IN SHORT:
Otherwordly communications will look at interspecies coexistence and their different arrangements of life. By life in this context we mean biological, geological, digital, immaterial, time/space or beyond.

With a wish to find other ways of relating and engaging with technology than through damage, we look closer at the less obvious communication streams and currents happening around us.

We will use the harbour of antwerp as a starting point with special attention given to the life organized in and around water. In this friction zone we want to highlight the various extraction flows and interrelations involved.

We invite participants to come to take part in a week of listening, tuning into and making vibrations.

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INDEX OF OPEN CALL
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✦ WORKSESSION & CONSTANT
⫸ PRACTICAL INFO
Ⓐ ACCESSIBILITY
◉ HOW TO REACT TO THIS CALL
▲ COLLABORATION GUIDELINES
◪ WHO IS ORGANISING

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✦ WORKSESSIONS & CONSTANT
Constant is an artistic organisation based in Brussels. Our work is oriented on research. We use experimental formats to critically engage with technology.

A ’worksession’ organised by Constant is a form of collective artistic residency of about 25 people. We bring together people with different backgrounds to do open-ended research. We invite people who want to rethink and experiment with concepts, phenomena, tools and infrastructures related to digital culture and life. Together we tinker, try things with electronics, we read together, study and exchange. We don’t believe in expertise, but we value experience. We aim to mix the digital and non digital. We do like weird stuff.

We warmly invite you to bring something to share, something banal, extra-ordinary, something frustrating or intriguing, something appealing that could trigger the imagination or curiosity.

No pressure is placed on the creation of a finished product, but there is space to think together about ideas and prototypes for future development. An informal sharing moment open to the public takes place at the end of the week.

Otherwordly Communications is part of a 5-year research programme (2023-2027) Constant develops around the theme we call SPLINT, "Speculative, Libre, Intersectional Technologies". With the intention to answer the question: What could/should libre, intersectional technologies be or do? SPLINT explores the potential of technology for artistic practice and vice versa, at the intersection of intersectional feminism and open source software.

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⫸ PRACTICAL INFO
Where: Borrewater, Borrewaterstraat 1, 2170 Merksem
(workspace provided by Morpho)

When:
Worksession: Monday 09/06 - Saturday 14/06
(arrival Sunday 08/06 is possible)

Conditions:
Travel costs, accommodation and lunch is covered by Constant.

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Ⓐ ACCESSIBILITY

• Activities will take place on the ground floor of the building.
• There is a large toilet available, but not fully accessible according to standard.
• You can reach the location by public transport which are not always aceesible.
• Guide and assistant dogs are welcome
• We provide masks, hand-gel and will air out the spaces regularly. We trust people to inform us and stay at home if they have contagious viral infections.
• We will have a rhythm of more intense input in the beginning of the week with working moments in the second half of the week.
• Main language used will be English, but we are able to provide informal, whispered translation from other languages.

Please don’t hesitate to communicate your accessibility needs to us, and feel free to go in detail (for example: audio describers, sign language interpretation, childcare ... ) and we will let you know exactly what we can accommodate before you commit to participating in the worksession. We will also try to adapt the programme to the participants needs.

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◉ HOW TO REACT TO THIS CALL

Send an email to: info@constantvzw.org by 21/04/2025

Your email contains:

• A short proposal and/or reason you want to come to this worksession (maximum 1 A4)
• Something about yourself, interests, life experience, CV, ... ?
• What your access needs are.
• Feel free to drift of from the above if you think something else makes more sense.

Confirmations of this round will be sent out on 05/05/2025

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▲ COLLABORATION GUIDELINES
Constant works with a set of collaboration guidelines for public and non-public activities. These guidelines will be used and discussed in different environments, situations and constellations. We will then take the feedback and update them for the next worksession.

https://constantvzw.org/wefts/orientationspourcollaboration.en.html

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◪ WHO IS ORGANISING
This session is initiated by Constant and organised in collaboration with Morpho.

https://morphoantwerp.be/