D.A.T.E. 2017

D.A.T.E.?

If you’re familiar with This is Antwerp, you might have heard of D.A.T.E. (Discover Antwerp Through Experience) before.

If not, no biggie. We don’t hold grudges and we welcome you to discover what D.A.T.E. is all about.

During this five day creative boot camp, we invite 13 creatives, bloggers, artists,… from all over Europe. To discover Antwerp. Off the beaten path.

Of course we offer our guests the opportunity to visit museums and to do some sightseeing. But D.A.T.E. is all about experiencing Antwerp. That’s why we devised a program through which the participants get in touch with Antwerp’s creative scene and local entrepreneurs who are active in their own cutting edge field of expertise. We take the D.A.T.E. squad to Antwerp’s trendiest restaurants. Together with the This is Antwerp Locals, they’ll discover the Antwerp nightlife.

In all, you can call D.A.T.E. an introduction to the Antwerp way of life and the people who make this city the vibrant, creative metropolis it is.

GRAPHIC ART

The concept of D.A.T.E. has proved its value during the past three years. With the 2016 edition even generating some long term collabs and relations between Antwerp creatives and the participants. After D.A.T.E. 2016, Shirin Mirachor (Rotterdam) returned to Antwerp for her HIPSTER / MUSLIM project. Nabil Nadifi (Paris/London) collaborated with the Paris Texas antwerp gallery for Brandon Isralsky’s exhibit 145 Avenue C. And Pawel Nolbert (Warsaw) got invited to Antwerp’s OFFF by Night, the celebrated designer festival which will take place for the second time in November.

Each one of these collabs were a direct result of the connections that were made during D.A.T.E..

So, together with Walkie Talkie and We Come As Friends, we started thinking: what if we didn’t wait until after D.A.T.E. to start up those collabs? What if our guests and the Antwerp creatives got in touch before the program started?

We didn’t wait too long to find out. We chose graphic art as the theme for D.A.T.E. 2017 and invited six artists – next to seven bloggers, writers and journalists. We asked those six creators if they’d be interested in doing a collab with Antwerp creators. They were.

That’s why we matched our six artistic guests with six Antwerp creatives. Together, they made pieces of art, based on each other’s work. Artworks that’ll be presented during D.A.T.E. and that’ll be put on display at Fosbury & Sons, Antwerp’s latest and utterly amazing co-working space, for two more weeks after the project.

Who got matched with who, and what these amazing works look like, is something we’re going to keep a secret for just a little longer.

THIS IS ANTWERP INVITES

We’ve been making you read for far too long now. So, without further ado, we proudly present you the participants of D.A.T.E. 2017. Their portraits at the top of this page are arranged in the same order.

SIGGI EGGERTSSON :: graphic designer

ANNA PEUCKERT & SØREN JEPSEN :: writer & photographer @ 12hrs

DENNIS DE GROOT :: illustrator

MARIANNE YARMOLINKSY :: graphic designer / illustrator

ALESSANDRA GENUALDO :: painter / illustrator

JOSÉ ANTONIO RODA :: illustrator / graphic designer

TOM MAY :: writer @ Creative Boom

SARAH TANAT-JONES :: illustrator

LAURA LA MONACA :: photographer @ dailybreakfast

KAREN SOFIE EGEBO :: writer

DORA MOUTOT :: writer @ Konbini

JESSICA JUNGBAUER :: writer and photographer

Feel free to get to know these beautiful people.

Stay tuned.

And join us during D.A.T.E. 2017!

Get your tickets here

If you received a personal invite to D.A.T.E.lab 2017, you can book a ticket right here. Note: only people who got an invite will be allowed in on the night of June 1.