Zomertank
2026
Tussentoestanden
This year, Zomertank explores cleansing as a ritual of transition. We wash our bodies, try to clear our minds and delete data in the hope of starting with a clean slate. Cleansing holds the promise of letting go and moving forward. But what truly disappears, and what simply changes form?
At the end of an exceptionally hot and dry summer, this question takes on a tangible, material dimension through water. We use water to wash, cleanse and cool ourselves, yet water itself is never static: it flows, evaporates, dissolves substances and changes state. These processes of dissolution and transformation run through all three works in the programme.
A fountain in a public square connects dissolving soap paper to questions of privacy and the erasure of digital data. A sauna in a garden invites visitors into a collective cleansing ritual in which water is transformed into steam. In a living room, the paper-thin surface of a soap bubble is magnified into light and sound, continuously changing until it eventually bursts.
Across these works, cleansing becomes less an act of complete erasure than a process of transformation. Data that is deleted may leave traces behind; water becomes steam; a soap film dissolves into its surroundings. Zomertank focuses on these transitional states: on the moment something seems to disappear, and on what might persist in another form.
Curated by Marijn Bril.
In collaboration with
Marijn Bril
Aleksandra Naydenova
Amber Macintyre
Cyan D’Anjou
Dorijn Boogaard
Kurina Sohn
Ieva Jakusa
Gundega Strauberga
Floris Vanhoof
Academie SLAC
With the support of the Flemish Government and the City of Leuven
META:MORPHOSIS, 2026
Aleksandra Naydenova, Amber Macintyre, Cyan D’Anjou, Dorijn Boogaard en Kurina Sohn
Installation and ritual; wood, water, biodegradable soap
We constantly leave traces online: searches, photographs, profiles, preferences and other forms of data. Often without us realising it, these traces continue to exist somewhere on the internet. meta:morphosis is inspired by the European “right to be forgotten”: the right to request the removal of personal information from the internet.
During Zomertank, this right takes physical form in a large soap fountain in the middle of Blauwputplein. Here, the artists invite you to take part in a cleansing ritual. Write down something you want to forget, or information you do not want to be kept, on a sheet of soluble soap paper. Then toss it into the water, like a coin into a fountain for a wish, and watch as the paper slowly dissolves and becomes part of the fountain.
Through this simple gesture, meta:morphosis invites us to reflect on our often intangible relationship with the data we leave behind online.
Meta:morphosis was developed as part of CODE 2024, commissioned by IMPAKT, Werktank and No School Nevers.
Saturday October 10 from 11:00-19:00 & Sunday October 11 from 11:00-18:00
Location: Blauwputplein, Kessel-Lo
Free admission
SVELME SAUNA, 2026
Ieva Jakusa en Gundega Strauberga
Installation and ritual; birch, oak, meadow plants, steam
Svelme Sauna is a sauna ritual rooted in the Latvian pirts tradition and folklore. The artists work with bundles of birch, oak and meadow plants, using them together with heat, steam and touch to warm and cleanse the body.
During Zomertank, Jakusa and Strauberga invite you to experience this tradition firsthand, keeping the sauna alive as a shared practice. Water is poured over hot stones, steam fills the space, and bundles of plants bring scent, warmth and touch close to the body.
In Latvian folklore, water and fire are often understood as opposing forces. In the sauna, they come together: fire heats the stones, while water transforms into steam. Svelme Sauna takes this encounter as the basis for a shared ritual of cleansing, rest and transition.
Saturday October 10 & Sunday October 11
Location: Willem Coosemansstraat, Kessel-Lo
Practical information: 45-minute sessions
Please bring your swimwear and your own towel
Reservation is required. Book here a sauna time slot.
SOAP BUBBLES, 2022-2024
Floris Vanhoof
Performance; soap, laser light, diodes, loudspeakers, projection screen
In Soap Bubbles, Floris Vanhoof focuses on the fragile surface of a soap bubble. A laser beam passes through the bubbles while sensors register changes in their thin films and translate them into sound. Tiny movements become audible as shifting tones. When a bubble bursts, it produces a short, sharp pop. At the same time, the laser reveals the constantly changing patterns across the bubble’s surface.
An everyday soap bubble becomes an unstable interplay of light, liquid and sound. Soap Bubbles invites you to look and listen closely to movements and transformations that would otherwise remain almost imperceptible.
Sunday October 11 at 20:00
Location: Pieter Nollekensstraat 121, Kessel-Lo
Reservations are recommended, book your spot for the performance here.
