Jagers & Verzamelaars birthday edition
Brussels, 31st of June 2026


For this birthday edition, Jagers & Verzamelaars invited us to gather outdoors in Brussels to talk about a project we would like to discuss with their community. This edition explored how the artwork(er) is shaped by their material contexts.

Following the launch of our Breadwinner Registry earlier this year, we are taking this moment to reflect on open-call culture; its structural frustrations, unfair practices, and the ways we can reimagine it together. During the moderated discussion, we opened up these key questions with the audience: How can we meaningfully activate this network? How do we communicate a registration process that rejects traditional selection criteria? And how can we keep this space accessible for those who cannot join physical gatherings?

Thank you Jagers & Verzamelaars for this cozy, hot and meaningful gathering. We are excited to further develop the project with the thoughts of this day in mind.

HEDEN CINEMA

Shif—t* invites: queer and feminist short films

Tuin van Heden, 24th of July 2026

We had the opportunity to curate an evening of film in Tuin van Heden on a (very) hot summer evening. We decided to focus on feminist and queer short films (shocking!). We selected five stunning films; works in progress, try-outs, films never seen in public, films that you have to talk about after; overall films by and for the community.

Most of the artists are not strictly filmmakers but combine different disciplines with moving image.

Anne Schoemaker ✼ Kind van Het Onland
Natalija Gucheva ✼ In the Fold of the Self
Martyna Pekala ✼ Lips Made of Petals
Helle Monne Huisman & Laura Smekens ✼ Casting The Circle
Seppe-Hazel Laeremans & Jordan Waever ✼ Peaches, Plums and Pears

We introduced every film and artist very briefly before watching and ended the evening with a lovely dialogue with Anne, Helle Monne and Laura to learn more about their process and intentions.

Thanks to Kuleshov for giving us this opportunity and go to Tuin van Heden! It's a wonderfully peaceful and pleasant place in Ghent.

We would love to do this again soon to share our love for film, local makers and works in progress.

As part of the S.M.A.K. Beweegt program, Shif—t* held three public activations reclaiming the figure of the witch as a living, contemporary battlefield. Facing the institutional absence of queer voices and women artists (16.5%) in the S.M.A.K. collection, we sought to make these frayed edges of history visible.

Drawing from the archives of Fonds Suzan Daniel, we revisited the legacy of Ghent's 1970s collective Liever Heks (Rather Witch). We invited participants to bring personal materials and reactivate archival imagery alongside discussions on what witchcraft means today. Through screen printing, collage, and collective montage, individual contributions grew into a raw, polyphonic whole that celebrated the practices flourishing in the shadows.

Read more here.

Shif—t* LOBBY

BLANCO, June 1-15 2025

A temporary queer lobby in the heart of Ghent, hosted at BLANCO (Lammerstraat 31). For two weeks, the space functioned simultaneously as exhibition, meeting place, and open studio. Visitors were invited to drop in, linger, read, move, or simply exist alongside an evolving scenography.

The program unfolded through an extensive public program of performances, readings, film screenings, live music, DJs, and live printmaking. Highlights included intimate readings, “Table for Six” sessions, improvised sound sets, filmscreenings, a vitrine-stage concert, and a closing day of prints and pulses.

Thanks to ...* for making our LOBBY so special.
* Hennie Imogen & Romane Parmentier (rotbrijn) [dj-set]
* Anaïs Kabore (Touch Me With Your Eyes) [filmmaker)
* Marthe Huyse (Table for Six) [artist / graphic design]
* Lyra Oey & Emma Onghena (reading on friendschip) [artists]
* beaudine dermine (re: i hate to kiss like this) [actor / theatre maker]
* Mette Orla [musician] 
* Pusjka [dj-workshop / -set / poetry reading]
* Celly Tubmaker & Nina Van denbempt (pillow talk) [Softcore Production]
* Adriana Joëlle Jochems (losing her, losing hair, losing loss) [perfomance]