At MINO, we centre the visions and ideas of artists and creatives. We believe in listening, exchanging, and opening up possibilities together. You can schedule a session with our team—whether you need guidance, feel stuck, want to explore new directions, or are interested in collaboration. There’s no fixed agenda; we connect, reflect, and see where the conversation takes us.
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Culture is created, shared and carried forward—on our own terms.
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A residency for emerging artists building practices grounded in care, criticality, and change.
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A 6-month program for emerging multidisciplinary female artists to deepen their practice and grow with guidance from an experienced mentor.
7 AUGUST – 4 SEPTEMBER 2026 · ANTWERP
Editions: 2026
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MINO is excited to announce the open call for FOR THE CULTURE: an interdisciplinary summer program taking place from 7 August until 4 September 2026 in Antwerp.
For the culture comes from Afro-American cultural movements and hip-hop communities. It meant showing up for something bigger than yourself, building collective identity, visibility and cultural continuity.
Today, for the culture is everywhere. Across cities, communities, platforms and borders. Artists, collectives and diasporic communities are shaping culture on their own terms – through art, music, fashion, language, rituals, digital platforms and collective practices. Creating spaces to tell stories, share knowledge and build community. Not because they are asked to, but because they feel the urgency to. On their own terms.
At MINO, we believe that this is one of the most urgent cultural conversations of our time. Who gets to create culture, validate it, claim it. Who shapes the narratives, the spaces, the infrastructure. These aren’t abstract questions, they are what artists, collectives, community builders and communities are questioning and answering everyday. This is the space we work in.
FOR THE CULTURE brings together artists, makers and collectives around these questions through a multidisciplinary summer programme – exhibition, public interventions, screenings, listening sessions, conversations and participatory formats. Not to define what culture is, but to make space for what is already being built.
FOR THE CULTURE is an open, evolving and experimental programme. Just like culture itself, it will be shaped by the people, practices and conversations that become part of it.
We see this open call as a collaboration and an invitation to think together about the questions at the heart of FOR THE CULTURE. We are interested in the fluidity of culture: how it moves, changes, travels and takes on new meanings across communities and contexts.
Whether your contribution takes the form of an exhibition, screening, performance, gathering, workshop, publication, conversation, intervention or something that does not fit neatly within existing labels, we would love to hear from you.
We are not looking for finished answers. We are looking for practices, ideas and perspectives that help us think through and respond to these questions together.
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Selected participants become part of an experimental and collaborative playground where ideas, practices and projects can be tested, shared and developed.
At MINO, we value process as much as outcome. We are not a traditional institution or presentation platform, but a space for experimentation, exchange, trial and error. We welcome work-in-progress, unfinished ideas and practices that are still evolving.
FOR THE CULTURE is built on reciprocity, generosity and collective learning. Participants are invited not only to share their work, but also to contribute to the conversations, exchanges and connections that emerge throughout the programme.
Please note that FOR THE CULTURE welcomes proposals based on existing work, ongoing projects or practices already in development. The programme does not provide artist fees or cover the production costs of creating new work.
The open call for Summer Program 2026 has ended. Sign up to the newsletter to hear when the next call opens.
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> emerging artists and makers (roughly 0–8 years of professional practice)
> applicants between 18 and 35 years old
> visual artists, performers, filmmakers, musicians, designers, writers, chefs, spoken word artists and multidisciplinary practitioners
> curators, programmers, organisers and cultural workers
> community builders, grassroots initiatives and community-based practices
> collectives, informal groups and collaborative projects
> self-taught practitioners as well as makers with formal artistic training
> including both first-time presenters and those with experience sharing their work publicly..
> makers, collectives and initiatives based in or connected to Belgium
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Selection process
Applications will be reviewed by the FOR THE CULTURE team together with partners, curators and cultural practitioners.
Following a first selection, a number of applicants may be invited for a conversation to further discuss their proposal and its potential place within the programme.
Applications will be evaluated based on:
> relevance to the themes of FOR THE CULTURE
> artistic quality and originality
> process-based and experimental approach
> connection to community, participation or contemporary culture
> feasibility within the context of the program
> openness to collaboration and exchange
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Program period: 7 August – 4 September 2026
Location: MINO, Minderbroedersrui 55, partner locations and the public space in Antwerp
Application deadline: 21 June 2026
Selected participants will be contacted in June 2026.
