All The Small Things exhibited at Z33 Hasselt

Every year, Z33 gives a stage to young talent. All the Small Things shows the results of Designers in Residence Kortrijk of Designregion Kortrijk 2024. Each year, a jury selects three recently graduated designers from different creative disciplines. They are given three months to develop a concept, collaborating with citizens, entrepreneurs, education and society. In Z33 they show the result of their creative research.

The three Designers in Residence Yufei Gao, Julie Merlino and Eszter Nagy, resided in Kortrijk from September to December 2024. They were inspired by the rich history of Kortrijk. Textiles are therefore the common thread in their work, where together they explore the boundaries between craftsmanship, tradition and new technologies. Their final presentation was previously exhibited at the Texture Museum in Kortrijk. This spring, the exhibition travels to Z33 in Hasselt, where it can be seen from 8 May to 22 June.

Courtrai is remembered for two things: as a textile town since the Middle Ages and as a border. Since the 1820 Treaty of Courtrai, 300 stone border posts have marked the border with France. In 2021, Belgium got a little bigger when a farmer moved that border by 2.29 metres.

A fascinating history that Yufei Gao tackles in her video projection entitled A border is not a boundary. She built a border post in linen and filmed it while wandering along the French-Belgian border. In doing so, she commemorates how people, industry and migration are intertwined.

Light reacts differently to materials: it reflects, deflects or creates a shine. Like when looking at Belgian damask, a traditional weaving technique for which Kortrijk was known in the 16th century. The fabric's complex structure and the designs it incorporates provide an interesting viewing experience.

This dynamic fascinated Julie Merlino. With A change in frequency, she explores fabrics that shift dynamically based on the viewer's perception and position. The research is based on phenomena such as the moiré movement effect and makes microstructures visible.

A binary logic connects the worlds of computers and weaving. In computers, it determines whether a pixel is drawn or not; in weaving, the same binary reasoning takes place when the warp thread is raised or lowered.

Eszter Nagy interweaves craftsmanship with the digital world. Starting with a 1987 jacquard woven napkin designed by Marc Van Hoe and executed by weaving company Verilin, Eszter transforms local icons into digital copies. She realises a dialogue between pixels and weaves in her installation Edge or No Edge , where a tapestry is placed next to LED screens.

Simultaneously with All The Small Things, Colour - Seeing beyond Pigment opens at Z33. This exhibition is about the search for sustainable and natural dyes.

Dyes are everywhere. From paint to cosmetics and clothing, from everyday objects to your food and drink, pigments literally give color to life. Unfortunately, the pigment and dye industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world. In the search for natural alternatives, Laboratorium - the biolab for art, design and biotechnology at KASK & Conservatory in Ghent - went a long way. Here melanin turned out to be a fascinating track. In Z33, researchers, designers and artists present their results for the first time.

• Location: Z33 - Bonnefantenstraat 1, 3500 Hasselt
• Date: 08.05 - 22.06.25
• Contact: +32 (0)11 29 59 60
• Email: info@z33.be

This work was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union and implemented by the Goethe-Institute. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.