Team and contact

Watou Arts Festival 2024

Annemie Morisse

Project coördinator

annemie.morisse@poperinge.be

+32 472 46 12 17

Lize Chielens

Production

lize.chielens@poperinge.be

+32 478 24 61 03

Valérie Van Haute

Press & PR 

valerie@regelsvandekunst.be

+32 472 21 74 50

Support team

Gisèle Notredame

Administration

gisele.notredame@poperinge.be

+32 477 98 84 83

+ the colleagues from culture, tourism, engineering, communication services of the city of Poperinge.

Curators

James Putnam (curator Watou 2024 – Visual arts)

James Putnam is an independent curator and writer. He is the founder of the Contemporary Arts and Cultures Program at the British Museum and focuses on examining history, art and artifacts in light of current culture-related issues. James Putnam initiates projects with a multidisciplinary approach, collaborating with visual and performing artists, designers, writers and cultural studies specialists.

Michaël Vandebril (curator Watou 2024 – Poetry)

Michaël Vandebril is a poet, curator and literary event organizer. He has worked as coordinator of Antwerp Book City since 2003, of which the Antwerp City Poetry is one of the eye-catching projects. With initiator Peter De Roo, he started the writing residency Huis van de Dichter in Watou in 2018. In 2018, with Jan Ducheyne and Laurence Vielle, he founded the Party for Poetry/Parti pour la Poésie. In 2024, he will act for the third time as curator of poetry for the Arts Festival Watou.

Koen Vanmechelen (inspirator)

Koen Vanmechelen is a multidisciplinary and conceptual artist working with painting, sculpture and video art. His work is situated at the intersection of art, science, philosophy and community. Central to his œuvre is the concept of bio-cultural diversity, which he explores through the domesticated chicken and its ancestor, the red grouse. Vanmechelen’s practice focuses on fundamental issues of identity, diversity, globalization and human rights.