Please note! that you have to be available on 25 & 26 June for a live selection round at MINO Art Space. You have to be available 20-23 July for the build up, 24-26 August for the break down .
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We aim to keep the application process accessible and flexible. Applications can be submitted in written, visual or audiovisual form.
Please share:
> a short motivation (max. 500 words or a 3-minute video/audio recording)
> a short bio or introduction
> a portfolio, documentation of previous work or relevant references (max. 5 projects/works)
> a short description of what you would like to contribute to FOR THE CULTURE
> links to a website, social media or other online platforms (optional)
We are interested in your ideas, practice and perspective. Your application does not need to be polished or fully developed. We simply ask for enough information to help us understand who you are, what you do, and how you would like to contribute to FOR THE CULTURE.
Send your application to:tatjana@mino-antwerp.be
Subject line: FOR THE CULTURE – OPEN CALL
We look forward to receiving your proposal and building FOR THE CULTURE together.
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Culture is created, shared and carried forward—on our own terms.
Who creates culture? Who gets to shape it? And where does culture live?
These questions form the starting point of FOR THE CULTURE, the 2026 edition of SUMMER OF MINO.
Bringing together artists, collectives and community initiatives, the programme unfolds across exhibitions, performances, workshops, conversations and public interventions throughout Antwerp.
Working across photography, collage, installation, painting, performance, comics, film and participatory practices, the participating artists reflect on memory, migration, identity, representation and belonging. Their works reveal culture not as a fixed heritage or singular narrative, but as something continuously negotiated through everyday life, lived experience and collective acts of making.
The exhibition recognises that culture is not only produced within museums or cultural institutions. It is sustained through artistic practices, oral traditions, neighbourhoods, community spaces, rituals and the relationships people build with one another. Extending beyond MINO into cafés, public space and cultural organisations across Antwerp, FOR THE CULTURE unfolds as a network of encounters.
Rather than asking who belongs within culture, FOR THE CULTURE begins from the recognition that culture is already being made—every day, by artists, communities and cultural practitioners who continue to shape it on their own terms.
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FOR THE CULTURE – 7 AUG – 4 SEP
LOCATION: MINO, Minderbroedersrui 55, Antwerp
Who creates culture? Who gets to shape it? These questions form the starting point of FOR THE CULTURE, a group exhibition bringing together artists working across photography, painting, installation, performance, film, textiles, comics and public interventions.
Culture is not fixed. It is made.. through the freedom to imagine, experiment and define new terms. It takes shape in the images we create, the spaces we inhabit, the stories we tell, the relationships we build and the ways we move through the world. It lives in neighbourhoods, on streets, online, in studios and shared spaces. This is not the backdrop to culture, it is its infrastructure.
Working across disciplines, the artists expand what culture can look, feel and sound like. Sampling, layering, remixing and experimenting with form, they create new visual languages that move between the poetic and the political, the tactile and the conceptual, the everyday and the imagined.
Featuring works by: Joseph Thabang Palframan, Leyla Ben Mimoun, Farida El Kaddouri, Gladys Nganare, Nana Dufie, Luis Yary, Kenan Vanel Lamiel, Bumba
BLACK LENS ARCHIVE – 12 – 27 AUG
LOCATION: MORI, Nationalestraat 57, Antwerp
Featuring works by Ange Kayumba, Yaya Michiko, David Bayo and Juliette Nana Kuffour, Black Lens Archive brings together four photographers whose practices reflect on identity, memory, belonging and everyday life. Presented at MORI, the exhibition foregrounds photography as a tool for self-representation and collective storytelling, creating space for perspectives that continue to shape contemporary visual culture.
RAHIM AHARAR – 12 AUG – 4 SEP
LOCATION: HABIBIS COFFEE CLUB, Scheldestraat 38, Antwerp
Working with photography, collage, found imagery, text, objects and graphic elements, Rahim Aharar creates compositions that feel both familiar and slightly displaced. Through an installation at Habibi’s Coffee Club and interventions on advertising columns throughout Antwerp, he reflects on memory, identity and his connection to his Moroccan roots. Within FOR THE CULTURE, the work reclaims public space as a place where personal and cultural narratives become part of the city’s everyday visual landscape.
