This fall, the Flanders Archtiecture Institute (VAi) will be exploring how a wide range of actors help to shape and influence our built environment, giving it new meanings. From microbes to machines and from archive footage to young designers. The 2026–2027 season is an invitation to look at architecture in a different way: as an ecosystem of living processes, images and ideas.

Grab your agenda and mark these activities in bold!

On 29 September VAi and DE SINGEL present the exhibition We The Bacteria. Following a successful presentation at the 24th Triennale di Milano, the exhibition arrives in Antwerp with a local touch. During the festive opening evening, curators Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley will immerse you in an alternative history of architecture, centred on a provocative question: what if we embraced microbes instead of fighting them?

Ways of Seeing is an experiential installation that invites you to reflect on how we look at things today. We examine the role of artificial intelligence, the hidden assumptions behind classifications, and the ways technology and imagination shape one another.

Discover three photographic collections by architects Georges Baines, Christian Kieckens and Lou Jansen from the VAi Collection. What happens when these images end up in an archive, and who determines their meaning: man or machine? Explore original photographs, automated image labels, and stories that allow the images to speak in new ways.

During the opening night on 8 October, five contemporary designers will bring their own photo archives to life. Join them and discover that the way we look at things is never neutral.

VAi and De Cinema launch a new edition of Architecture on Film, a monthly film series bringing together two complementary areas of expertise: that of a unique cinema with a strong focus on film heritage and new voices, and that of an institute that explores architecture, design and heritage from a broad social and cultural perspective. More info and dates of the screenings will follow soon.

Starting from October 2026 in De Cinema, Antwerp

The 17th edition of the legendary Flanders Archtiectural Review explores architecture as a constant interplay of interactions, frictions and collaboration. The title Building Culture suggests a dialectical perspective on the relationship between building and culture. Alongside critical essays, the images reveal the complex dynamics of the field of architecture

On Thursday 17 December 2026, VAi is organising its annual research day at De Singel in Antwerp. Titled Under Pressure, it takes you back to the 1980s. What can we learn from the fault lines of that era, which bear striking similarities to today? We’ll be sharing the programme and the registration form via our channels in September. Make a note of 17 December in your diary now if you’d like to attend.