The theme of the festival “Bodies of Water” will look at the entanglement of life and water, the vital element for all known forms of life. Our body, like the surface of the earth, is more than 60 percent water. The earliest life forms on earth appeared in water and our ​civilization has historically flourished around rivers and major waterways. We sweat, we urinate, we ingest, we ejaculate, we menstruate, we breastfeed, we breathe, we cry. The process of life is very much entangled with fluids, as scientist & environmental activist, David Suzuki puts it “our cells are inflated by water, our metabolic reactions mediated in aqueous solution”. This notion of flow, of circulation, is everywhere and connected to a state of becoming, through the natural and physical processes of the transforming states of materials; from melting ice, running water, oxidizing copper to the circulatory system. Water flows are akin to veins and arteries in a body. Not only in human bodies but also non-human, plant, geophysical, meteorological and technological bodies. The 12th edition of KIKK festival will investigate the flows of the world, maritime, fluvial flows, but also flows of power, of culture, politics and economics in relation to the systems of power in place in our society. It will address the climate crisis in connection with water circulation and follow our history of navigating water bodies to narrate the stories of our hyper connected society.

Founded in Namur in 2011, the non-profit organization KIKK is committed to building bridges between the arts, sciences, culture and technology. KIKK transforms and densifies space. Free-spirited and daring, KIKK stands between technological innovation and creativity, refreshing the foundations of a reinvented economy. On a daily basis, KIKK organizes events, stages exhibitions, supports the production of artistic works and participates in the emergence of new projects, which it then supports and promotes. With an eye to the horizon and beyond, and a fierce tendency to cross-disciplinary clearing: the association is organic. It evolves, impetuous, according to the seasons, carried by winds and tides, that it never covers twice in the same way. Its aim: to mix fields, genres and generations, to question the multiple uses of new technologies, and in so doing, foreshadow the new challenges of a world on the move. Every year, KIKK organizes the eponymous international festival in Namur, which showcases digital practices in the broadest sense. For its 11th edition in 2022, the event attracted over 25,000 visitors (professionals and the curious alike) from nearly 40 nationalities.