25 & 26 February 2026
Welcome to the ARIA Spring School, an two-day event exclusively for ARIA researchers in the arts, focusing on enhancing research skills, exchanging research findings with peers, and learning from colleagues' work.
PhD researchers in their second and last year will have the opportunity to present their work and receive feedback.
Don’t miss this opportunity to engage and network with other ARIA researchers.
Programme
25 February - Day 1
- 09:00 - 09:10 Welcome
- 09:10 - 11:00 Presentations by ARIA PhD students in their final year (those who are close to their defence) + Q&A: Karel Tuytschaever, Karin De Fleyt, Kristof Timmerman and Viet Vu,
- 11:00 - 11:30 Coffee break
- 11:30 - 13:00 Presentations by ARIA PhD students in their final year (those who are close to their defence) + Q&A: Yuki Okumura, Pierre-Antoine Vettorello, Chiara Percivati
- 13:00 - 14:00 Lunch with salads
- 14:00 - 16:00 Parallel training sessions in small groups:
- Webinar introduction to Research catalogue for documenting, sharing and publishing artistic research by Tero Heikkinen (UniArts)
- AI/LLM: Deep Learning and Pitfalls of Prompting by Pieter Fivez (TEXTUA/VAIA)
- Research urgency writing session by Kim Gorus (Sint Lucas Antwerpen)
- 16:00 - 17:00 ‘Life after PhD’: round table with ARIA alumni (moderated by Pascal Gielen), with Thomas Moore, Mashid Mohadjerin and Danial Shah
- 17:00 - 18:30 Drinks
26 February - Day 2:
- 09:00 - 10:45 Presentations by second year PhD students (followed by feedback sessions): Ayoh kré Duchâtelet, Miriana Faieta, Renata Lamenza Epifanio, Alastair Matthews, Irma Földényi
- 10:45 - 11:15 Coffee break
- 11:15 - 11:45 Presentations by second year PhD students (followed by feedback sessions): Dimitri Van Den Wittenboer, Can Boyan
- 11:45 - 13:00 Two parallel peer-to-peer feedback sessions following the morning presentations, moderated by Vivi Touloumidi and Petra Van Brabandt
- 13:00 - 14:00 Lunch with salads
- 14:00 - 16:00 Parallel training sessions (in small groups):
- I am stuck – artistic and practical questions by Annelys De Vet (Sint Lucas Antwerpen)
- I am stuck - ethical questions by Petra Van Brabandt (Sint Lucas Antwerpen)
- 16:00 - 17:00 Sharing AR processes and results with Can Boyan (GitHub & DIY coding), Sarah Vanhee (BOK) and Annelys de Vet
25 & 26 February - 13:30 - 17:00
Every 30 minutes, you can participate in a clinical study that is part of the PhD research of Karel Tuytschaever. Karel will present his research on 25 February in the morning, during the first session.
Registration
coming soon
Abstracts
Research urgency writing session by Kim Gorus
In this session we will experiment with what Nyna Lykke calls ‘writing academic texts differently’. Starting from a concrete writing exercise proposed in her eponymous essay collection, in which more intersectional approaches to academic writing are put forward, we will explore how to argue for the urgency and/or relevance of your research project and how to engage in (collective) co-feedback.
A laptop is required for this workshop. Max. 10 attendants.
‘I am stuck’ – artistic and practical questions by Annelys De Vet
A doctoral research process is full of unexpected challenges: projects that move in unforeseen directions, moments of artistic or practical blockage, ideas that resist formalisation, or research directions filled with uncertainty. Hosted by designer, researcher and ARIA-alumni Annelys de Vet, this session creates space to openly share specific problems and collectively reflect on (and map) possible ways forward. The format is informed by the sessions developed by artist and researcher Yazan Khalili during his time as a tutor in the Disarming Design master’s programme at the Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam, where he opened space for ‘problems’ rather than ‘successes’, fostering solidarity, mutual support, and collective thinking.
I am stuck - ethical questions by Petra Van Brabandt
During a PhD in the arts trajectory, you might encounter several ethical problems; from the materials you use to the participants you work with, from the expectations of institutions to power relations, from your airmiles to consent procedures. In this session we bring concrete ethical dilemmas to the table and try to carve agency in ethical ambiguity, constructing ethical assessment tools and discussing the demands of a brave self-situating practice. We ask the participants to bring ethical questions or dilemmas related to their research project and to be shared and discussed within the group.
INWARD clinical study - PhD Karel Tuytschaever
INWARD is a clinical study that is part of Karel Tuytschaever's PhD research project ‘When the artist swallows his image’, developed for and in collaboration with Antwerp University Hospital. The project takes the body as its starting point, as a place of attention, care, and listening, and investigates how physical presence can be experienced when we consciously slow down.
During this experiential moment, we invite you to a short, guided Bodyscan experience of about 20 minutes. Participation is completely painless and consists of simple attention exercises and observation, in a calm and caring setting. The language of the Bodyscan is Dutch; a basic knowledge of Dutch is sufficient.
INWARD is not a treatment or a test, but an invitation to pause for a moment and explore together what the body can tell us when we listen without having to perform.