KIOSK installation Memento Festival

From 12 to 29 March, Memento Word Arts Festival Kortrijk immerses you in a linguistic bath. Performances, debates, workshops, author meetings, exhibitions, installations and reading sessions showcase the art of words in all its forms. This year's theme is absurdity, as an inexhaustible source of creativity and freedom.

Every year, an installation is developed and built for the KIOSK by young designers matched to Memento by Designregio Kortrijk. This year, Fien Coolman and Rémi Daelman were nominated. Rémi and Lien met while studying Industrial Product Design at Howest in Kortrijk. As partners in life and work, they like to keep each other sharp and curious. With a background in graphic design and architecture, they complement each other perfectly.

For this installation on the theme of absurdity, they came up with the myth of Sisyphus, especially as Camus reads it: 'You must think of Sisyphus as a happy man'.

This idea inspired them to see monotonous effort not as something negative, but as an essential part of humanity. In a society that increasingly tries to avoid effort and repetition, they do not want to point fingers, but rather show that there is also value in trying again and again, with a touch of humour.

Their installation translates this idea into an everyday, almost office-like setting: a lift, the symbol of avoiding effort. Inside is a chrome ball, a reference to the rock of Sisyphus. This unusual combination creates an absurd image. Something that is precisely not allowed to be. The reflection in the ball directly involves the visitor in the work, inviting them to reflect on their own place within the daily cycles of effort, repetition and progress.

The title Floor ∞ refers to a floor that does not exist, that can never be reached.

Floor was realised in collaboration with the companies Juunoo and ntgrate, and thanks to Het Entrepot, Rémi and Fien were able to use a workshop in De Tank.

JUUNOO, based in Zwevegem, is the market leader in sustainable modular constructions for the modern workplace. In 2024, JUUNOO won a GOLD Henry van de Velde design award in the OVAM Ecodesign Awards category. With their ambitious design focused on modularity and reusable components, their high-quality installations are built faster than traditional systems, while also utilising a circular business model.

In the KIOSK, they are presenting a new product, the JUUNOO DryClick. An innovation in the field of plasterboard that is five times faster to install and completely reusable.
JUUNOO DryClick uses patented click connection technology that allows boards to be clicked together without tools and locked onto telescopic bolts. The construction is virtually identical to traditional plasterboard, but simpler and faster.

Contact JUUNOO on +32 (0)56 44 18 90 or info@juunoo.com.

Flooring company ntgrate, based in Evolis Kortrijk, supplied the red carpet tiles in the KIOSK. This young and innovative company specialises in manufacturing acoustic and sustainable woven vinyl floor coverings, produced in Belgium. ntgrate combines sustainability, acoustics and design in all its products and projects. In their beautiful office at Evolis, they welcome architects and interior designers to their experience centre, a playground where colour, material and design can create stunning solutions.

Contact ntgrate on +32 (0)56 71 95 43 or info@ntgrate.eu.