By invitation of the research group Thinking Tools and the Photography Department at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, two internationally renowned photographers will provide insight into their artistic practices and research. Marta Djourina and Léonard Pongo are both researchers at the Academy. The event will take place at the FOMU Antwerp on March 14th from 10 AM until 12.30 PM.

Artist talk by Marta Djourina
10 – 11 am.

Join artist Marta Djourina (born in Sofia, lives and works in Berlin) for a presentation on her artistic practices and current research project, Fluid Touch.

Fluid Touch delves into the intimate relationship between touch and the photographic image. Djourina explores historical and contemporary photographic techniques, incorporating natural light phenomena—such as bioluminescence and sunlight—into unique analogue works. At the heart of Fluid Touch is a hands-on investigation of materials and photographic methods, with a particular focus on Kirlian photography. Working in the darkroom, Djourina examines how touch—both human and material—can be captured and visualized directly on photographic surfaces. By engaging with early scientific experiments in fluid photography, the project considers the tactile and energetic traces left behind in analogue images.

This presentation offers insights into Djourina’s evolving practice and her exploration of light, materiality, and touch in photography.

Artist talk and film screening Tales from the Source by Léonard Pongo
11.15 am – 12.30 pm

Visual artist Léonard Pongo (born in Liege, lives between the DRC and Belgium) will screen his latest film Tales from the Source (2024, 39’), followed by a Q&A with the artist.

Tales from the Source offers a gaze on the landscapes of the Democratic Republic of Congo to translate a sense of its unfathomable power, diversity and knowledge. The scenery is presented as a character acting as a living entity and inhabited by the symbolism of Congolese traditions. The visual approach borrows techniques from multispectral imaging, resulting in an otherworldly experience with surreal lights and colour. Combined with an original musical composition by Bear Bones, Lay Low, we enter into a sensory dialogue with the landscape, an intelligent, ageless being in constant transformation that challenges our perception.