Amazing ! 25,000 participants from more than 50 countries came for this 8th edition of KIKK Festival, which took place in 20 different locations in the heart of Namur, from the 1st to the 4th of November 2018!

With the theme “Species and Beyond”, the festival explored the boundaries between the living and the non-living, undoing our anthropocentric visions of the world by shifting points of view.

More than 50 speakers gave conferences to 4,000 listeners in the Theater of Namur ;

350 professionals from 20 countries networked in the Pro village which resulted in 400 B2B meetings ;

Children and adults participated in various workshops & masterclasses. (350 participants in total) ;

500 party people got drunk and danced all night at the 2 KIKK parties ;

all this, generated more than 200,000 views in less than 4 days on social networks !

Now, let's have a look at what happened.

Conferences

Opened to everyone, conferences are the basis of the KIKK Festival since its inception.

Brendan Dawes’ audience.

Stefanie Posavec’s audience.

Margot Myers’ audience.

KIKK Market

The KIKK Market yearly attracts a large part of the visitors. There, you can try, experiment and discover innovative projects. And why not buy some of them ?

KIKK Market. A place to discover new technologies.

A welcoming KIKK Market.

KIKK Market.

KIKK Market discoveries.

KIKK Market.

KIKK Market.

KIKK Market: experiences !

KIKK Pro

KIKK Pro provided participants with a B2B application to facilitate contacts and appointments between professionals, including information and contacts of other participants.

It was about a networking space that gave access to a VIP business environment. The space was designed to be welcoming and offer meals, snacks and beverages, broadband WiFi and meeting spaces to invite customers.

350 professionals from 20 countries networked in the Pro village which resulted in 400 B2B meetings.

A art journey through the city: KIKK in Town

The novelty this year was an art journey in more than 20 different indoor and outdoor unusual locations of the city center. The installations gave a glimpse of the world from the perspective of animals, plants, bacteria, minerals or the forces of the elements.

Credit: Pierre-Michel Gérard.

Tele-present wind, 2018. David Bowen.

SMing, 2017. Superbe.

During those 4 days, people had the chance to be both a conductor and an entire choir simultaneously.

Thalassa ! Thalassa !, 2014. Erik Nerinckx.

A walk on a beach ? Yes, it was possible, near the river of the Sambre. Erik Nerinckx represented here the sea – that immense, fierce force of nature – as an experience.

Phonofolium, 2012. Scenocosme.

Another part of the exhibition took place in a school and offered sensory experiences, like this interactive work above presenting a bush that reacts to the slightest human electrostatic contact with sounds.

Swans, 2018. Marco Barotti (IT-DE).

Brought to life by sound, wind and water, these animals float peacefully in a pond, merging perfectly with the nature surrounding them.

Woodpeckers, 2018. Marco Barotti (IT-DE).

Melting Memories: Engram, 2018. Refik Anadol (TR-US).

Water, 2010. Leonardo Cantoni, Rejane Crescenti & Raquel Kogan (BR).

The first day, the Cathedral seemed to be under water while the all Saints' day procession proceedeed as if nothing had happened.

Monolith, 2018. Pfadfinderei (DE).

What happens when a screen has a nonuniform arrangement of pixels? How does this influence our perception of images and how much visual information do we even need to cross the border from abstract to figurative?”

Augmented Reality Journey

This year, for the first time and as part of the very first edition of the "KIKK in Town", we built our first augmented reality art exhibit, composed of 7 high-quality and exclusive code-generated art pieces. Directly linked to the KIKK Festival’s theme, and built by some of the very best creative coders, those 7 experiences have been made available to interact with during the 2018 edition of the festival.

Augmented reality.

Masterclasses

Nelly Ben Hayoun. "Evils and monsters! The act of thinking”.

Kid’s workshops

Robigami a kid’s workchop created by Les Voyages de Capitaine Futur.

Workshops

The first three days were an opportunity for several people to learn (or have fun) through workshops and masterclasses.

Foodtruck Village

Even when it rained from time to time, people smiled. Hot meals available near the Theatre and not too far from the Palais des Congrès. The Foodtruck village seemed to be another great place to have discussions about conferences and meet people from all nations.

Parties

When night fell on the KIKK Festival, time to relax came with it. That’s why KIKK Festival organized two parties; the edgy electronic music night and the crazy funky BOUDIN ROOM where Simon, the butcher, made his “Boudin” (preparation of minced white meat sausage, cooked, packed in a casing) next to the Djs.

Boudin Room. Bunker.

Colourful evenings at the Bunker with

King Kong Mag

Feed your brain. Delight your ears.

King Kong is a free bilingual and thematic bi-annual magazine and a platform of podcasts by KIKK.

Special thanks to all our photographers: Caroline Lessire, Simon Fusillier, Andri Søren Haflidason, Thomas Harmel, Pierre-Michel Gérard.