Opening evening of the exhibition The Foragers: Engagements Beyond the Human in the presence of the artists and curator Gosie Vervloessem.
How can we stay connected to the living world when daily life moves quickly and feels unpredictable? The Foragers: Engagements Beyond the Human approaches this question through foraging: noticing, gathering and working with what is already around us. What once was a basic survival skill now offers a way to slow down and pay attention in a time of ecological pressure.
From 23 April to 31 May 2026, the exhibition at Pilar brings together artists who start from what they find in their surroundings: textiles washed ashore, gaming symbols, clothes from Brussels’ streets, traces of insects and materials that often go unnoticed in everyday surroundings. These starting points lead to sculptures, textiles, videos, drawings and sound works that reflect the contexts they come from and the questions they raise. Some focus on small details from daily life; others connect their materials to wider environmental or social issues.
Curated by Gosie Vervloessem, the exhibition features existing and new work by Annelotte Lammertse, TimTheo Deceuninck, Clément Thiry & Chloé Schuiten, Matthias Mu & Amber Van Luffelen (Mutoko), Soukaina Aziz El Idrissi, Marjolijn Dijkman, Samah Hijawi, Ernst Maréchal, Aïcha Ouattara, Jori Galama, Federico Protto, Nele Möller, Pedro Riofrio, Camille Dufour, Delphine Somers, Elli Vassilou and Maliza Kiasuwa.
ON THE PROGRAM
18:00 - 22:00: During the opening evening, you’re invited to take part in a screen-printing session guided by Alex Deforce. Bring a textile item and print a The Foragers design to take home.
This exhibition forms a key moment within the larger art-science project The Foragers (2025–2027), which explores foraging not only as an artistic method but also as a cultural and ecological way of understanding our relationship with human and more-than-human worlds.
