"The festival marks an important milestone in my doctoral research (at the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich) on urban transformation and imagination.
The title Black Triangle refers to the complexity of this area. It is a symbol of change, without fixed meanings or roles. The slag heap ('terril') is both a physical and symbolic monument. It is privately owned and not officially accessible, yet it continues to shape the identity of the local community.
During the festival, we explore the terril as a gateway to imagination. We do this through various art forms such as film, photography, music, ceramics, sculpture, and poetry. In addition to outcomes from my own action research, the contributions of artists who have worked in the shadow of the slag heap in recent years form a significant part of the festival.
The festival is not about “occupying” the slag heap, but about resonating with it and uncovering new layers of meaning. It is not an exhibition, but a 24-hour journey of collective experience and dreaming, a discovery of new layers in both the landscape and our imagination.
The Black Triangle Festival claims nothing, but invites us to reposition ourselves as agents in a collaborative practice of imagination. In a world of fences and boundaries, this is an act of 'occupying differently'."
- Philippe Vandenbroeck
Curator and researcher
Newrope, Chair for Architecture and Urban Transformation
ETH Zurich
Nel Maertens, visual artist
Nel Maertens (°1996, lives and works in Antwerp) explores colour, material, gesture, and energy. Nel graduated in 2019 with a Master’s degree in fashion from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. In addition to projects in the performing arts (costume design, performance), Maertens focuses on an autonomous visual arts practice. She is a multidisciplinary artist who enjoys engaging in cross-sectoral collaborations. Nel has participated in group and solo exhibitions at home and abroad. In 2021, Charlotte Crevits curated a first solo exhibition of her work at CC Strombeek. Since then, she has completed several residencies and collaborations with, among others, KMSKA, MoMu Antwerp, choreographer Femke Gyselinck, Border Buda, Zonzo Compagnie,…
Lorenzo Castore, photographer
"After an eventful childhood marked by constant changes of homes and context and an adolescence driven by the obsessive need to find my way, one day in the early 90’s I stumbled upon photography: as a journey in the exterior and the inner world, it befitted my nature. Since then, I have worked passionately, restlessly and with dedication, keep searching for an emotional tension which brings a sense of wonder. In 2011 a dramatic event changed my life and my relation with time. From then on, I started to look at what I was doing with new eyes and determination. An imaginary map of belonging was finally showing its shape. The passage of time forms a new alphabet, a new language, and stimulates a revelation: memory emerges, experience transforms into something much wider. Through photography I attempt to leave traces of a presence made from encounters and moments in the present, through which I try to build a feeling of timeless belonging – my reality. My intention is to structure my constellation, which should speak about my relation to others as much as about me. Works born of casual encounters made outside my daily life alternate and are mixed with more strictly autobiographical ones: the latter could not exist without the former. Ultimately, my work is characterized by long term projects focusing on personal experience, memory and the relation between individual stories, history and the present time."
Wim Cuyvers, writer, film maker, 'forestier'
Wim Cuyvers (°1958) is a Belgian architect, writer and forestier who has lived and worked in the French Jura since 2000. After a successful career in architecture, including a solo exhibition at deSingel (1995) and the Flemish Culture Prize (2005), he decided to end his practice and settle in the mountainous region of Saint-Claude. There he founded the Montavoix domain, an outdoor site that functions as a refuge and meeting space, inspired by Giorgio Agamben’s ideas about 'forestieri'—foreigners or refugees. His artistic work explores the relationship between space, community, and existential experience. In 2022, he was invited as artist in residence by C-mine in Genk, where he created the film dodeNberg, which proposes a vision for the future of the Winterslag spoil tip.
Liesbeth Decrock, composer
Liesbeth Decrock (Ghent, 1990) holds a Master’s degree in composition obtained at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp where she studied with Wim Henderickx and Luc van Hove. Her oeuvre can roughly be divided into two categories in terms of meaning. On the one hand she writes serious works with a great emotional – sometimes autobiographical – subject, on the other hand she makes very informal works, often with a touch of humor. Her selective style is further characterized by directness, transparency, vitality and the urge to please. Compositions of Liesbeth Decrock were performed by ensembles and performers such as deFilharmonie, deCompagnie, De 2de Adem, Logos Robot Orchestra, Matthias Coppens, Bram Fournier, Andrew Wise, Nikolaas Kende, and at festivals such as AlbaNova, Klarafestival, Wonderfeel and Wratislavia Cantans.
