Spreekuur #1: Building community

During the first Spreekuur, we will explore how to build strong communities. We will talk to Magali Elali (The Constant Now), Mounir Eddib (The Building) and Kenneth Cardon (Untold Asian Stories). The discussion will be moderated by Hoa Mai Lambrechts (S.M.A.K.).

With live painting by Jonabel Huavas, mentee of POC POC 3, the mentormentor programme of The Constant Now.

Mounir Eddib is a Moroccan-Belgian painter and mixed media artist. While studying Fine Arts in Maastricht (2019-2024), he co-founded The Building / Genk, an artists' collective that reflects the complex migration history of the region. After three years as YOUNG OFFICE Coordinator at the Bonnefantenmuseum (2022-2025), he decided to focus on his artistic career, alongside his current position as artistic coordinator of The Building.

Magali Elali is a curator and cultural programmer, with a focus on experimental and collaborative art projects. In 2021, she founded The Constant Now, a nomadic platform that supports visual artists of colour (POC) through exhibitions, collaborations, trajectories and talks. She developed the POC POC mentoring programme for emerging artists and the travelling conversation series POC POC MANIFESTO, through which she stimulates new forms of knowledge sharing and connection within the arts field. She has also collaborated with institutions such as S.M.A.K., NW Aalst, Kunsthal Gent, WORM Rotterdam, Kunsthal Mechelen and Horst.

Kenneth Cardon is a Belgian-Thai writer, performer and mentor. Community is at the heart of their artistic practice: a way to connect with the world around them and take responsibility in the collective struggle for social justice. As a founding member of the transdisciplinary artist collective KIN Collective, they are working on a multi-year project on ancestry. Together with their collective members, peers and audience, they create space for stories that we carry with us, but which are less recognised or represented due to Western colonialism and imperialism. Within Untold Asian Stories, Kenneth is active as a community builder, space holder and co-organiser of events during Queer Asian Month, which highlights and celebrates the intersection of queerness and migration.