Paula Swinnen

Paula Swinnen is a cultural mediator based in Brussels, with a background in Visual Arts, specialising in textiles and cultural studies. She has a strong focus on socially based art projects, driven by her experience in the social sector. Swinnen believes that art plays a crucial social role by creating new spaces and opportunities for human interaction and relationships, free from the constraints of capitalism and prevailing hierarchies. During her Master’s degree in Cultural Studies at KU Leuven, Swinnen conducted research on the potential of curating and textiles as affective mediums to influence the struggle and emancipation of women artists. In 2022, she worked as a cultural mediation assistant at la Bellone, Maison de Spectacles, where she focused on accessibility for their annual art and theory festival “5days4ideas”. Currently, she is involved in the housing sector, engaging in fieldwork and developing social and cultural projects within communities in Brussels. Swinnen’s passion for artistic creation remains strong, leading her to maintain a parallel practice that encompasses textile work and audio-visual content creation. These creative endeavours inform and enrich her theoretical research. Her education at the Académie royale des Beaux-Arts and her expertise in textile design continue to influence her current artistic projects. Additionally, Swinnen has always had a keen interest in architecture, which she understands in a broad sense as the study of spaces. When contemplating artistic infrastructures, whether they are interior or exterior, private or public, she seeks to understand and question how we navigate and perceive these spaces and how they influence social organisation and power dynamics.