The 10th festive edition of Contour Biennale for the Moving Image runs from 9 September to 5 November 2023 and is curated by Auguste Orts

The Contour Biennale for the Moving Image is celebrating its 10th edition in 2023. The anniversary edition will be curated by Brussels production and distribution platform Auguste Orts. For the occasion, the name will change to C0N10UR.

Focusing on screen works, the 8-week exhibi­tion produced and presented by kunstencentrum nona at various locations in Mechelen also offers instal­la­tions, sound works and live arts. 

Auguste Orts, curator of this tenth biennial, is a Brussels-based produc­tion and distri­bu­tion platform founded in 2006 and currently led by artists Herman Asselberghs, Sven Augustijnen, Manon de Boer, Anouk De Clercq and Fairuz Ghammam. Since years, they each have been exhibi­ting and screening their (audio)visual work interna­ti­o­nally, including at previous editions of the Contour Biennale (De Clercq and de Boer in 2005, Asselberghs in 2009 and Augustijnen in 2003 and 2013).

During C0N10UR, the five Auguste Orts’ artists will not present their own screen works. Instead, they will plug into the rich Belgian ecosystem of artists' film practices and contri­bute to its sustai­nable develop­ment by suppor­ting new screen works that will be able to lead their lives well after the 8-week span of the actual exhibi­tion. 

Auguste Orts resolu­tely opts for local embedding: the core artists of diverse origins invited to this festive Contour edition reside in Belgium. Multipli­city is essential to this exhibi­tion project: a gathering of artists and works in which different genera­tions can coincide and various forms and formats of the moving image can enter into the conver­sa­tion. 

Auguste Orts' curatorial approach aims for dialogue with the artists, organisations, institutions and all actors involved. During the working process, the platform builds on its long-standing expertise, experience and knowledge of creative production methods.

C0N10UR will take place in 4 exhibition and screening spaces in the city centre: De Garage, kunstencentrum nona, the Museum Hof van Busleyden and Cinema Lumière Mechelen. The short walking route between the different venues allows visitors to visit and experience the biennial in one day.

During the biennial, screenings and weekend programmes complement the exhibition with performing arts, live music and artist talks. For its festive edition, C0N10UR is also moving outside Mechelen. Cultural partners ARGOS centre for audiovisual arts in Brussels and Kunsthal Extra City in Antwerp are part of the biennial and are accessible during their regular opening hours.

At the invitation of CINEMATEK and as a prelude to C0N10UR, Auguste Orts will present in April a programme of film works by a number of artists participating in the biennial: elephy, Mieriën Coppens & Elie Maisin, Annik Leroy, Rosine Mbakam and Subversive Film. Under the name Carte Blanche, these filmmakers were invited to show and combine their own work with films from CINEMATEK's archive.

The list of participating artists will be shared mid-April.

C0N10UR
​09.09.23 – 05.11.23
​Mechelen
​Presentation and production: kunstencentrum nona ​
​Curator: Auguste Orts

Opening: Wednesday 06.09.2023 - ARGOS, ​ Thursday 07.09.2023 - Kunsthal Extra City, Friday 08.09.2023 - C0N10UR in Mechelen

Press preview: Wednesday 06.09.2023 

www.contour10.be

Venues

Kunstencentrum nona
​Begijnenstraat 27
​2800 Mechelen
​Wednesday – Sunday // 11:00 – 18:00

Museum Hof van Busleyden
​Sint-Janstraat 2a
​2800 Mechelen
​Wednesday – Sunday // 11:00 – 18:00

De Garage
​Onder-Den-Toren 12
​2800 Mechelen ​
​Wednesday – Sunday // 11:00 – 18:00

Cinema Lumière Mechelen
​Frederik de Merodestraat 28
​2800 Mechelen
​Wednesday – Sunday // 14:30

Venues outside Mechelen

​ARGOS centre for audiovisual arts (Brussels / 7.09.2023 - 23.12.2023)

​Kunsthal Extra City (Antwerp / 8.09.2023 - 26.11.2023)

Upcoming event:

​​​Carte Blanche: Auguste Orts / C0N10UR ​
​CINEMATEK, Brussels
​17.04.2023 - 25.04.2023
​www.cinematek.be

C0N10UR is presented and produced by kunstencentrum nona in collaboration with ARGOS center for audiovisual arts, De Garage, Kunsthal Extra City, Museum Hof van Busleyden and Visit Mechelen.

With the support of: the French Embassy in Belgium and Institut Français, as part of EXTRA, a programme supporting French contemporary creation; the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Belgium.

Kunstencentrum nona thanks the players of the National Lottery and the National Lottery for their support of C0N10UR.

Chloé Malcotti, Medusa (2021). Courtesy Hypernuit and the artist.

Chloé Malcotti, Medusa (2021). Courtesy Hypernuit and the artist.

Chloé Malcotti, Medusa (2021). Courtesy Hypernuit and the artist.

Chloé Malcotti, Medusa (2021). Courtesy Hypernuit and the artist.

Chloé Malcotti, Medusa (2021). Courtesy Hypernuit and the artist.

Rebecca Jane Arthur, Sirah Foighel Brutmann & Eitan Efrat, Eva Giolo, Katja Mater, Maaike Neuville, I hope this finds you well (2023). Courtesy the artists and Kunstencentrum Nona.

Rebecca Jane Arthur, Sirah Foighel Brutmann & Eitan Efrat, Eva Giolo, Katja Mater, Maaike Neuville, I hope this finds you well (2023). Courtesy the artists and Kunstencentrum Nona.

installation view of the Contour Biennale 9: Jelena Jureša, Aphasia (2019). Courtesy the artist. Photo: Lavinia Wouters

installation view of different works of the Contour Biennale 8. Courtesy the artists. Photo: Kristof Vrancken.

photo of the performance during Contour Biennale 9: Fallon Mayanja, Representation or an inescapable fact of existence (2019). Courtesy the artist. Photo: Lavinia Wouters