Ciel Grommen, visual artist
Ciel Grommen is an artist whose work primarily engages with space, focusing on social and public aspects of living together. With a background in architecture (KU Leuven) and fine arts (HEAD Geneva), Ciel blends urbanism with critical, collaborative art practices. Their methodology involves immersing in specific contexts, interacting with locals, and exploring narratives and aspirations. Past projects include work in extraterritorial spaces like Palestinian refugee camps and the DMZ, and more recently, spaces of production such as farms and factories. Currently pursuing a PhD in arts at LUCA School of Arts, Ciel collaborates closely with artists like Maximiliaan Royakkers and Clémentine Vaultier.
Nicolas Mortelmans, sitar player
Nicolas Mortelmans is a passionate sitar player and multi-instrumentalist from Antwerp. Nicolas is a fusion sitarist and student of Indian classical music. He studied in the traditional way with several sitar masters in India and since 2017 he has been trained by the world-renowned Anoushka Shankar.
Laurence Petrone, sculptor
Laurence Petrone (1987) is a Belgian-Italian sculptor, historian and writer. In 2021, she co-founded FAAR, a collective of artists based in Antwerp. Her artistic work explores the sensory qualities of materials and their spatial interventions. She views her studio as a place to think in both words and matter, aiming to bring people from different domains together. In her academic research at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the University of Antwerp she raises the question whether a work of art can have a testimonial character with regard to political events. When does one acquire a legitimate authority to reflect upon lifechanging events? How autonomous can an artist or his, her, their work be?
Paula Q, ceramicist
Paula Q is a Dutch-Irish artist born in 1969 in Maastricht. Her passion for ceramics started in her twenties in the studio of Wim Hos where she spent 4 years at the potter’s wheel. Seeking more ways to create, she had “flings” with blacksmithing, papier-mâché and textile art, eventually teaching herself hand-building techniques in clay. Her work is a translation of her raw emotions expressed in vibrant earthy colours and patterns scratched in clay. Her latest work, a series of paper-thin bowls created after a great personal loss, is now on show in her studio in Genk, Belgium.
Maximiliaan Royakkers
Maximiliaan Royakkers (1988, BE) is an artist and architect based in Brussels. His transdisciplinary practice blends artistic, educational and architectural approaches. After studying architecture at the KULeuven (2012) and obtaining a master’s from the Studio for Immediate Spaces at the Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam (2014), his work develops through reflections on social, political and ecological relationships that unfold in spaces. In his projects, he tries to establish relationships with places and situations through intensive fieldwork, by picking up a role, and by initiating spatial practices that weave together local perspectives with global dynamics. In this way, he tries to experiment with alternative forms of cohabitation. Royakkers is part of the Speap (école des arts politiques) program at the university SciencesPo in Paris, the program led by Frédérique Aït-Touati, who has taken over this role from Bruno Latour. 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 works appear even more often in the “real” world, such as on the parking lot of an Aldi supermarket in Borgloon, at the foot of the terril in Winterslag.
Heleen Sintobin, ceramicist
Heleen Sintobin is a Belgian furniture designer, material explorer and storyteller with a background in interior architecture. She is inspired by daily life, ancient and future making methods. Her work strives to convey the power of materials in a contemporary design context. In her practice she is constantly looking for a balance between written historical and academic and hands-on material research, experiments and happy accidents. Heleen has a Master’s in Design Products at the Royal College of Art in London. In her current work she is exploring the future of crafts in the digital age.
Philippe Vandenbroeck, writer, photographer
Philippe Vandenbroeck is a writer-photographer and postdisciplinary researcher. His practice probes landscape, memory, and the aura of Endzeitlichkeit. As a PhD candidate at ETH Zürich’s Newrope Chair, he studies urban transformation as a collective practice of imagination.