Bethan Burnside selected as Curatorial Fellow

Bethan Burnside was selected as Curatorial Fellow of Contour Biennale 11 in the frame of the third collaboration between Kunsthal Mechelen and Curatorial Studies postgraduate programme at KASK & Conservatorium, which offers a paid, institution-based opportunity for emerging curators.

Bethan is a neuroscientist turned interdisciplinary practitioner working at the intersection of science, culture, and society. Their practice spans curatorial work, science communication, and participatory design, with a focus on care, disability justice, and neurodivergence. They hold an MSc in Neuroscience from King’s College London and a postgraduate degree in Curatorial Studies from KASK & Conservatorium.

At Contour Biennale, they work on strengthening relationships with local communities, shaping the event’s digital presence, and ensuring the programme remains inclusive, accessible, and relevant to a wide range of audiences. They also lead the design, train mediators, and coordinate the exhibition mediation programme aligned with Sofia Lemos’s curatorial approach.

Save the date: Contour Biennale 11 opens on 5 September, 2026

More information on the participating artists, programming and ticketing will follow in the coming weeks. To stay updated, follow us on Instagram at @contourbiennale and subscribe to our newsletter.

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.