Chapter Generosity*

* English only

July 2022, twenty young inquisitive minds kick off Chapter Generosity. A mix of backgrounds, cultures and perspectives. Belgium, Holland, Libanon, Syria, Turkey, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, ..  social sciences, art, law, engineering, literature, economics, health, philosophy, drama, drawing and dance ... Keen to explore the meaning of Generosity.

Together, they take on the challenge to think about the future of the now in which we live. Propelled by their dreams. Inspired by the untamed environment of LABIOMISTA. They come to think the Unthinkable, to explore a future where generosity takes on a new meaning. 

  • Who?: 20 young people between 18 and 28 years old

  • When?: from July to October 2022

  • Where? LABIOMISTA, Genk and Université Libre de Bruxelles (BE)

  • Language? English, Dutch or French

  • Partners? Studio Koen Vanmechelen, VUB, ULB, Innoviris, OpUnDi, Mouth Foundation, City of Genk

 

Trajectory 

Chapter Generosity comes together through a process of ideation, feedback, creation and presentation.  Over the course of the program, participants come together to develop a 'premisses' for Generosity. A first attempt to define new rules, systems and basic values for a better society. A chapter for the library of the future, their future.

July 2022: Ideation

Anarchy, action, introspection, and semantics. On three separate occasions in July 2022, three groups of six to eight young people immersed themselves for three days in LABIOMISTA. To think and dream about the meaning of generosity. In the freedom of art, in the encounter with the other. Each group claimed a different identity. The results of their reflections and dialogues were stored in drawings, theatre, text and video. Their ideations were presented to a transdisciplinary team of artists and scientists in July 2022.

Ideations participants

 

July 2022: Cross fertilisation 

In a 'voluntary' three-day quarantine, a transdisciplinary team of academics, artists, social thinkers, scientists, civil society read and explored the ideas and actions of the participants. They were challenged to question themselves and the experiment existentially.  The transdisciplinary team formulated together an answer, an analysis with recommendations for follow up or ideas for further thought process. Not a manual, let alone a compelling path to follow, rather a reflection on the thinking and creations of the young participants.

Feedback transdisciplinary team

July 2022: Generosity

From 20th until 24th July, the participants went back to work with the input and reflections of the transdisciplinary team. They discussed, selected and integrated the relevant knowledge and insights. Together, they started a new narrative of generosity: a story in which young people set the scene for tomorrow's society and try to rethink the existing social frameworks. A first attempt to define our new rules. They chose the medium themselves. It concluded with a presentation of their work in a vernissage, an encounter with participants of PhiloXenia and an award ceremony. 

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October 2022: The Future

On October 8, 2022, the Unthinkable Experiment, participants, partners and the transdisciplinary team will reunite in Brussels. Participants will be given the opportunity to present an idea and initial plan of action to turn something unthinkable into reality. Building on the insights that were generated and gained in the first sessions of the Experiment. This is not a mandatory assignment. It is an invitation to start the movement from thinking to action. We will review, discuss, and explore together if we, as a joint community of participants, transdisciplinary team, art studio, universities, foundations and all our related networks, can ‘incubate these eggs’ and hatch these proposals into reality.  

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Transdisciplinary Team

 

Partners

Location

The Unthinkable Experiement takes place at LaMouseion, three thinking boxes on the Southern edge of Protected Paradise in LABIOMISTA. Participants sleep on the farm of artist Koen Vanmechelen. In the second session, the artist opens his studio for the participants to work and present. 

Check out Chapter Freedom, the first chapter of The Unthinkable Experiment that took place in 2021 and listen to the feedback of the participants

Chapter Freedom