09.02.26, 20:00, Merel Stolker, De Ambulanten, CARE
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.
Cloquet
Louis Pasteurlaan 2
9000 Gent
Invoer 765784lectureAgendaArtistic activitiesDisarming 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.