Edwin Carels first studied Photography and Film at KASK and then switched to the Department of Slavic Philology at Ghent University. There he graduated with a thesis comparing the poetry of Arseni Tarkovsky (the writer) with that of Andrei Tarkovsky (the filmmaker).

As a curatorial researcher, he obtained a practice-based doctorate with the exhibition El Hotel Electrico and thesis Animation beyond Animation - a media-archaeological approach to the use of animation in contemporary art.

He then completed the postdoctoral project Counter-archives and realised a two-year research project together with KASK alumnus Pedram Kargar: Pardehani - Behind the curtains of animation; In search for its performative origins. Besides his work as a researcher, teacher and mentor, Carels also coordinates the general content of the Audiovisual Arts programme as head of the training programme commission.

In addition, Carels has been a member of various committees within the VAF (Flemish Fund for Audiovisual Arts) for many years. As a writer, he publishes essays on media archaeology, visual arts, film and animation.

For more than two decades, he was also senior film programmer and curator for the International Film Festival of Rotterdam. As a curator (both freelance and as part of the M HKA, Antwerp Museum of Contemporary Art), Carels collaborated on exhibitions with Luc Tuymans, Chris Marker, The Quay Brothers, Robert Breer, Jan Svankmajer, Zoe Beloff, Ken Jacobs, Peter Kubelka, Apichatpong Weeraseethakul, Philippe Parreno, Jean-Luc Godard, among others.