about - wpZimmer

wpZimmer is an international, artistic workspace that centers the development of the artistic practice. We offer time and space for in depth and unconditional research for both artists and art workers. By prioritizing development, we aim to focus on the empowerment of the artist and their practice.

wpZimmer can be considered an anti-disciplinary house, as we allow ourselves to be led by the artistic question; not the final form. The collaborations we initiate and enter into with artists, partners as well as with each other as a team are rooted in reciprocity and transparancy.

As an artistic workspace we work internationally, however within the last years we have been focusing on our position within our local sphere. By working on both an international and local level, we aim to connect the two as we work on local, national and international networks where durable mobility and knowledge and practice sharing are explored.

Network

wpZimmer has both feet firmly in the arts. Working with artists on a daily basis, we are constantly expanding our network of national and international organizations. Our first direct partners are the arts centres, cultural centres and festivals at home and abroad.

C-TAKT

C-Takt is an international research and development platform for transdisciplinary art in and out the theatre. C-Takt was initiated in 2017 from the merger between the workspace of C-Mine (Genk) and Takt Dommelhof (Neerpelt). The platform works on a structural basis together with wpZimmer, 0090, SOAP, Musica and In Situ.

WEB

WEB is an informal international network for creation and presentation, operating since 2009. The network is an answer to the need for better joint efforts and partnership within the performing arts, particularly in terms of exchange, research, production and presentation. WEB brings together workspaces, arts centres and festivals in order to reinforce each other across the national borders. The aim is to give integral support to two artists per year. The focus is on upcoming artists on the verge of an international breakthrough. WEB provides the artist full support from “A to Z”. The partners guarantee space for research and creation through a series of residencies. They offer financial, logistical, and technical support. They give administrative back-up and artistic feedback during the creation process. Each collaboration culminates in a series of presentations, inside and outside of the network.

N.O.W.

N.O.W. stands for New Open Working Process for the Performing Arts. It is a European network of cultural professionals working in the field of the performing arts, and aims to develop a transnational laboratory platform to explore new ways of supporting artists and their processes. What might an artist’s journey look like in a larger and globalised Europe? What will it mean over the coming years to accompany artists and their processes – to support the unfolding of their work? How can we provide a positive impulse for our societies and contribute to building a European artistic environment that is diverse, creative and socially rooted?

Introducing a project

wpZimmer has no fixed procedure for selecting artists. We are no commission or fund. We do not work with deadlines or submitting periods, we are simply available and curious. wpZimmer has no profile into which artists or their work have to fit. We feel that artists should develop themselves in freedom. They are the ones to determine the future of art, not we!

History

Since 2001 wpZimmer has been housed in a building in the multicultural neighborhood of Antwerp North, on the border of the working-class districts of Stuivenberg and Seefhoek. The building in the Gasstraat, located at the numbers 88-90, is recognizable on the street side by the large iron blue gate. Once behind this gate you will find yourself in a real little cité, typical of this old working-class area.