News:
Alien Intergration
( meditation into a hyperscaler)
Chapelle - Grand Hospice, Brussels
Grootgodshuisstraat 7, 1000 Brussels.
Opening 14th of May at 19:00 till 21:00
With demonstrational sessions. Welcome!!!
Friday 15th and Saturday 16th of May - open 18h till 20h
Closed sessions 20h and 22h - 6 persons per session - in time slots of one hour
SIGN UP HERE for closed session / performance +info
The installation stages a séance, with a round rotating table that refers to the Ether — a substrate once imagined as the medium of communication between realms. Closed hour-long sessions with six visitors at a time include a guided meditation that opens an encounter with AI, the "Alien Intelligence" while drawing attention back into the body: breath, weight, sensoriality. The work can be only fully understood by the experience of these sessions. With music, sensorial objects and spoken word I will be guiding participants through a visualisation of the technological framework where the Alien lives.
The work uses the data center — and the language model living inside it — as a mirror to the brain. Both go by the name neural networks (the artificial one borrowed from the biological), both process enormous amounts of language, but only one of them has a body. Much of human self-consciousness is constituted through language: we think in words, we narrate ourselves into being, our sense of self is an ongoing linguistic act. I emphasize within the meditation the human experience, silence and oral traditions as just as fundamental to consciousness.
Recent projects:
Alien Intergration
(meditation into a hyperscaler ) 2025-2026
This project operates on a poetic license: a deliberate conflation of outer space and inner space, of astronaut and neuroscientist, of rational computation and intuitive consciousness. It tries to circle the rational black hole without being sucked in and taking an observant meditative position on technology and the enduring question of what it means to be human.
More text on this soon to be published.
“(the) automagic stool”
November 2025
a new sculptural collaboration by Steven Jouwersma and Alban Karsten, co-curated and 𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 by Timmy van Zoelen, shown 7 & 8 November at Superdeals, Brussels.
As we approach Superdeals’ large display window, we see an archetypal office chair in a showroom setting, which serves as the basis for a new sculptural collaboration between Alban Karsten and Steven Jouwersma. Appendages such as wooden sculptural handles, sound, movement and painted elements are applied to this alleged piece of furniture, enabling Alban and Steven to merge both their art practices into one object.
𝘉𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢ç𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 “𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺” 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘪-𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴 “𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤” 𝘢𝘯𝘥 “𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤”, 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 (𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰-𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤) — 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘤𝘺𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 (𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤) — 𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘺.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦; 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘵. 𝘐𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘐𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘺 — 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘵𝘭𝘦, 𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘴: 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.
Thanks to @superdealsbrussels for support, @tiimmmy for a wonderful text (there is more) and all who came to see the show.
