INDEX
▩ INTRODUCTION
✦ WORKSESSION
▇ WHAT ARE WE DOING THIS SESSION?
▲ WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
◪ WHY MUSEUM DR. GUISLAIN
⫸ PRACTICAL INFO
Ⓐ ACCESSIBILITY
◉ HOW TO REACT TO THIS CALL

▩ INTRODUCTION
In the context of Constant’s 1-year research on accessibility, titled "A cane, Sticky-notes, Another body", we are launching an early bird open call for a week of work on accessibility, at the intersection of art, activism, technology and research. This early call is going out before our program for the week is fully set, is open to anyone but will prioritise people with lived experience with disability, neurodivergence, or other mental and/or physical conditions.

People from any discipline are welcome to apply to participate to a week of working and thinking together with a focus on ’digital accessibilities’.

Among other things, we aim to work around voice recognition, audio interfaces and screen stimulation. Therefore, we consider for example, the point of view of vision impairment, neuro-diversity and hearing impairment as angles to share from and combine in this session. The title of the session is a reflection of incorporating ideas around physical tools, mental tools and how we live in relation to each other with our various human bodies.

If this speaks to you and you would like to participate, either with a proposal for a contribution to the program or just to join us thinking together around this topic, please contact us latest by 15th of August. We will draft a more precise program and publish a second version of this call in the first week of September.

✦ WORKSESSION
Constant is an artistic organisation based in Brussels. We use artistic formats to critically engage with technology. A ’worksession’ organised by Constant is a form of collective artistic residency. 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 digital life. As a collective of artists, designers and researchers concerned with and about technology, we wonder how digital tools can foster togetherness and inclusivity, how we can collectively share responsibilities and knowledge so that the digital works with us, not against us. We bring curiosity and solidarity and mutual support, making it a welcoming working environment for all who participate. Brainstorms are alternated with hands-on workshops or lectures and collective study moments. 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.

▇ WHAT ARE WE DOING THIS SESSION?
Together, we will look at experimental or playful ways to ’go online’, while working with the beauty of dysfluency, the unusual routine, and going off-track. We don’t believe in expertise, but we value exchange of experience. We aim to mix the digital and non digital. We do like art and 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.

▲ WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
During one week, you will be part of a group of about 30 people who are disabled and non-disabled.
We try things with electronics, we read together, study and exchange. Together we make proposals that stimulate the imagination, that question norms, that critically explore the sensory possibilities of digital means.
This work-session is ’experimental’ in style: this means that we will try things out, which are allowed to fail. We do not aim for easy, universal solutions, but mainly want to engage in collective modes of finding out.
Oh, and Tuesday 3 December is International Day for Persons with Disabilities. We will spend that day together. 5 December is museum night, which is a special moment in Museum Dr. Guislain.

◪ WHY MUSEUM DR. GUISLAIN
We work at the Museum Dr. Guislain in Ghent. The museum develops a "contrarian, utopian, bold, creative and playful" vision of accessibility and mental well-being. (https://www.museumdrguislain.be/en/ourmission)
"Museum Dr Guislain is a welcoming place for young people, immediate or distant neighbours and dreamers. A visit is much more than a look at a medical collection or local history, but an unforgettable experience. In an ever-changing narrative, past and present intertwine and science and history connect effortlessly with the great and lesser-known arts. It pushes illusions and stereotypes about illness, health and the arts to the limit. Mental health is not the pursuit of specialised hospitals, not the work of psychologists and psychiatrists alone, but of artists and our entire culture."

⫸ PRACTICAL INFO
Where:
Museum Dr Guislain
Jozef Guislainstraat 43 b
Ghent
Belgium

When:
Monday 2 December - Saturday 7 December 2024

Conditions:
Travel costs, accommodation and lunches are covered.

Ⓐ ACCESSIBILITY

• * The museum as well as the lodging venues are wheelchair accessible.
• * A quiet, low-sensory room to rest will be available during the week. Movement, stimming, taking breaks etc. are welcome there, but no chatting or louder noises.
• * Parking spaces are available in front of the museum and near the hostel.
• * Gender neutral and wheelchair accessible bathrooms
• * 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.

Please 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.

◉ HOW TO REACT TO THIS CALL
Last day to apply to this round: August 15.
Confirmations of this round: 15 September
A broader open call with a more specified program will follow.

Send an email to: info@constantvzw.org
Your email contains:

• A short proposal and/or a short letter of motivation: why are you interested ? (maximum 1 A4)
• Something about yourself, interests, challenges, life experience, CV, ... ?
• What are your access needs?
• Feel free to drift of from the above.

This worksession is organised by Constant, in collaboration with Museum Dr Guislain and Kaaitheater.