Antwerp Metropolitan Area
Annelies Thoelen (BE, 1986) obtained a master degree in Art History at KULeuven in 2008 and a PhD at Hasselt University in 2015. She currently is the coördinator of Designpunt, the expertisecentre for design culture at Design Museum Ghent. From 2018-2025 she was a curator at Z33, House for Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture in Hasselt. For Z33 she curated exhibitions such as "A Combmaker's Tale by Unfold" (2020), "Current Age by Studio Plastique" (2021), "Seasonal Neighbours. Our Invisible Hands" (2022), "Fitting In. Fluid identity in world of multitude" (2022), "Healing Water. Powers for mental health" (2023), "Into the Unknown by Steve Robyns" (2023), and Colour. Seeying Beyond Pigment (2025). She’s also teaching Design History and Contemporary Design since 2015 at LUCA School of Arts. In addition she is a member of the SARC strategic advisory council on culture of the Flemish Government and a member of the editorial board of the Tijdschrift voor Interieurgeschiedenis en Design in Ghent. As an independent critic, Annelies published in Glean, this is tomorrow Contemporary Art Magazine, Kwintessens, DAMN, Leida Magazine and New Ceramics. Finally, she is president of Platform 0090 and a governing board member for deBuren, KMSKA and FlandersDC.
Designpunt is the hub in Flanders for contemporary design culture. We are a landscape-strengthening player, focusing on the artistic and cultural value of design. Through a program, we stimulate the substantive development of the contemporary design sector. We are also a knowledge center that actively maps and shares expertise. In this way, we foster a vibrant and multifaceted design culture.
I share my overview of the historical and contemporary design field with students in design. We talk in-depth about historical styles, but also the current shifts, relevant designers, debates and actors, and visit sector events. I want aspiring product designers to understand the historical and contemporary field and reflect critically on their place and positioning vis-a-vis the current states of design.
Functioning both as curator (developing exhibitions) and as head of program (managing a team of 5, responsible for artistic program and budget). I developed projects such as: Colour: Seeing Beyond Pigment (2025), Into the Unknown by Steve Robyns (2023), Healing Water: Powers for mental health (2023), Fitting In: Fluid Identity in a World of Multitude (2022), Seasonal Neighbours: Our Invisible Hands (2022), Current Age by Studio Plastique (2021), A combmakers Tale by Unfold Design Studio (2020), Oooh. Back To Normal? (2020), CinéSolidair (2020), If the future isn’t bright, at least it’s colorful by Murielle Scherre (2019).
Policy designer of the "Bovenlokaal Cultuurdecreet" (2018) and the "Decreet houdende diverse bepalingen in het beleidsveld cultuur" (2019). Policy theme responsible for diversity and participation.
Developer of European projects on immaterial design, and curator of "Konijn met Pruimen" (2016) exhibition in the Design Vlaanderen gallery.
Kwintessens was a renown magazine on fashion and design, published from 1992 to 2016.