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Thinking Tools

Between 2017 and 2022, the research group Thinking Tools focused on the concept of 'the photographic'. Through this notion, we investigated how some specific characteristics of the photographic apparatus seeped into the wider field of visual art. With the organisation of several symposia, publications, residencies and individual research trajectories of photographers and visual artists, the impact of 'the photographic' on the visual arts was intellectually and artistically examined. In the following years, we wish to gradually extend the field of research to the whole of artistic practices in which a technical apparatus plays a crucial role. 

For the definition of what constitutes a technical device, the Thinking Tools research group leans heavily on the insights of the media philosopher Vilèm Flusser. Following his definition of the apparatus as a 'black box', we do not consider it as a simple transmission device that faithfully translates the maker's intentions into a concrete artistic object, but as an autonomously operating partner that intervenes decisively in the production process. Another characteristic of the technical apparatus is that it works according to strict rules and procedures. Therefore, within the broad field of art, the influence of the technical apparatus manifests itself both in conceptual practices where artists are willingly submitting themselves to self-designed rules and in artistic practices that employ a mix of analogue and digital apparatuses. In summary, the experimental, artistic practices that the research group wishes to support are determined by the friction (or collision) between control and surrender, between the digital and the analogue, between old and new media. 

In other words, the researchers within Thinking Tools operate in the field of tension between the (relative) autonomy of a technical apparatus, the unruliness of the material they work with, and the idiosyncrasy of an independent artistic position. The result of this multifaceted interaction, of this multiple authorship, is a polyphonic artistic object where different actors meet on an equal footing. The works these artist-researchers create are hybrid objects, determined by the friction between human and non-human (technical, algorithmic, chemical, operational) actors. By encouraging researchers to allow these non-human forces to actively and poetically intervene in the production process, we invite them to produce work in which new relationships to (and imaginings of) the world can take form.

Residencies@thinkingtools: Each academic year, the research group Thinking Tools invites two artist-researchers for an intense, short-term residency of three months.

Contact: Steven Humblet - steven.humblet@ap.be

Research projects
View the projects here
event
Mon 03 Apr
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Tue 04 Apr

Hydromedia: Seeing with Water - public programme

'Hydromedia' would like to develop and promote new, experimental and easy- to-use artistic protocols to visualise and narrate the climate crisis. During the Antwerp residency of Tim Theo Deceuninck, Mirja Busch, Jarek Lustych and Sascha Herrmann, two days of lectures and presentations are organised.

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research

Hydromedia

To address the climate crisis, we desperately need new methods for imagining the relationship between human and nature. 'Hydromedia' invites artists to develop easy-to-use protocols based on the photographic principle of direct tracing through physical contact.

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event
Wed 01 Mar
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Thu 02 Mar

Little Fables of Practice: two-day writing-workshop by Sina Seifee

Two-day workshop for 3BA and MA students of the Academy, especially for those who are interested in writing and storytelling!

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event
Thu 09 Mar
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Thu 09 Mar

One-day exhibition trip to Bonn and Düsseldorf

For all students and researchers of the Academy!

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research

Residencies@thinkingtools

Each academic year, the research group Thinking Tools invites two artist-researchers for an intense, short-term residency of three months.

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event
Tue 29 Nov
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Tue 29 Nov

Soup Session: Dries Segers and Sanne Vaassen

During the Soup Sessions, researchers, students and teachers gather around soup to discuss artistic research. On Tuesday 29 November, research group Thinking Tools presents a talk between Dries Segers and Sanne Vaassen.

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event
Tue 06 Dec
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Tue 06 Dec

Sina Seifee - Lecture-performance and studio visit

For master students who are developing an artistic research practice and are interested in writing and storytelling.

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event
Thu 26 May
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Sun 29 May

like, now - Berit Schneidereit

This solo presentation marks the first step in Berit Schneidereit´s research project ‘continuous space / flying minds’ at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp.

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event
Thu 13 May
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Fri 21 May

Photo/Space. Pieter Huybrechts

In his research project 'Photo/Space', Pieter Huybrechts challenges the conventional exhibition logic of photographic images by revealing and exploring new possibilities.

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event
Fri 16 Oct
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Sat 31 Oct

The Unruly Apparatus

Exhibition with works by Thomas Ruff, Sine Van Menxel, Ine Kools, Filip Vervaet, Bram Rinkel, Spiros Hadjadjanos, Anton Cotteleer, Elias Asselbergh, Walead Beshty, Fabien Silvestre Suzor, Athar Jaber, Liesbet Grupping, Bernard Voïta, Aglaia Konrad, Kaat Somers, Azuli Peeters, Geert Goiris, Alix Manon, Seth Price, Bernadette Zdrazil, Miguel Cipriano en Wade Guyton, among others.

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Soup Sessions

Get to know our researchers over a bowl of soup! In February-March we welcome ANDREA CAMMAROSANO, ISABELLE CORDEMANS, ALEXIS GAUTIER, CHARO CALVO and JEROEN CLUCKERS.

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Publications