Currents 12: Camping Out, curated by Maia Kenney and Berber Meindertsma, opened on February 14 at Jester Genk.
This year’s edition of Currents, titled Camping Out features works by Nahal Aryan, Liselore Bulcke, Maxence Duterne, Gregor Lau, Anna Sarah Levine, Claire Sillekens, Wolfgang Tant, Vera Varlamova, and Ryota Yahagi. The exhibition opens on February 14 and runs from February 15 to May 10 2026 at Jester in Genk.
For Currents 12: Camping Out, Maia Kenney and Berber Meindertsma envision a curatorial strategy that finds affinity with their experience of camping. A camping or art situation asks for a site-specific approach where you work with what is at hand, listening and responding to your environment and your own skills and needs. In their vision for the exhibition, together with the artists they find a temporary home at the site of Jester, working with its possibilities and idiosyncrasies. Artworks are adapted on site; specialized tools and strategies are developed and used to build the environment. Once the exhibition comes to life, the audience is invited to join the camp.
Last month, the artists gathered for the Currents Training Days, where they met each other, visited KANAL-Centre Pompidou in Brussels and received a writing workshop by writer and curator Taylor Le Melle.
In 2025—2026, four contemporary art institutions join forces to organise the 12th edition of the Currents exhibition: Jester in Genk (BE), Marres in Maastricht (NL), Ludwig Forum Aachen (DE) and KANAL-Centre Pompidou in Brussels (BE).
Come camp with us at Jester!
2-3 May 2026
On May 2–3, for just one night, Jester will transform into the Jester Campground—a space for 35 campers in tents or campervans, whichever you prefer. The curators and artists of Currents 12: Camping Out invite you to experience together what camping can mean within the context of creating and presenting art. You’re welcome to pitch your tent on the Jester grounds and participate in workshops with Liselore Bulcke and Claire Sillekens, guided tours of the exhibition, and enjoy homemade chili sin carne, roasted marshmallows, and bread by the campfire. The exhibition will remain open until 11:00 PM, giving you the rare opportunity to view the works in the evening.
Camping spots are limited and include dinner, coffee, and pastries. Please register as soon as possible (no later than April 20, 2026) so we can properly organize your stay. Prefer to sleep at home? You can also participate in the daytime activities and dinner without staying overnight. Reserve your meal in advance via this link.
Program
Saturday, May 2
1:30 PM Walk-in. You can set up your tent between 1:30 and 6:00 PM
2:00 PM Introduction by Maia Kenney and Berber Meindertsma
2:15 PM “Forest bathing” and drawing workshop with Liselore Bulcke
Learn how to find beauty in chaos by joining artist Liselore Bulcke on a walk through the areas surrounding Jester, where forests and nature reserves meet industrial waste and distribution infrastructure. Based on her graduation project, in which she developed techniques for seeing the complex patterns and systems in the Munsterbos forest near Genk, Liselore will guide you through this unique landscape, helping you to notice aspects of it that would otherwise go unseen.
4:00 PM Workshop by Claire Sillekens and Karabo Maisela
Claire’s graduation project is grand and compelling—a play about a world in crisis waiting to be discovered. Through four unexpected characters, featuring costumes, props, and set design she created herself, she explores how people can live and work together in an extremely unequal society. Her workshop, developed in collaboration with director Karabo Maisela, invites the audience to engage in improvisational theater and brings the characters, their words, actions, and emotions to life. The costumes and monologues featured in Jester are worn by participants who work together to create new scenarios.
6:00 PM Aperitif and snacks + guided tour of the exhibition with the curators
7:00 PM Chili sin carne (vegan) with cornbread (vegetarian)
8:00 PM Evening visit to the exhibition
9:00 PM Campfire with marshmallows and baguette
11:00 PM Bedtime, exhibition closes
Sunday, 3 May
10:00 AM Coffee, tea and breakfast pastries
11:00 AM DIY print-making workshop with Liselore Bulcke
12:00 AM Pack up camp
Bios
Karabo Maisela is a South African writer, director, curator, and activist who works in the fields of theater, film, and poetry. She studied at the University of the Witwatersrand and Radboud University. Her debut play, I Am Because We Are, won the Best Script award at the FEDA Festival in 2015. She directed the documentary Home, which explores themes of connectedness and diaspora, and co-wrote the award-winning film Umlindelo. Recently, Karabo began building a community-based creative collective, O’guluva, which reimagines the creative economy for the South African diaspora.
Trained as a workshop-based designer at the Maastricht Institute of Arts, Claire Sillekens’ strength lies in combining different techniques and materials. Her work consists primarily of costumes, props, and set pieces. She wants to focus further on theater, drawn to its ephemeral nature and collaborative nature. In addition, Claire works as a gardener and lives, cooks, and cares for others in one of Nijmegen’s oldest activist buildings.
Liselore Bulcke is an artist based in Belgium. After earning her MFA from LUCA School of Arts in Ghent (2025), she is pursuing a degree in Conservation-Restoration at the University of Antwerp. Having grown up in the city, she seeks out nature for peace and quiet. Through her drypoint etchings—a technique that requires considerable time, attention, and precision—she explores the complex structures and systems of forests. She gives voice to anonymous places in the forest and invites others to rediscover their connection with nature.
Practical in a nutshell:
- Due to limited space, we are limiting sleepover tickets to 20.
- If you want to stay just for the day activities and dinner, we have room for 50!
What to bring:
- A tent, campervan or car
- Your favorite camping equipment for sleeping
- Camping chairs or stools
- Tetrapaks (drink cartons) for the print-making workshop
Cost:
€25pp – If you want to camp with us (includes workshops, dinner and light breakfast)
€10pp – If you only want to do day activities and stay for dinner
Facilities:
There are 5 toilets on the premises of Jester including a wheelchair-accessible toilet. There is no shower available because this is only a one-night event.
Please be packed up by 13:30 on May 3 – and make sure to leave no trace!
Date:
2-3 May 2026
Location:
Schachtboklaan 11, 3600 Genk
