Open Call: Curatorial Fellow – Public Outreach & Community Engagement

Kunsthal Mechelen—an open house for contemporary art in Mechelen—and the Curatorial Studies programme at KASK & Conservatorium/ School of Arts are partnering for the third time to offer alumni of the Curatorial Studies postgraduate programme, institution-based opportunity, this year within the framework of Contour Biennale.

The 11th iteration of Contour is curated by Sofia Lemos and is titled The Thought of the Heart and the Soul of the World. It will take place from September 4th until November 1st, 2026. Sofia Lemos is a Portuguese curator and writer based in Barcelona, whose practice explores the intersections of art, performance, and discourse. Her work centres on artists and ideas that inspire connection, continually exploring experimental formats and collaborative approaches that foster accessibility, critical inquiry, and meaningful experiences, often with a focus on ecology.

The Biennale will unfold through a parcours of artworks and installations spread across five locations in the city, with The Garage, home of Kunsthal Mechelen, as its anchor point. Alongside the exhibition, a series of public events and a mediation programme will be developed, including guided tours, mindful walks, multisensory forms of knowledge-sharing and a series of lectures by the participating artists.

About Contour

With its 20-year history, Contour Biennale has carved out a singular space in the landscape of moving images and time-based media, engaging with the shifting contours of artistic practice with each edition. Alongside the Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement in Geneva, Contour Biennale is also the only biennial in Europe dedicated to moving image.

Deeply entangled with its surroundings, Contour has always been more than an exhibition; it is a site of inquiry, a critical lens on the questions of our time. Over ten iterations, it has evolved into an internationally widely acclaimed biennale—one that resists fixity, continuously reimagining itself to resonate with both local rhythms and international currents. The curators of the recent editions, Auguste Orts (2023), Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez (2019), Natasha Ginwala (2017), Nicola Setari (2015) and Jacob Fabricius (2013) have each shaped the biennale’s trajectory, and have unfolded its expanding enquiry, scope and vocabulary.

At its core, Contour is committed to inclusivity, fair practice, and ecological awareness, anchoring itself in both local and global contexts. The biennale aims to activate local and international networks to strengthen the co-production model and explore innovative and sustainable paths for audiovisual production.

Between 2017 and 2023, the Contour Biennale was organised by the Mechelen-based nona art centre. Since 2024 Contour Biennale has been run by the non-profit organisation Contouristen, a group of Belgium-based curators and artists. The archive of earlier editions of the biennale can be found on nona’s website: https://www.nona.be/en/editions.

What is offered

We are seeking a Curatorial Fellow to join our team and develop innovative ways to engage the public. The role of the curatorial fellow is to develop a public outreach program that is both in line with the curatorial vision of the biennial as well as its aim to create a community that includes visitors of all ages and backgrounds. This fellowship combines curatorial thinking with hands-on public programming and community-building, with a focus on schools, families, young people and children as well as engaging with the volunteering network.

Your role

• Curate and design the outreach program by identifying communities and develop a strategy, in collaboration with the biennial’s team.
• Approach public outreach from a curatorial perspective, considering how programming can extend and complement the exhibition narrative.
• Develop outreach activities for children and students, establish contact with the communities and welcome the groups in the exhibition.
• Develop a volunteer program that aligns with curatorial priorities, fostering meaningful engagement and collaboration.
• Plan activities that encourage interaction, learning, and bonding among families, volunteers, and the wider public.
• Collaborate with staff, educators, and volunteers to create memorable and inclusive experiences

 

We are looking for someone who:

• Graduated from the Curatorial Studies postgraduate programme at KASK.
• Has a background in curatorial practice, museum studies, or arts education.
• Can combine conceptual thinking with practical program design.
• Is enthusiastic about community engagement and building volunteer networks.
• Enjoys experimenting with formats for children, families, and multigenerational audiences.
• Values collaboration and can work across departments to integrate public-facing activities into the curatorial vision.
• Can support the team with research of accessibility / public outreach related grants.
• Has strong communicative and writing skills in English and Dutch.

 

Practical details:

• We offer a BIS/CIP internship of 6 months (Beroepsinlevingsovereenkomst), to be spread between the beginning of March and end of October.
• Remuneration: amount to be determined. The internship allowance/compensation depends on the intern’s age, other income, e.g., unemployment benefits or welfare. More information here: http://actiris.brussels/nl/burgers/beroepsinlevingsstage/

 

How to apply:

To apply, submit the following in a single PDF to [email protected] using the subject line “Curatorial Fellow Application”.

• A motivation letter (maximum 1 A4 page).
• A CV (maximum 1 A4 page) and/or portfolio.

The deadline for submissions is February 22nd 2026, midnight. For any inquiries, please reach out to [email protected].

Sofia Lemos appointed curator of Contour Biennale 11

Contour Biennale is pleased to announce Sofia Lemos as the curator of its eleventh edition, which will take place in 2026 across the city of Mechelen, Belgium. Since 2003, Contour has engaged with the city’s layered histories through moving image. With Lemos’s appointment, the biennale enters a new phase, one attuned to transformation as both method and condition.

“We are thrilled to welcome Sofia Lemos to Contour,” says Laura Herman, Chair of the Contour Board. “She brings not only a breadth of international experience but also a sharp curatorial vision attuned to the role of art in navigating today’s complexities. Unafraid to work beyond conventional boundaries, Lemos will shape an edition that reaffirms Mechelen’s place on the contemporary art map.”

Biography

Sofia Lemos is a curator and writer whose work engages the intersections of art, performance, and discourse, with a sustained focus on ecology and critical practice.

From 2021 to 2024, Lemos was Curator at TBA21—Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, where she launched a programme centred on ecological and community-based practices, commissioning new work and convenings artists, performers, and thinkers. Between 2018 and 2021, she served as Curator of Public Programmes and Research at Nottingham Contemporary, where she developed live and collaborative projects, including the multi-year Sonic Continuum, exploring the sonic and its relationship to social change.

Lemos was associate curator of the 2nd Riga Biennial (2020), a visiting curator at Galeria Municipal do Porto (2017–18), and part of the curatorial team for Contour Biennale 8 (2017). She has collaborated with Culturgest, Galerias Municipais de Lisboa, Serralves Museum, Frac Sud, Kunstinstituut Melly, MACBA, MAMBA, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt, among others.

She edited Reluctant Gardener (Bom Dia Books, 2025), Meandering: Art, Ecology, and Metaphysics (Sternberg Press, 2024), Sonic Continuum(Nottingham Contemporary, 2021), and Metabolic Rifts (Anagram, 2019, with Alexandra Balona). Lemos lectures regularly and contributes to international publications, including e-flux criticism, Frieze, Mousse, and Spike.