clemens Driessen, Mihnea Tanasescu, Dries Segers and Jacopo Leveratto, among others.

This publication is the outcome of a research project by Bert De Roo, Giliam Ganzevles, Mirte van Aalst and Glenn Deliège, and edited and designed by Jurgen Maelfeyt. Published by APE (Art Paper Editions). A new project, Intermediate Zones, by Bert De Roo, Giliam Ganzevles and Jerry Galle Galle is affiliated with the research cluster Disobedient Practices.

• Liberate the Machines!

A personal experience of a dialogue with machines, narrated through the making of the experimental film Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59. Through this narration the book develops a view on how humans can learn from the devices they constructed. The human technical milieu is a collective product, a long-term external memory to which each generation contributes and the design and development of technology is therefore a form of politics. Media archaeology is presented as a method to investigate this collective construction.

By Joost Rekveld, design by Isabelle Vigier. Published by Studio Joost Rekveld and KASK & Conservatorium. Joost Rekveld is affiliated with the research cluster Disobedient Practices.

with Marlène Huissoud (FR) & Decentering Design (BE), moderated by Anna Luyten (BE)

Design x More-than-Human delves into the growing realisation that we humans are not the sole inhabitants of this planet with a unique perspective. More and more designers and artists are exploring what we can learn from the non-human entities with whom we share our planet and how we can establish an inter-species dialogue. Next to that, we will also discuss the urgent need for design to confront its exploitation of non-human species and their materials we extract for human use. We are at a pivotal moment, calling for a rethinking of design that takes into account the more-than-human world.

Marlène Huissoud (FR)

Marlène Huissoud is a Paris-based experimental designer working in the art and design world. In 2014, she received a MA in Material Futures from Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design in London with From Insects, a research project on materials derived from insects, such as the honey bee and the Indian silkworm. Marlène’s work challenges conventional design norms, prompting us to ponder the ethical implications of our relationship with natural resources and the role of design in today’s world. By uniting the chaos of nature with the human tendency to put meaning in everything, she dares us to consider whether it might be better to just let the world be. Her creations invite us to reconsider our human impact on Earth and advocate for responsible action.

Decentering Design (BE) | represented by Glenn Deliège

Decentering Design is a research unit exploring how designers can get to grips with working in and for a more-than-human world. Their basic intuition is that designing for a more-than-human world entails decentering the human experience within the design process. This is a necessary step towards recognising our world as a shared environment composed of a multitude of perspectives. Paradoxically, such a decentralisation of human experience starts with a rediscovery of our own sensoriality. Our senses are not passive sensors registering the environment, but active organs through which we can participate in a world of which we are clearly a part, but which at the same time always transcends ourselves: a shared, more-than-human reality. Through using and developing speculative design methodologies, Decentering Design aims to map out ways in which designers can take the more-than-human world into account.

Decentering Design is part of the research center Futures through Design by HOGENT & Howest, supported by KASK & Conservatorium.

Design Dialogues

Design x More-than-Human is part of the curated lecture series Design Dialogues organised by KASK & Conservatorium / HOGENT and Howest, and Design Museum Gent. Distinctive voices from the broad field of design are invited to reflect on the role and future of design in a changing world. Each Design Dialogue starts with in-depth presentations by the speakers around a specific theme, followed by a critical, moderated discussion and concludes with an open conversation between the speakers and the audience. Our mission: to provide engaging perspectives that could help us meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.