VUB and TAZ award the second Caroline Pauwels Fellowship to artist Britt Bakker and microbiologist Eveline Peeters

The €20,000 research grant gives the artist and scientist a year to explore new connections between microbiology and art

10/08/2026

10 August 2026 – Artist Britt Bakker and Eveline Peeters, a researcher at the Microbiology Research Group (MICR) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), have been awarded the second Caroline Pauwels Fellowship for Wonder. The jury has recognised their joint research project, in which they investigate how insights from microbiology can lead to new artistic forms. The project brings together performance, visual art and experimentation. The grant, an initiative of TAZ and deAuteurs in collaboration with the VUB, KVS and De Grote Post, provides them with a budget of 20,000 euros and a full year to delve deeper into their research in complete freedom.

The Caroline Pauwels Grant for Wonder was established to keep alive the legacy of the late VUB rector Caroline Pauwels (1964–2022). Pauwels, who was, amongst other things, curator of TAZ#2021, championed curiosity, slow thinking and breaking down boundaries between disciplines. The fellowship aims to give artists and scientists the space to develop new questions and ideas together, drawing on that same sense of wonder.

The jury selected Britt Bakker for the originality and distinctly research-based nature of her project. In collaboration with Eveline Peeters, Bakker intends to explore how microbiological insights and processes can be translated into a new artistic language.

“Caroline Pauwels believed wholeheartedly in the power of wonder. For her, creativity was impossible without curiosity. With this grant, we are encouraging artists and scientists to forge new connections between art and science together. It is precisely in this encounter that new questions and surprising insights can arise,” says Jan Danckaert, rector of the VUB.

No pressure to produce, but scope for exploration

In the second edition of the Caroline Pauwels Fellowship, the focus is even more strongly on development, research and genuine collaboration between artists and scientists. The aim is not to arrive at a finished result quickly, but to create space for a process in which ideas can clash, shift and grow.

The duration of the grant has also been extended. Whereas previous editions lasted half a year, the laureates now have a full year to delve deeper into their research, experiment and further develop their ideas together. The jury emphasises that the grant offers them the necessary time, freedom and resources to conduct their research with the requisite depth, without production pressures or a predetermined end result.

“The jury strongly believes in the potential of this cross-pollination and in Bakker’s personal fascination and her ability to further develop her own artistic language,” states the jury report.

Support in addition to the grant

In addition to the financial award, the laureates receive a comprehensive support programme. They can make use of residencies at De Grote Post and KVS, dramaturgical guidance, and practical and technical support from TAZ. DeAuteurs provides legal and copyright support. In this way, the Caroline Pauwels Grant aims not only to create financial scope, but also to provide the conditions in which artists and academics can meet, experiment and learn from one another over an extended period.

Through this grant, TAZ, deAuteurs, VUB, KVS and De Grote Post aim to carry on Caroline Pauwels’ legacy: creating space for wonder, curiosity and the encounter between different ways of thinking and creating.