Doctoral defense of Joeri Verbesselt

Doctoral defence

Joeri Verbesselt (research unit Intermedia) will present his doctoral research in the Arts:

“Only with hunters do we have cinema”

The supervisory committee of the doctoral research consisted of corresponding supervisor prof. dr. Veerle Van der Sluys (KU Leuven / LUCA School of Arts), supervisor prof. dr. Hilde Van Gelder (KU Leuven), co-supervisor prof. dr. Steven Devleminck, prof. dr. Jen-Yi Hsu (National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan), Rolf Quaghebeur (KAAP) and prof. dr. P. Kerim Friedman (National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan).

During a journey to the Pacific islands of Taiwan and Pongso no Tao, Joeri Verbesselt’s perspective on art and research underwent a radical transformation. He witnessed that local environmental issues are deeply intertwined with Indigenous struggles within the context of settler colonialism. From the Indigenous peoples and artists he encountered, Verbesselt learned that the Truku people’s land-based ethics of Gaya and the Tao islanders’ profound oceanic knowledge are both nurtured through the intergenerationally transmitted practice of hunting. This practice serves to counter environmental destruction as it entails ethical responsibilities to one’s community, Ancestors, other communities, and animals.

Verbesselt’s doctoral project builds on this inherent connection between land, Indigenous hunters, and wild animals as the ethical foundation of a cinema that addresses not just local but global ecological challenges. Through the hybrid writing of his dissertation and a medium-length experimental documentary film, he searched for ethical and relational ways to conduct art research as a white visitor from Belgium.

The members of the examination committee are:

Prof. dr. Niels Hendriks (LUCA School of Arts / KU Leuven, chairman of the examination committee)
Prof. dr. Veerle Van der Sluys (corresponding supervisor, LUCA School of Arts / KU Leuven)
Prof. dr. Hilde Van Gelder (supervisor, KU Leuven)
Prof. dr. Steven Devleminck (co-supervisor, LUCA School of Arts / KU Leuven)
Prof. dr. P. Kerim Friedman (National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan)
Prof. dr. Jen-Yi Hsu (National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan)
Prof. Dr. Carine Defoort (KU Leuven)
Prof. dr. Jan Peeters (LUCA School of Arts / KU Leuven)
Prof. Dr. Futuru C.L. Tsai (National Taitung University, Taiwan)