At one point, the narrator recalls a day spent walking for hours, hoping to get “absolutely and happily lost,” as he once did as a child. However, his attempt reaches its limits as memory — experienced as a bodily faculty— repeatedly guides him back home. “There are times,” he concludes, “when, no matter how hard we try, we discover that we don’t know, that we can’t get lost. And perhaps we miss the time when we could get lost. The time when all the streets were new.”

Exploring the practices of Angyvir Padilla, Anthony Ngoya, Benjamin Mengistu Navet, and Clémentine Coupau, this exhibition borrows the title of Zambra’s novel, treating it as a resonant metaphor connecting threads within their works. It evokes the recurring presence of enveloping forms and materials, improvised carriers for personal memories, and territorial references in their work. The title also reflects the artists’ collective decision to share the prize awarded through the Ernest Albert Invitational — opting for a group exhibition that explores forms of kinship among their practices, rather than showcasing individual clusters of work. Here, “home” can be understood as a temporary shelter, a site of belonging, or a marker of displacement, balancing between zones of familiarity and phantasmagoria.

Laila Melchior (b.1988, Brazil) is a writer and curator whose practice unfolds into exhibitionmaking, public programming, forms of writing and critical approach. Investigating the threshold of individual creation and collaborative bodies, she often works by creating together, mediating encounters and embracing non-dominant perspectives in this process. She works as Studio Coordinator at Level Five — Artist Cooperative Brussels and runs the Young Curators’ Programme at the Belgian Pavilion, Venice Biennale Arte.

Among other shows and programmes, she has recently curated Als een leeuw in een kooi, solo show by Elen Braga at CC Strombeek (Grimbergen) and the group exhibitions L’ordre des choses at Espace Frans Krajcberg (Paris); Dear Yves, at KIOSK (Ghent); Three Tropes for Entropy at Jester (Genk) and Superfícies Sensíveis at Caixa Cultural (Rio de Janeiro). Laila Melchior has a postgrad degree in Curatorial Studies from KASK & Conservatorium, University College Ghent. She holds an MA in Media Technologies and Aesthetics and a BA in Audiovisual, both obtained at UFRJ — Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

The Ernest Albert Invitational was named after the director of the Academy of Mechelen between 1949 and 1965. In the wake of his passing, his widow left a legacy to the city of Mechelen to finance an art prize. The competition is open for professional visual artists, who are either born, have studied or are based in Belgium. The prize of 7500 euros is given every two years.

In 2025, the Ernest Albert Invitational is being coordinated by Kunsthal Mechelen for the first time. Its regulations were revised in consultation with the Committee of the Ernest Albert Invitational, opting from now on for a format inspired by a sporting event in which players can compete by invitation only. Kunsthal Mechelen can count on an interchanging jury, consisting of two members of their advisory board and two external curators. For this year’s edition, the jury – consisting of Laura Herman, Zeynep Kubat, Sorana Munsya and Herman Van Ingelgem – selected the following four artists: Clémentine Coupau, Benjamin Mengistu Navet, Anthony Ngoya and Angyvir Padilla.

The Ernest Albert Committee.