For two days a month between January and April 2025, a group of around 10 artists will discuss their respective practices, based on the sharing of a particular question that they raise in their work. 

The programme is organised around the presentation of prototypes (a short artistic proposal that allows an idea to be tested without becoming attached to it), which will then be looked at, worked on, dissected, loved and cherished by the whole group during feedback sessions.

Constellations is also a laboratory for thinking about performing arts in the city and trying to sketch out the contours of the notions of public space and situated artistic practices. As well as supporting individual projects, it is also a collective trajectory, nurtured by the diversity of perspectives, backgrounds and disciplines present within the group.

Sarah Vanhee

Each year, Cifas invites one artist to accompany Constellations and propose a transversal dialogue based on their own practice and relationship with public space. In 2026, it will be performance artist and author Sarah Vanhee.

Her transdisciplinary work often stems from co-creation frameworks with diverse individuals and communities, as a tool to bring underexposed stories and non-dominant voices and narratives to the foreground (bodies of knowledge, Words Service, undercurrents, The Making of Justice, Lecture For Every One, etc.).

Together, they experiment with performative and participatory methods, with the work of art as a common horizon and radical imagination as a force for social transformation. These in situ creations—within or outside the artistic institution, in urban or domestic spaces, in a prison, school or hospital—question the “public” nature of the spaces that shape our society.

For Constellations, Sarah Vanhee will propose to explore the politics and ethics of co-creation: How can we work together? With which performative frameworks and tools? ? What does co-creation mean in terms of values, commitments or strategies of “care”? How can we deepen our capacities for receptiveness and deep listening, starting from a more “eco-centric” perspective on the world?_

In short, Constellations is a tool to:

• strengthen and extend your own working methodologies
• discover other possible ways of writing and creating
• give and receive feedback
• explore and refine issues specific to creating in public space
• discover other artists and share practices
• strengthen artistic solidarity in a sector still based on competition

Who for:

• For artists with all levels of experience who have a project in process in the performing arts, all disciplines combined, questioning the city and/or public space.
• Diversity of artistic practices and perspectives will be valued.
• Applications from artists from socio-economic and cultural backgrounds that are under-represented in the Brussels arts sector are encouraged.
• The selection will be done with an awareness of the structural oppression and invisibilisation of people and communities who are discriminated against for reasons of class, race, gender, age, sexuality, physical and mental ability…

Practical information:

Artist in dialogue

Sarah Vanhee

Facilitation

Flore Herman (Cifas)

Languages

French & English.

It’s important to know the basics of both languages.

Dates

Participants must attend all sessions.

• Monday 19 & Tuesday 20 January
• Monday 16 & Tuesday 17 February
• Monday 9 & Tuesday 10 March
• Monday 13, Tuesday 14 & Wednesday 15 April

Location

Brussels, location TBC

Conditions

40 euros per day for each participant (volunteer contracts).

Selection & deadline

Application deadline: November 24, midday CET

Answer around November 28.

Fill in the following online form attaching a CV and a letter/audio/video message (3.000 characters including spaces or 3 minutes max.) sharing your motivation for participating in Constellations:

• Where are you in the development of your project?

• How can the Constellations help you?

• What are questions that are triggering your work today regarding public space or the city?

If you have any questions or require further information, please get in touch:

Charlotte David

charlotte@cifas.be

+32 497 74 74 25