These are the Designers in Residence for 2026!

In 2026, Designregio Kortrijk and NERDLAB organize a new edition of Designers in Residence Kortrijk. This residency starts from the shared ambition of both organizations: creating space for experimentation and critical design research while developing new formats that bring design and digital culture to a broad audience.

Following an international open call, three designers/makers have now been selected for an intensive residency programme running from 7 September to 5 December 2026.

They will develop an experimental project situated at the intersection of design, technology, and society, with a public presentation during WONDER Festival and Mutation Festival.

Floor berkhout (NL) is an artist and researcher working to pull computation down from the cloud and return it to the hands. She uses the craft of textile-making and the weaving loom, the ancestor of modern-day computers, to research invisible and closed-off digital systems and give them a tangible, physical form. This allows her to explore how agency, democracy, inclusivity and intimacy can take root within the rigid computational frameworks that surround us. She sees this as a necessary act of demystification: invisible infrastructures can never truly be democratic. berkhout holds an MA in information design from design academy eindhoven and has a background in cultural production.’

Oleksandr Sirous (Ukraine) operates in the unstable space between technology, nature, and politics. His work investigates the fragile connections between digital environments and real-world crises, using AI, game mechanics, and real-time data to create experimental systems that visualize collapse, adaptation, and resistance. Through interactive installations, algorithmic storytelling, and live game simulations, Sirous uncovers the hidden dynamics of social and ecological breakdowns.

Sergio Pinilla López, also known as Gio Pi, is a designer and researcher based between Spain and the Netherlands, investigating digitally mediated identities and exploring how technology generates synthetic dreamlike worlds in which we unknowingly deceive ourselves. They hold a Master's in Information Design from the Design Academy Eindhoven and have worked with Medialab Matadero, Next Nature Museum, and Worm. They are currently developing To Become a Trickster, an experimental videogame about remote work, class, and illusion, interweaving a 3D world with risograph-printed textures and webcam experimentation, developed in open-source tools.