KENAN VANEL LAMIEL, COMIC STORY WALK – 12 AUG – 4 SEP
LOCATION: across Antwerp
A city-wide comic story unfolding across public space through illustrated posters installed at different locations throughout Antwerp. By extending storytelling into the streets, the work reflects on the city itself as a place where culture is encountered, shared and shaped collectively.
NOVEMBER 2025 – MAY 2026 · ANTWERP
Editions: 2025
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MINO LAB is a residency for socially engaged emerging artists based in Belgium. It offers time, space and guidance to develop their artistic voice, beyond the limits of disciplines or expectations.
The residency supports a shifting arts ecosystem by offering space for process, reflection, and regenerative practices. Our six-month residency (Nov 2025 – May 2026) in Antwerp provides emerging artists with the tools, guidance, and community to deepen their practice and explore new directions.
We focus on emerging artists whose practice is rooted in visual expression, whether through sculpture, installation, photography, text-based or mixed media practice, or through more hybrid, performative or embodied forms.
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> Coaching to shape their artistic language and vision
> A small peer group of 6 committed artists
> Tailored guidance from a diverse team of coaches
> Field visits and exchanges in Belgium and the Netherlands
> Thematic deep practice labs
> A €3,000 research and creation budget
> Access to the MINO studio and space
> Connection to the wider MINO network
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ur coaching model supports artistic growth through a multi-voiced approach. By involving coaches from different disciplines and areas of expertise, we aim to respond more effectively to each resident’s personal learning path and needs. Guidance is tailored to each artist’s individual development path, while remaining attentive to the collective dynamics and shared movements within the group. Coaches also draw on their networks to open up further opportunities within the broader artistic field.
COACHES 2026
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Each edition, MINO LAB appoints a steering committee to guide the quality and act as jury during the selection process.
MINO LAB is funded by the Flemish Arts Decree.
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> Emerging artists based in Belgium (2–5 years active)
> Visual or transdisciplinary artists with a strong vision
> Artists seeking a safe, challenging, and supportive environment
> Self-taught artists and those from underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply
> Committed to a full, immersive residency (2–3 sessions per month in Antwerp)
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Fareed Aziz, Charis Way-Way, Kadia Doumbouya, Erlisa Cerkini, Arshvir Dhillon, Rabten Tenzin
SIX-MONTH PROGRAM · ANTWERP
Editions: 2023
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Female Artist Mentorship (FAM) is a six-month individual development program for emerging multidisciplinary female artists in the first five years of their practice. The program supports both artistic growth and intrapersonal development, with particular attention to the intersectional challenges faced by women artists of colour.
Mentees will be intensively coached by established artist-mentors, Otobong Nkanga and Léonard Pongo, guiding them through conceptual and technical challenges and supporting their professionalisation.
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> 6 coaching sessions with established artist-mentors
> A working budget for the artist
> Masterclasses on the business of art and goal-setting
> Check-in lunch sessions with the MINO team
> Optional self-curated open studio exhibition or other process-oriented audience exchanges
> 24/7 access to workspace at MINO in Antwerp
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> A female artist at an early stage (<5 years) of your multidisciplinary practice, motivated to grow
> Looking for an in-depth, long-term coaching trajectory
> A team player who values exchange, feedback, and mentoring as part of your artistic development
> Open, motivated, and willing to experiment, collaborate, and learn
> Able to critically reflect on your practice and positionality
MINO prioritises participants from underrepresented and marginalised communities, including autodidact artists who are not yet connected to institutions or formal training frameworks.
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> 1 in-person coaching session (1:1) on Leadership Assessment (half day)
> 1 in-person group training session on Strategic DE&I Integration (half day)
> 1 in-person coaching session (1:1) on Action Plan Prioritization (half day)
> 1 follow-up ‘refresher’ session after 3 months (half day)
> Inspirational content on the topic (articles, podcasts, video)
