Mon KIKK 2022

I had been to KIKK once before. It was in 2018, when the entrance was still free. I was with my learners. I was a web development trainer then. I didn’t know what to expect. I had come under the impulse of my colleagues who had told me that the festival was THE Belgian event of the year, the place to go. The place to be inspired for ; the place to network for my learners. I discovered the existence of spirulina, marveled at the Cowboy bike and most of all I experienced for the first time VR in a paragliding simulation.

This year, I came back after 4 years of absence, after the covid crisis and after a professional reconversion (yeah, one more). I am now a UX/UI designer for television. What could KIKK bring me today?

Conferences

Lauren Moffatt - The Digital Strange

First conference: Inaccessible. I have no idea what it was about. I was excited by the title, but in the end, the conference turned out to be more of a presentation of an artist’s work than the inspiration I came for. The bridge between the host and me was not made. I felt like I was in front of someone who was presenting me with their portfolio. It’s nice what she’s doing, but for me, personally, it doesn’t bring me anything, it doesn’t touch me, it doesn’t resonate. It doesn’t address any issues, it doesn’t inspire me in any way, I don’t remember any real commitment to it,… Just a presentation of works. And it didn’t speak to me.

BUT there was a part when she talked about art therapy, about how to express anxiety. She showed a woman painting on a large white sheet composed of many A3 (?) white sheets. And I thought “Ok, I wanna do that”. That was the only moment when I could connect with the talk.

Neil Mendoza - Screens and Machines

He mentionned a article on The Guardian, saying “Readers absorb less on Kindles than on paper, study finds” at the beginning. Then he showed us how he could give

Onformative - About inspiration and co-creation in the age of data & AI

Immersive Garden - Intuition as main part of the Process

Alex Verhaest - Thinking like strangers

à l’image de la première, la dernière conférence à laquelle j’ai assisté ne m’étais pas destinée. Pourtant l’intitulé “Talking with strangers” m’avait intriguée. Parler avec des étrangers ? Est-ce que ça allait parler d’accessibilité ? De comment comprendre l’autre ? De contraste entre les êtres ? Et bien à ce jour, je ne sais pas de quoi ça parlait réellement. L’artiste a présenté son travail, des teasers de ses réalisations, et j’ai eu beau être attentive, ça ne m’a pas parlé.

Elle a parlé de ses échecs mais sans nous dire en quoi ça pouvait être pertinent pour la suite. Sans nous dire quelle leçon on pouvait en tirer. Moi, moi, moi.

Sophie de Oliveira Barata - The Alternative Limb Project

Sophie’s enthusiasm was infectious. She told us about her projects, about what she has put in place to empower amputees. No pathos, no sadness, no maudlin stories. Simply a succession of people highlighted, people who play with their amputation, who highlight them, who divert them, who make them beautiful. Glamour in front of the pictures of the models, jealousy in front of the pictures of the extensions of the bodies, amazement in front of the use of these members as elements of decorations. Beyond the desire to normalize, there is an action to sublimate these limbs. “Give people a good reason to look”. “Not to arouse pity, but admiration”.

Snask - Change is Fucking Inevitable

une présentation aux petits oignons.

Pau Garcia - Domestic Data Streamers

The Market

Minitel

Recycler un vieux minitel, reprendre une vieille imprimante, utiliser le vieux papier d’époque. Connecter le minitel pour simuler une connexion. Connecter le minitel à une webcam. Faire une photo avec la webcam. Imprimer la photo.

Visit the Losonnante website.

Listen with your bones

Quand il y a trop de bruit, quand on a un souci avec son oreille externe,

The organization

Goodies

top. Les tote bags qui ne contiennent que des choses utiles et pas des goodies dont on se fichent, qu’on va ramener à la maison et jamais utiliser. De la bouffe, du boire, un pin’s et des stickers. L’essentiel. Pas de t-shirts, pas de bugs, pas de gourdes,… Des choses qu’on consomme sur place.

Food!

pour tous dans un seul plat.

Confort

Le seul point négatif : pas assez de place pour s’assoir dans certains cas. Timing serré, superposition des conférences qui ne permettent pas toujours de pouvoir assister à tout ce qu’on veut voir ou même de passer d’une conférence à une autre sans louper des bouts ou faire chier le monde déjà installé.

En revanche, les chaises sont super confortables. Ca semble ridicule mais quand on doit rester assis pendant 40min, c’est important d’être assis sur des chaises confortables.