Location: PXL-MAD School of Arts Hasselt Building G, Campus Elfde Linie 3500 Hasselt, Belgium
Liesbet Bussche warmly invites you to the public defense of her doctoral dissertation on 30 April 2026 at PXL-MAD School of Arts Hasselt: Grounds for Jewellery: Research into Material, Spatial and Experiential Process as Practice in Contemporary Jewellery. Following the defense, the accompanying exhibition will open in the MAD-Gallery.
In her doctoral research Grounds for Jewellery, Liesbet Bussche reimagines contemporary jewellery as a process- and experience‑oriented practice within the context of the material turn. She investigates how materials and the material world are perceived, shaped, worked, and experienced through walking, making, and writing. These methods reshape the relationship between human and non-human actors and acknowledge the role of the situated, subjective researcher. By tracing and transforming shells, bricks, natural stone, metal artefacts, and stone dust, Bussche questions established notions within contemporary jewellery—such as the status of the finished object—and contributes to the discourse of the field.
This doctoral research in the arts was conducted at Hasselt University and PXL-MAD School of Arts Hasselt, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. David Huycke and Dr. Karen Wuytens, with Dr. Jeroen Boomgaard and Benjamin Lignel as external committee members.
The research project was supported by the Special Research Fund (BOF) of Hasselt University (BOF20DOC01).
14:00–16:00: Doctoral defense, AudiTorium, Building G
16:30–19:00: Exhibition opening, MAD-Gallery, Building G
1–3 and 7–10 May 2026, 14:00–18:00
Or by appointment: liesbet.bussche@uhasselt.be
