C0N10UR BIENNIAL OF MOVING IMAGES
9.09.2023 – 5.11.2023
The tenth edition was curated by artists Anouk De Clercq, Fairuz Ghammam, Herman Asselberghs, Manon de Boer and Sven Augustijnen from the Brussels production and distribution platform Auguste Orts.
C0N10UR borrowed its title from the philosopher Rosi Braidotti: “We are rooted but we flow” is her restatement of Virginia Woolf’s articulation of grounded mobility and deep-seated possibility of change. The biennial brought thus together works by artists residing in Belgium and celebrated the rich contemporary Belgian audiovisual arts scene. With invitations for new works that can live on beyond the biennial, C0N10UR sustainably supported the existing field.
C0N10UR took place in four locations in the heart of Mechelen and, thanks to its partners argos centre for audiovisual arts in Brussels and Kunsthal Extra City in Antwerp, visitors could also experience the biennial outside Mechelen.
Contour Biennale 9 / Coltan as Cotton
11-13.01.2019 / 17-19.05.2019 / 18-20.10.2019
For its ninth edition, the biennial took on a whole new guise and became an elongated continuum that began on 25 October 2018 with an introductory phase. Then three long weekends that followed the lunar cycle formed the backbone of the biennial.
Curator Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez chose the heading “Coltan as Cotton”, taking inspiration from the video poem of the same name by American rapper, slammer and writer Saul Williams. Petrešin-Bachelez engaged more than 50 participants for this edition inspired by and related to the city of Mechelen, its inhabitants and, more broadly, Belgium’s colonial history and its continuation today. This led to more than 20 new commissioned films, installations, participatory projects and performances.
Petrešin-Bachelez also initiated the “Transnational Alliance”, an education programme that ran parallel to the biennial and explored the similar themes.
CONTOUR BIENNALE 8
1.03.2017 – 21.05.2017
Contour Biennale 8 was curated by Natasha Ginwala and explored the intersection of social justice and art through the lens of the 400-year old juridical past of Mechelen’s Great Council - Europe’s first courthouse.
Film, video, installations and performance immersed visitors in the world of law, jurisprudence and justice. The biennial examined justice as a performative, ethical, and aesthetic medium, reflecting on its evolving role in contemporary society. “Polyphonic Worlds: Justice as Medium” featured works by 25 artists and collectives in six venues.
A public program for the opening weekend, “Planetary Records: Performing Justice Between Art and Law”, and the launch of “Hearings: A Reader”, a journal on art and justice, further delved into these themes, questioning established notions of truth, evidence, and representation in legal and artistic contexts.
CONTOUR 7
29.08.2015 – 8.11.2015
CONTOUR 7 was curated by Nicola Setari and was dedicated to Thomas More, who, during a stay in Flanders in the summer of 1515, visited Mechelen and wrote a large part of “Utopia” (1516) here, a book about an ideal state.
The seventh edition explored the themes of utopias, monsters and martyrs, inspired by his book and Erasmus' “In Praise of Folly” (1511). With works by more than 20 international artists at various venues in Mechelen, the exhibition examined themes such as how dystopian fears and radical beliefs shape the media. The history of Mechelen, from mythical monsters to the atrocities of the Second World War, provided the backdrop.
Three “Utopia & Europa Salons” were held in cooperation with the Directorate-General for Education and Culture and the Representation of the European Commission in Belgium. They addressed the role of artists, writers, and thinkers in shaping Europe’s future.
Contour 2013 / Leisure, Discipline and Punishment
24.08.2013 — 3.11.2013
The sixth edition of the Contour Biennial of Moving Image, curated by Jacob Fabricius, explored the social functions and relationships that shape society.
Held in Mechelen, the Contour 2013 unfolded across four key venues: the prison, the KV Mechelen stadium, the historic church of Our Lady-across-the-Dyle, and the Court of Busleyden. These spaces, deeply embedded in the city’s fabric, served as both inspiration and a framework for the exhibition, reflecting the influence of public and semi-public institutions through rules, rituals, and power structures.
