Ohme

Biometrika Workshop

Bring your laptop to CurieuCity to explore the interaction between technology, body signals, and artistic performance during Biometrika Workshop!

Participants will receive instructions to learn the basics of electronics and computer coding, allowing them to use their own biosignals, such as heartbeats, to build real-time visual and sound effects.

We’ll be using TouchDesignerr, a tool for creating dynamic digital art (non-commercial version is free), and Thonny, an open-source software to program Raspberry Pi Pico. Please download and install both in advance on your laptop:
•⁠ ⁠TouchDesigner: https://derivative.ca/download
•⁠ ⁠Thonny: https://thonny.org/

We’ll help you if you need assistance. Together we’ll get started on your first prototype or guide you towards more advanced applications.

Biometrika—a project developed by Ohme in collaboration with Pilar and FARI—is an immersive and innovative experience blending art, science, and technology in a playful and participatory approach. The project also includes an artist residency. The deadline for the residency open call is 30/11/24.
👉 More info about the open call: https://ohme.be/call-for-applications-biometrika-residency/

To register click here: https://www.billetweb.fr/curieucity-marolles

Héloïse Colrat, Alicia Van Ham-Meert

METHODS, le verre à l’époque médiévale

Come watch a glassblowing demonstration by Héloïse Colrat! Scientist Alicia Van Ham-Meert will be present to answer your questions and offer insights into the history and chemistry behind glassmaking.

METHODS explores the techniques, materials, and cultural context of medieval glassblowing. This project is a collaboration between scientist Alicia and glass artist Héloïse, where they experiment with various glass recipes based on the composition of stained glass windows from the abbey of Stavelot – the focus of Alicia’s research. Héloïse tests the properties of the glass, such as viscosity and elasticity, by blowing it with a torch.

Héloïse Colrat (1992, Lyon) is a French artist living and working in Brussels. She is also the scientific glassblower at the chemistry department of the University of Liège.

Alicia Van Ham-Meert is a postdoctoral researcher at KU Leuven, working on the characterization of raw materials and the reverse engineering of medieval stained glass recipes for the abbey of Stavelot at ULB.

Mecamove & Ohme

Animation Mécanique

This playful and participatory activity, led by facilitators, combines the installations of Mecamove and κῦμα/Kima (Ohme) to explore principles of mechanics and automation interactively.

While Mecamove engages the public in manipulating pulleys, gears, and mechanisms to understand the phenomena at play, κῦμα/Kima invites closer observation, revealing flows of air and levitating spheres that seem to defy gravity.

Together, these works captivatingly demonstrate how science and art can unite to make complex physical concepts tangible, creating an experience that blends reflection, participation, and discovery.

Claire Williams

Meteors – Radio Echoes

Claire Williams delves into the cosmos, occult sciences, electromagnetic waves, and the influence of this hidden world on the human body and psyche. In Meteors – Radio Echos, the public is invited to listen to “meteor echoes,” an electroacoustic phenomenon triggered by a celestial body entering Earth’s atmosphere. As meteors speed through the upper layers of the atmosphere, they collide with air molecules, sparking a process of ionization that creates a luminous trail. Like a mirror reflecting light back to its source, these ionized trails send radio waves back toward the transmitters, producing what we call “meteor echoes.”

For this installation, the artist has placed transducers—small vibrating speakers—on the windows of the CC Brueghel entrance hall. These transducers are directly connected to the antenna of Livemeteors.com, an amateur platform dedicated to listening to cosmic phenomena, amplifying the electromagnetic disturbances caused by meteor echoes. By leaning in close to the glass, visitors can hear an intermittent melody of whistles, clicks, crackles, and other enigmatic electromagnetic sounds.

Play Corner

Mazette welcomes CurieuCity for an afternoon of board games and science. Come along as a family or on your own and let our animators guide you through some original scientific games, while enjoying a well-deserved hot drink.

Mazette

Chemistry and Hops: The Art of Brewing with Tasting

Mazette, the cooperative café-brasserie in the Marolles, brews its own beer from start to finish. Come and discover the steps involved in creating this traditional Belgian beverage and see how Mazette has optimized its space to create the perfect short supply chain! Tastings will also be offered during the tour.

To register click here: https://www.billetweb.fr/curieucity-marolles

Ohme & Frederik Vanhoutte

Κῦμα

The Ancient Greek term κῦμα (pronounced Kima) means wave, the physical movement on the surface of a liquid layer. In physics, a wave describes dynamic disturbances of a physical quantity around a position of equilibrium. By controlling the vertical position of each of the twenty-five spheres, κῦμα produces a discrete 3D levitating choreography. Randomly activated fans interact with the spheres, disturbing their movements by blowing from above: the choreography patterns are broken, becoming unstable or even chaotic. A control loop feedback mechanism counteracts this tendency towards chaos; its efficiency varies over time, highlighting the impact of its action. This artwork allows to introduce and explain basics of control system design and automation science which deal with the modelling, analysis, identification and control of dynamic systems. It focuses on controlling a system to comply with precise requirements such as execution time, precision and stability. Thanks to the mathematical equations defining the physical laws of the system, κῦμα controls itself through the real-time processing of multiple signals from sensors and motors. The analogue signals of the physical system are used as raw data to generate digital visuals reinterpreting the movements, disturbances and deviations of the spheres and airflows.

