In late November 2025, Anna Ochmann, President of the ARTeria Foundation, participated in the Art Futures Fellowship meeting in Brussels as a member of the international Critical Friends group. The programme included study visits, artist presentations, and discussions on the challenges facing the cultural and creative sectors in a time of social, technological, and environmental change.
Participants visited artists’ studios as well as the future KANAL museum of contemporary art, where they explored the role of new cultural institutions in urban development. The programme also featured discussions on the impact of artificial intelligence on artistic practice and the cultural sector, as well as on the future directions of European cultural policies in response to today’s major societal challenges.
A key part of the meeting was dedicated to presentations by current Art Futures Fellowship artists. Tami Izko, Meng-Chan Yu, and PASHIAS shared the outcomes of their residencies, reflecting on their creative processes, research, and artistic practice developed through the programme.
Participants were also introduced to the initial concept for the 2026 fellowship by Felipe Steinberg, who presented his lecture-performance “Opening.” The work revisits a one-day event organised by the artist in 2018 at Houston’s historic Playhouse Theatre – the first theatre-in-the-round in the United States, which had remained closed for fifteen years. Combining documentation, archival research, and live storytelling, Opening explores how places, memories, and narratives continue to shape one another over time. The performance also raises broader questions about history, politics, collective memory, and the responsibility involved in creating and sharing cultural narratives.
Anna Ochmann has been involved with the Art Futures Fellowship for several years as a member of the Critical Friends network, contributing to the programme through peer dialogue, critical reflection, and the international exchange of knowledge on artistic residencies and contemporary cultural practice.
