Workshop 2: Value of art in social fabric

Except involving in the intense group work, the Reshapers will meet people and organisations whose work is closely connected to this topic. One of them is Globe Aroma, open, low-threshold art house that serves as a meeting platform where participatory art projects are developed with and for newcomers and Brussel residents under supervision of a professional artist. It is also a workspace for newcomer artists and an alternative presentation location. From their new building in the heart of Brussels, they connect the Paepenvest district, Brussels, and the world with the arts field. Specific methodologies ensure that newcomers, refugees, and city dwellers can participate in different ways and speeds in the organisation, in their projects, and in the projects of our partners.

Arber Aliaj (Jong Gewei) and Geert Opsomer (TransfoCollect) will meet the Reshapers to talk about their work with a new generation of ‘cultural bastards’. TransfoCollect is a workspace, collective and alternative school based in Brussels. It’s a practice of a heterogeneous group of people sharing knowledge on performing arts and cultural practices by working and playing
together. Jong Gewei is the junior league of Kloppend Hert, a theatre company that strives for cultural hybridism, towards a cross-border space where multiple influences can merge into one whole. A constant is that they depart from deep human stories.

Xavier Cloet and Farah Laporte will present CirQ, a performance collective in Ghent since 1999, upcycling popular culture. During Ghent Festival their Datakamp invited the audience to sell their personal data for dummy rewards or Batahlan where refugees ran an oasis of peace. CirQ set up Refu-Interim to help newcomers in Belgium integrate by finding them volunteering opportunities in the cultural sector. Refu Interim is active in 4 cities in Belgium and already subscribed over a 1000 newcomers that want to do volunteer work.

Towards the end of the workshop, Tim Bruggeman will welcome the group in De Koer in De Brugse Poort in Ghent and give some background information about the history, program and working methods of De Koer. De koer is a small, multidisciplinary, artistic and social environment in the heart of De Brugse Poort in Ghent. De Koer is a place for experiment and wants to instigate playfulness, reflection and action. It’s a collective space that is constantly evolving.