Leto Keunen is a Belgian visual artist and designer exploring the intersections of objects, social dynamics, and power structures. Her practice critically examines gender narratives and the relationships between public and domestic spaces, using spatial and material practices as a tool for questioning and reimagining existing systems.
Through a research-driven and participatory approach, she engages in installation art and speculative scenarios to challenge societal norms and foster critical reflection. Her work considers everyday practices as sites of resistance and collective transformation, seeking to inspire alternative modes of social interaction and shared responsibility.
materials: steel, textile, plastic
images: Anwyn Howarth
2025
A manipulated soundscape — composed of recordings of water, friction, and domestic gestures — disrupts the sensory satisfaction of ASMR, amplifying unsettling textures and motions. This sonic layer builds tension between comfort and disruption, heightening the physical gestures of the machine and challenging sanitized depictions of domestic labour.
This piece was developed at the Contextual Design department of Design Academy Eindhoven in 2025. Thesis supervisors: Ben Shai van derWal and Maia Kenney.
materials: Copper & Steel
2023
When people move through the city, it is often to go from point A to point B. Once night falls, there are few people who would willingly stay in the places where most women would be afraid. In small alleys, dark parks, or by the waterfront. What would happen if someone purposefully looked out for the safety of others in those places and assumed the role of a ‘rescuer’?
The chair can be adaptively installed on existing lampposts and women’s experiences can be heard through a megaphone. Whoever sits in this chair becomes the eyes on the street.
This chair was part of a project about gender-related fear in public spaces. During a year-long proces I introduced various design interventions, objects, and actions that would empower individuals in an urban environment and activate bystanders to take a proactive role in the city.
This piece was exhibited at De Fabriek during Dutch Design Week 2023.
Fluid Armor
installation
Aluminium, steel, black sand
2024
This installation explores material transformation and the interplay between solidity and impermanence. By deconstructing armor, it questions traditional representations of masculinity and rigidity. “The knight” is depicted in medieval war stories as the ideal example of how one should handle a conflict: fearless and determined yet calm and thoughtful. Over the years, we have maintained this image of the perfect soldier: strong and rational. His armour was used to glorify the masculine symbol and translates those moral values into physical characteristics of the male body. In other words, the aesthetic of the armour was intertwined with the male narrative and the visual culture of conflict. What is left of those values of masculinity if the armour is deconstructed?
Acces the article here:
Wool, silk, bronze
2023
As night falls, visibility in the city decreases. However, there are places in the city that have the potential to bring light to dark urban spaces. Can a night shop—and that neon-lit spot by the door— be a source of life and function as an urban safe space?
This intervention was part of a project about gender-related fear in public spaces. During a year-long proces I introduced various design interventions, objects, and actions that would empower individuals in an urban environment and activate bystanders to take a proactive role in the city.
An intervention in a night shop explores its potential as urban safe space. During the night, a carpet is placed in the shop, bringing together local residents and passersby to engage in conversation about the issue. The carpet is made of white felt, contrasting with the bright colors of the products filling the shelves, and offering a visual release. The material conveys a sense of contraction, transparency, and vulnerability, linking to the feelings of insecurity some people experience. Bronze rings indicate the different night shops in the city. This memento encourages the shop owner to apply the ideas and conversations in practice in the future.
Exhibittion views at the Fabriek, Eindhoven (NL), 2023.
Exhibited at Vienna Design Week & Dutch Design Week 2024
DON’T MOVE THE FOUNTAIN was initiated by a group of designers from the Contextual Design department of Design Academy Eindhoven.
2022 - 2023
The fountain can unite people and become a symbol of interconnectedness and a shared vision. This kaleidoscopic moment is at the heart of our project. Over the past few months, the groups have developed a crucial element of the fountain, embedding a unique wish and voice that will flow, fall and merge into the water.”
Supported by the departments Communication and Contextual Design of Design Academy Eindhoven.
With works by: Natali Aguirre Montaña, Ise Weier, Georges Baida, Phoebe Ho, Jonghoo Jeong, Alicia Borssén, Derrick Crichlow, Thibaud Boto, Pia Gräwe, Lilly Noordhof, Christophe Boulmer, Léane Gorgette, Lucie Briand and Leto Keunen, Dalila Fermezza, Sarath Muralidharan, Chiara Zarotti, Jun Fujisaku, Serim Kwack, Christoph Wimmer-Ruelland, Sugyeong Lee, Yichun Liu, Mijali Posada, Kai Hsiang Wen.
©Anwyn Howard
2024
The film starts from the concept of the ecotone, a transition area between two biological communities, symbolizing tension and transformation. Just as the coast is a border between land and sea, that changes through ebb and flow. Similarly, ecotones exist in our human world, such as laundromats where private and public spheres intersect.
location: KUNSTHAL GENT
partner: AMAL Gent
images: Sahar Khosravi
2022 - 2023
This workshop was part of a project about gender-related fear in public spaces. During a year-long proces I introduced various design interventions, objects, and actions that would empower individuals in an urban environment and activate bystanders to take a proactive role in the city. Creative workshops were the starting point of this proces. To make experiences tangible, facilitate conversations and gradually create a deeper understanding of the issue.
During the workshop, participants could visualize their perspective on the city by depicting pain points, frustrations, feelings of insecurity, or experiences in the city. Meanwhile, we discussed our fears and the moments when this fear arises.
Through subjective mapping, participants can visualize their own experiences in their environment. Participation and personal experiences are central to this process and result in a series of subjective maps.
Through subjective mapping, participants can visualize their own experiences in their environment. Participation and personal experiences are central to this process and result in a series of subjective maps.
These workshops were organised in collaboration with Amal Gent.