publication, 2025
Stef Lemmens, Merel Thomissen,
Jolien Fagard
‘De Mobiele Materialenbank’ is a research on the narrative surrounding waste materials that are often forgotten in peoples houses. By highlighting this narrative Stef Lemmens wants to change our perspective towards these materials and connect people with each other along the way.
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short film, 2025
Elke Cuppens, Stef Lemmens
At Nomad City we explore what keystone species can once again play a part in our local context, in our everyday lives, not to go back in time and ignore modern civilazation, but to restore our care and respect for our natural environment, so we can avoid the collapse of natural ecosystems.
‘Keystone Species’ was selected as the Winner of MEOW Short Film Festival 2025 at FAX, Hasselt
‘Keystone Species’ was selected as the Winner of MEOW Short Film Festival 2025 at FAX, Hasselt
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publication, 2023
Stef Lemmens, Milan Gillard, Mirte Meneve
In a world marked by an array of social and ecological challenges, the Nomad City project emerged as an inspiring response to these issues. Follow the journey of Milan Gillard, Mirte Meneve and Stef Lemmens as they embark on a transformative project in the heart of a city.
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publication, 2021
Stef Lemmens
What is the essence of a home? This question has been circling my mind for the past three years. In this time I constructed various types of homes and examined my own behavior while living inside them. When building I always started from a certain necessity that motivated me to push the limits of each construction as far as I could.
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lemmens_stef@hotmail.com
His work often manifests as interactive, participatory installations in public spaces, making these themes accessible to passersby in a low-threshold manner. By placing art outside traditional museum contexts, he aims to give everyone the opportunity to actively participate and reflect on themes such as sustainability and connection. For him, art is not a static object but a dynamic process that encourages people to view the world—and their own role in it—differently.
In 2023, he co-founded Nomad City, an artistic research center and living artwork where artists, thinkers, and makers collectively explore how sustainability and connection can take shape within a self-declared village. As a co-initiator and resident, he seeks to blur the rigid boundaries between art, life, and learning. Nomad City is both a physical and mental space where new forms of (co)living are imagined that not only positively impact local communities but also the natural environment.
Stef Lemmens has been active in the arts since 2018. Over the years, he has collaborated with numerous organizations (Kunst in Zicht, De Veerman, The School, Constructlab, The Artist & The Others), museums (Z33, ModeMuseum Hasselt, S.M.A.K., Pontarte, etc.), and schools (PXL MAD-Faculty Hasselt, ZUYD Maastricht, LUCA School of Arts, UCLL, etc.). His practice constantly navigates between his artistic projects and the educational institutions where he works as a teacher and artistic mentor.
Kunst In Zicht, Turnhout
2022 - ...
Social & Urban Design
The School, Hasselt
2018 - ...
Artistic Research on Sustainable & Communal Living, Nomad City, Hasselt
2021 - ...
Walnoot 26
De Veerman, Leuven
2026
Artiesten In Residentie
Plattelandscentrum, Meetjesland
2026
Flou
De Veerman, Antwerpen
2025
The Shitty City
Nomad City, Hasselt
2024
The Devil Castle
Constructlab, Gent
2020
Object & Social Design
Studio Oebjet Troevee, Hasselt
2019
DISplay
Constructlab, Hasselt
2019
Internship Visual Arts
Patrick Ceyssens, Houthalen
2018
ZUYD, Maastricht
2024 - 2025
Broodnodige Vaardigheden
Kindcentrum Straal, Schimpen
2024
Interaction Design
PXL MAD-Faculty, Hasselt
2022 - 2024
Fashion Upcycling
Villa Basta, Hasselt
2021
Photography
Villa Basta, Hasselt
2020 - 2022
Graphic Design
Villa Basta, Hasselt
2018 - 2021
ENCI, Maastricht
2025
The School Herdefinieert de Materialenbank, FAX, Hasselt
2025
MEOW Short Film Festival
FAX, Hasselt
2025
Huiskamer van de Kunstenaar
FAX, Hasselt
2025
Welkom in Vlasselt
FAX, Hasselt
2024
The Burnout Society
Pontarte, Maastricht
2024
The Shitty City Festival
Tournée Locale, Hasselt
2024
Festival van de Gelijkheid,
Viernulvier, Gent
2024
Lente Festival
Maison Florida, Hasselt
2023
Ruimte in de Stad
Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam
2022
Wearable Space for Tea & Dialogue S.M.A.K., Gent
2022
A scraped existence
Kunstennacht, Hasselt
2021
Cake aan de zee
PXL-MAD, Hasselt
2021
Magnificent Migraine Festival
Maison Florida, Hasselt
2021
1M2
Moving, Hasselt
2020
Beauty / ?