Sophie van Eck, Louise Charlier, Stephanie Roland, Mieke Sterken, Valery Vermeulen, Pasquale Nardonne

Space Night

Let yourself be transported on a sensory and intellectual journey through space and the cosmic mysteries that surround us! Space Night is the perfect evening to sharpen your curiosity and expand your horizons, diving into the vastness of the universe through a series of captivating interventions, projections, and discussions, suitable for both beginners and astronomy enthusiasts.

17 :00 – Stars, Black Holes & Co. by Sophie van Eck

How about a journey through the Universe? Embark on a virtual tour where we will explore stars, exoplanets, and even black holes, while discovering the latest scientific findings. This adventure will remind us of the importance of preserving our planet, while offering a fascinating perspective on our place in the vastness of the universe.

18:00 – Roscosmic speculative space agency : rethinking the link between Space and the Earth, by Louise Charlier

Louise Charlier focuses on the observation of space, her place of experimentation and representation, between art, science and narrative. At the crossroads of art and science, the world-project named « Roscosmic speculative space agency » is a transmedial narrative project that plays on the fluid boundary between fiction and reality. By sharing a common vocabulary with space agencies, the aim is to question these dominant imaginaries, the veracity of their representations of the cosmos and their impact on our societies. For Louise Charlier, installations are possible worlds, fictional enclaves in objective reality that invite viewers to “build hope on the edge of the abyss” by immersing themselves in an alternative version of reality.

18:45 – The Empty Sphere by Stéphanie Roland

This experimental documentary delves into a space object and its slow drift into the darkness of a space graveyard. A scientist shares her attachment to this object and the absence of images of the mysterious site. This reverse science-fiction journey blends real and fictional archives, taking us to the edges of an invisible and almost inaccessible place.

19:15 – Antarctica: an icy window to the universe, by Mieke Sterken

Travel with us to Antarctica, the coldest continent on Earth, where scientists try to decipher not only the secrets of the ice, but also those of the universe. Why is Antarctica so interesting for space research? Is living in an Antarctic research base like living in a space station? What are the Southern Lights? And why do scientists go all the way to Antarctica to collect meteorites? You will find out all about it in this presentation!

20 :00 – Mikromedas AdS/CFT 001, by Valery Vermeulen

Mikromedas AdS/CFT 001 is a a concept driven project from Dr Valery Vermeulen. It is an invitation to contemplate the nature of reality, an odyssey focusing on the most enigmatic, exotic objects in space – black holes. With this piece Vermeulen augments art and science using data sonfication to transform data streams from various simulation models of black holes into sound and music.The similarly title album Mikromedas AdS/CFT 001 is released on London based label Ash International, subsidiary of the renownded Touch label. Mastering was done by Simon Scott, also known as the drummer of the band Slowdive. Upon release the album was picked up internationallyand was nominated with an Honorary Mention for the S+T+Arts Prize Ars Electronica issued on behalf of the European Commission. Mikromedas AdS/CFT 001 resides within the space sound project Mikromedas, a data-driven musical project in which compositions are created using data stemming from space, deep space and astrophysical simulation models.

Moderated by Pasquale Nardonne

21:00-22:00 – Space Cocktails

To register click here: https://www.billetweb.fr/curieucity-marolles

Michel Goyon

ART ET MARGES MUSEE : ARBORESCENCES

CurieuCity invites you to visit the Art et marges musée, free of charge, where artist Michel Goyon will give a guided tour of his “Arborescences” exhibition.

For over forty years, Michel Goyon (1963) has been developing a complex, hybrid body of work, in which plastic experiments and cultural, artistic and scientific references intertwine in a perpetual quest for meaning. A visionary, he draws his inspiration from fields as varied as contemporary art, mathematics, American comics, alternative culture, art brut and science fiction. His work, spread over some 1,400 pages of illustrated notebooks, large-scale drawings and volumes, blurs the boundaries between the real and the imaginary.

The Arborescences exhibition, curated by Thibault Leonardis and Roberta Trapani, offers an immersive retrospective of Michel Goyon, spanning his entire career through an interactive multimedia journey. A monograph, co-published by Knock Outsider, the Art et marges musée and Patrimoines irréguliers de France, accompanies the event, rethinking the boundaries between art brut and contemporary art.

To register click here: https://www.billetweb.fr/curieucity-marolles

Monochromes

Monochromes is a hybrid project at the intersection of music, light and colour, a collaboration between visual artist Yannick Jacquet and composer/double bassist Otto Lindholm. At the heart of Monochromes is a series of 12 unique compositions for double bass and looper, each lasting a fixed 5 minutes. Each composition focuses on a specific note of the musical scale, to which is freely associated a luminous hue, thought of as a sound colour. The result is a chromatic alphabet – the 12 semitones of Western music – that questions our relationship with representations. Inspired by EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, a cognitive therapy using eye movements) techniques, the artists weave a dialogue between music, colour and light, exploring their influences on our mental state. Monochromes invites to slow down and take in the sensations that can emerge from its coloured circular stimuli. The main installation, formed by an ellipse of screens, presents six of the twelve sound monochromes. The artists are also seeking to manipulate colour more precisely and work with it in greater depth. Here, they are exhibiting an initial prototype of this research in an isolated monolith.