Under the theme “Leisure, Discipline, and Punishment”, the artists created works in dialogue with these spaces and explored local histories, political contexts, and broader narratives. Through site-specific interpretations, the exhibition invited reflection on how we experience and engage with institutional environments.
Contour 2011 / Sound and Vision: Beyond Reason
27.08.2011 – 30.10.2011
Anthony Kiendl curated the 5th edition of the biennial under the title, partly taken from David Bowie’s 1976 song, “Sound and Vision: Beyond Reason”.
The exhibition explored the intersection of popular music, contemporary film, video, and post-conceptual art, challenging their autonomy. It examined how rock music’s ecstatic potential pushes boundaries of representation, language, and control, focusing on the human body’s role in transforming experience. The exhibition also highlighted how art, music and film can transcend language, questioning the social construction of space and the cultural power of the body in radical social change.
From Brion Gysin’s “Dreamachine” to punk rock, afro-futurism and disco, Contour 2011 played throughout Mechelen, locating installations within re-purposed architectural spaces ranging from cathedrals and schools to theatres and beyond.
Contour 2009 / Hidden In Remembrance Is The Silent Memory Of Our Future
15.08.2009 – 18.10.2009
The fourth edition of the biennial, entitled “Hidden in Remembrance is the Silent Memory of Our Future”, was curated by Katerina Gregos. The event featured 18 Belgian and international artists working with film, video and lens-based media, many of whom produced new works.
The exhibition took place 20 years after 1989, the pivotal year of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The European landscape, geopolitical dynamics, and cultural identities had changed dramatically since then, and the exhibition engaged with the challenge of understanding the present through the lens of the past.
The biennial showcased diverse perspectives on history, memory, and identity, offering reflections rather than a singular narrative. Artists used historical material to examine how history affects our present and future, questioning whose history is remembered, whose history is forgotten, and how narratives are shaped.
Contour 2007 / Decoder
18.08.2017 – 21.10.2007
Still named the third biennial for video art, Contour 2007 focused on the perceptual and rhetorical mechanisms shaping how people understand the world. It explored contemporary trends in lens-based media art, addressing topics shaped by prevailing ways of comprehension.
Titled “Decoder”, the exhibition engaged with legitimate, topical, and even antagonistic subjects, reflecting on how we consume political and socio-cultural issues through visual media. Curator Nav Haq did not intend to make a political biennial as such, but to question how art interacts with and represents these concerns.
The biennial was deeply connected to Mechelen, utilizing a variety of citywide sites — both historical and active public spaces — offering an experiential, immersive approach to video art. The exhibition aimed to create visceral encounters that challenged the audience's engagement with art.
Contour 2005 – 2de biënnale voor videokunst
17.09.2005 – 20.11.2005
In 2005 Contour became a biennial for video art and the main contemporary art event during the city festival “Mechelen 2005, City in Female Hands”. Two artists, Dara Birnbaum and Kerry Tribe, formed the starting point for curator Cis Bierinckx to build further on a compelling ensemble of works and artists.
What intrigued him was not just the confrontation between two generations of artists, but the bold, personal statements made by Birnbaum and Tribe. Bierinckx was inspired by the passion and vision evident in both artists' works and invited nineteen artists, including fifteen women, giving the biennial a distinctly international character.
The walk in Mechelen led the visitors to surprising locations such as the Town Hall, the Aldermen's House, the rehearsal rooms of kunstencentrum nona, Saint Rumbold's Cathedral, the Magdalene Chapel and the De Wit Royal Manufactory.
Contour – een wandeling langs hedendaagse bewegend beeld
15.08.2003 – 12.10.2003
Contour was established in 2003 as a platform to present cutting-edge developments and the best of moving image art. The event presented artists working with film, video and installations in unexpected or heritage locations within walking distance of each other in the historical centre of Mechelen.
For its first edition, founder and first curator Etienne Van den Bergh invited 15 artists - mainly from Belgium and the Netherlands - to exhibit their works in eight locations such as St John's Church, the Church of the Beghinage, the contemporary arts centre De Garage and others.
The new initiative focused on the connection between past and present, embracing the moving image as a visual art form, emphasising the importance of artistic presentation, balancing established and emerging talents alongside national and international artists and highlighting recent or newly created works.