K.L.8, Brussel
2020
Ithaka Arts Festival
Stadsvilla, Leuven
2020
Moving Backwards
Maison Florida, Hasselt
2020
Without the first, the second would not be there, CCHA, Hasselt
2019
SABOTAGE
Dommelhof, Pelt
2019
BIT ROT
CCHA, Hasselt
2018
10 x A4
Päper ShØp, Hasselt
2018
EXIT
CCHA, Hasselt
2018
MoMeNT, Tongeren
2017
Exchanging Connection
ZAWP, Bilbao
2016
ZUYD, Maastricht
2025
Workshop, Hate Speech Poetry
Atheneum, Brugge
2024
Artist talk
Avansa Limburg, Hasselt
2024
Workshop, Nettles & Textiles
Villa Castrum, Visé
2024
Workshop, Hate Speech Poetry
PontArte, Maastricht
2024
Artist talk
LUCA School of Arts, Genk
2024
Workshop, de-schooling, un-schooling, anti-school, Tetem, Enschede
2023
Artist talk
E³UDRES² European University, Hasselt
2023
Artist talk
ZUYD, Maastricht
2023
Stef Lemmens
2025
Essay for Situated Publishing
Milan Gillard
2025
Essay, part of TURBULENCE
Pablo Hannon
2024
Nomad City
Milan Gillard, Mirte Menève,
Stef Lemmens
2023
Maison Florida Year 2 - Independence The School
2022
Walk Me Home
Stef Lemmens
2021
2025
by Maya Toebat, De Standaard
2025
‘Lore Praet & Stef Lemmens over creëren, recycleren en ruimte maken in de stad’
by Derya Erdogan en Nele Kelchtermans, Zuurstof voor Hasselt
2025
‘Shitty City is artistiek onderzoek rond compost en cultuur’
by Lieven Roux, Radio 2
2024
‘Stef van Nomad City: ‘Ik timmerde zelf een huisje in elkaar voor zo’n 500 euro’
By Marijke Clabots, Flair
2024
‘Nomad City, een nomadisch onderzoek in Hasselt’
by TVL
2023
‘Minimalistisch wonen mét gezelschap? Hier kan het’
By Giulia Latinne, Het Laatste Nieuws
2023
‘Bezoek aan Crocodile Boulevard’
By Sam Stefani, Avansa Limburg
2022
‘Stef en Milan zoeken drie kompanen die drie maanden lang willen leven als nomaden in Hasselt’
By Dirk Jacobs
2022
‘Maak kennis met Stef’
By Young Faces, Stad Hasselt
2022
‘Hasselaar sleurt zijn hele hebben en houden doorheen de stad’
By Dirk Jacobs
2021
‘Mensen denken dat ik niet rondkom, maar ik ben op een andere manier rijk’
By Giulia Latinne, Het Laatste Nieuws
2021
‘Stef (27) ruilt luxewoning in voor zelfgebouwd winkelkar-bamboehuisje van 500 euro’
By Giulia Latinne, Het Laatste Nieuws
2021
Last Updated 01.07.2025
space-making, 2025
Stef Lemmens
The Joinery is a space that floats between a class and living room. Here we want to initiate informal talks with and between students, teachers, alumni… from various artistic disciplines. By intertwining living and learning we want to connect like-minded people to spark potential collaborations and address forgotten topics that are surrounding todays artistic practices.
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interactive installation, 2025
Stef Lemmens
De Veerman invited me to participate in the Flou project. Here, I worked together with young people from other language backgrounds on the question 'How do your memories sound?'.
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participatory performance, 2024
Elke Cuppens, Rob Hillen,
Stef Lemmens
In times when loud voices succeed in driving us apart, the need for connection feels immense. But how do we reconnect with each other? How do we start a conversation with a stranger? What starting point can we create to initiate dialogue?
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spacemaking, object, 2024
Stef Lemmens
I was invited by Sara Vertongen and Het Nieuwstedelijk to design two structures for the European research project CONTRA which explores the positive potential of social conflict in urban transitions: CONflict in TRAnsformations.
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sustainable architecture, publication, 2024-...
Elke Cuppens, Stef Lemmens
Kunst in Zicht
In the past, old buildings were often demolished without looking at the value that is hidden in its individual elements. Today we are more aware of the fact that our resources on this planet are finite. There is a big movement of urban miners that are looking at the city with this fresh perspective. We must look at old buildings as resources, rather than waste. But we can also go one step further and design new buildings while thinking about how future generations can easily take them apart.
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sustainable architecture, 2023-...
Stef Lemmens, Kunst in Zicht
In this project two groups of students are encouraged to build a tiny house without 'damaging' the materials they use. While building a structure, they can't cut wood, fabric or other materials. We don't let the character of each material limit them, but we rather encourage them to think outside of the box to use each material in it's entirety.
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participatory performance, 2022
Elke Cuppens, Stef Lemmens
A museum often presents itself as a space in which visitors are encouraged to question certain elements of todays society, but unfortunately a museum visit is often an individual experience in which there is little room for people to actively discuss these topics on the spot.
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object-happening, 2020-2023
Elke Cuppens, Stef Lemmens
'Step by Step' is a project by Elke Cuppens and Stef Lemmens in which a ladder was placed in between two companies of Quartier Canal (the industrial zone of Hasselt). The supervisor of each company was invited for a three course vegan meal, made by a local food enthusiast. After each course the guests had to ascend one step on the ladder to receive the next meal.
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object-performance, 2021
Stef Lemmens
I was invited to research the relationship between migraine and flashing lights for Magnificent Migraine Festival. I've never experienced migraine firsthand but I did see how it affected my mother when growing up. She would isolate herself in her room after turning it completely dark. When we are in pain while among other people we often try to hide this pain as much as we can. But when you are alone you can let this pain float through your entire body and face.
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