CONNECTION - all media
What does it mean to be truly connected?
Connection has long occupied artists working across very different registers. Michelangelo captured it as a physical, almost electric gesture in the near-touch between two hands reaching toward one another - frozen at the very moment before contact. Marina Abramović explored human connection by using silence, physical endurance and shared vulnerability to strip away the distractions of modern life. Félix González-Torres's installations explored connection through loss and intimacy, while Judy Chicago used connection to reach across time, setting a symbolic table to link the present to generations of women erased from history. Looking beyond human connection, Andy Goldsworthy explored our bond with the land through natural materials patiently joined together outdoors, while Do Ho Suh has built architectural forms that carry the memory of a home left behind.
Connection can be read broadly, connection as intimacy, community, heritage, technology, ecology, or an internal dialogue with the self.
Call for entries
Creative expression looks at connection in all its forms and interpretations. Intimacy and relationship, community and belonging, technology and its paradox of closeness and distance, ancestry and heritage, the body's connection to environment, or the quiet, internal connection between self and identity. We welcome interpretations that are literal, abstract, personal, or political.
We invite artists working in various media to submit work exploring the theme of Connection— the threads that bind us to one another, to place, to memory, to the natural world, and to ourselves.
Open call details
This call is open to all emerging artists, who have not yet had the opportunity to show their work widely.
Exhibition
The selected artworks will be exhibited at the great spaces of Full Circle, during the 2026 Ideas Festival - the theme of which is "Connection", until early January.
The artworks will be available for public viewing throughout the festival weekend, and on selected dates until the end of the show.
The exhibition will run from 20th - 30th November 2026 at Full Circle in Ixelles.
The multi-disciplinary location offers many possibilities for installation, space, audience and events around the exhibition.
How to apply
Artists are requested to send a digital version of their artwork and complete the online entry form.
Over de organisatie
Chaussée De Vleurgat
89
1050 Elsene
België
What
Full Circle is a place to connect the dots & make things happen.
It is a hybrid animal:
A ideas club / community hub / campaigning motor / cultural centre / social network / educator / meeting venue / activist hub / safe space / enabler / campaigner / support network....change-maker.
We apply our skills, knowledge and network, to achieve positive change in the world.
Our field of interest is broad, but essentially fits into the main pillars of: democracy, peace, social justice and environment.
Why
Our world faces many challenges, that won't resolve themselves.
We're interested and well placed, to put ideas, connections, power, to good use.
So why do all this?
Because we can. And should.
So maybe the real question is WHY NOT?
Activities
Full Circle curates our own programme of Ideas, Cultural, and Social activities - for our members and the public.
We run activities for young people.
We arrange media interviews and outreach activities.
We also organise talks, workshops, meetings between thinkers, do-ers and decision makers.
We host & support others who are doing important things.
We set up campaigns and actions, in areas we see a need, where we have the possibility to do something useful.
Where
Most of what we do takes place in our lovely House in Brussels.
Some of our activities are in other places.
And also online.
Who
Full Circle was set up by Bridie & Louise. It is run by a fabulous tiny team of impressive beings.
We also receive help from a number of great volunteers. And we could always use some extra hands on deck.
When
As often as we have energy and helpers. Most weekdays (evenings) and many weekends.
How
We are completely independent, non-partisan, with no affiliation to any political, religious, or other group.
We operate on a shoestring.
We are self funded - through membership fees, and renting our spaces for professional/private/cultural events.
We partner with others, where it makes sense, to help deliver our activities.
