The Constant Now

10/05/2026

04/05/2026

Meet the curator!

Op 23 mei opent Wayward Sanctuaries Mechelen in De Garage, gecureerd door Leana Boven, curator, schrijver en onderzoeker met roots in Paramaribo. Haar werk richt zich op gemeenschap, solidariteit, diasporische identiteit en antikoloniale praktijken. Ze cureerde tentoonstellingen bij onder andere MAMA, Casco Art Institute en Gemaal op Zuid, is momenteel curator bij Stroom Den Haag en docent aan de Design Academy Eindhoven.

Met WAYWARD SANCTUARIES brengt ze 15 deelnemers van POC POC samen — het mentoringprogramma van The Constant Now voor opkomende kunstenaars — rond de urgente vraag: hoe bouw je een thuis in een wereld die voortdurend verandert? De groepstentoonstelling is het resultaat van een tweejarig traject van ontmoeting, uitwisseling en ontwikkeling.

ENG

Meet the curator!

On 23 May, WAYWARD SANCTUARIES opens at De Garage, curated by Leana Boven, a curator, writer and researcher with roots in Paramaribo. Her work focuses on community, solidarity, diasporic identity and anti-colonial practices. She has curated exhibitions at MAMA, Casco Art Institute and Gemaal op Zuid, and is currently a curator at Stroom Den Haag and a tutor at the Design Academy Eindhoven.

With WAYWARD SANCTUARIES, she brings together 15 participants from POC POC — The Constant Now’s mentoring programme for emerging artists — around the urgent question: how do you build a home in a world that is constantly shifting? The group exhibition is the result of a two-year trajectory of encounter, exchange and development.

04/02/2026

Throwback to the very first POC POC MANIFESTO, held in March 2024 at FOMU.
What started as an intimate, closed-door conversation within The Constant Now’s mentoring programme POC POC has since grown into a public event, now travelling across Belgium and the Netherlands.

POC POC MANIFESTO is conceived as a work in progress: an evolving conversation with a rotating panel, centred around one core question: How do POC navigate the art world?
Challenges are named, tensions are shared, and possible ways forward are explored together.

Tomorrow, the 5th edition takes place at SMAK Gent
🕖 7:00 PM
📍 S.M.A.K. Auditorium
🎟 Free admission
Photo by KEEN

You are warmly invited to join the conversation: https://smak.be/en/activities/panelgesprek-poc-poc-manifesto

02/02/2026

“Names matter. Get them right.”
Our names carry our identity, our history, our heritage.
Misspelling them, shrugging them off, or replacing them with nicknames isn’t harmless. It’s dismissive.
Respect starts with listening. And with saying our names right.

Join us for the 5th edition of POC POC MANIFESTO - Panel Talk on Thursday, 5 February at S.M.A.K.
Together, we’ll unpack this quote and many other lived experiences of navigating the art world as POC.
This is not about complaining. It’s about empowerment, connection, and knowing you’re not alone.
About building alliances and being truly seen and heard within institutions.

🗓 Thursday 5 February
⏰ 19:00 sharp
📍 S.M.A.K. Auditorium, Ghent
🗣 Language: English
🎟 Free admission

Panelists
• Lisa Ijeoma — artist
• Mulugeta Tafesse — artist
• Anne Wetsi Mpoma — curator, founder Wetsi Gallery
• Hamza Halloubi — artist & filmmaker
• Mounir Eddib — artist, co-founder The Building
• Ben Benaouisse — artist & performer

Be part of the conversation!

Visual identity by KEEN Bart Kiggen