Thursday Talk with DIVA-artists: Empar Juanes Sanchis, felicia Mülbaier and Zhipeng Wang

DIVA’s residency programme offers makers working in goldsmithing, jewellery design and related disciplines the opportunity to experiment, develop new work and engage in dialogue with the museum’s collections and audiences. This edition brings together three distinct artistic practices, each exploring materiality, transformation and cultural or personal narratives.
 
Empar Juanes moves between architecture and contemporary jewellery, transforming raw, heavy gemstones into ethereal sculptural pieces. Her work explores the material possibilities of stone and the relationship between physical transformation and personal processes of change.

Felicia Mülbaier works across drawing, installation and objects, exploring the relationship between human activity and geological time. Through materials such as stone, dust and textiles, she investigates questions of materiality, transformation and duration.

Zhipeng Wang draws on China's material cultural heritage, working with culturally significant materials such as tea and jade. Through a cross-cultural perspective, his practice explores identity, memory and materiality. In 2026, he became the first Chinese artist to receive the prestigious ‘Herbert Hofmann Prize’.
 
Together, the three artists offer a broad perspective on contemporary jewellery and object-making, highlighting the ways in which materials can carry stories, histories and meaning.


Thursday Talks with DIVA Artist: Thursday 12 November 2026, 18:30.
Auditorium, Building G, Campus Elfde Linie, Gouverneur Verwilghensingel 3a, Hasselt.