PLATFORM KANAL is a Brussels citizens' movement. The organization wishes to share information on creative forces in the central urban canal zone in order to increase their presence and visibility, as well as merging them with the local population’s potential. They have their own magazine,they organize workshops and they work together with architects and urban planners to gather information about the canal zone and to think about its future.
Every two years the organization organizes 'Festival Kanal'. This creates a moment to investigate the possibilities,challenges and problems in the Brussels canal zone together with the people living there by mobilizing them in a positive way.
The canal zone has to deal with a negative image in the city of Brussels and by symbolically 'making the bridge' with this arts- and cultural festival, the organization wants to turn this around and to show that these very lively neigborhoods in the canal zone have something to offer to the city. Often people refer to Molenbeek as a 'no go zone' and the organization turned this around by making it a 'must go zone' filled with artistic interventions and inviting the public to take a walk around the neighborhood to experience it.
Here are some examples of urban installations and performances from the festival.
CHECKPOINT CHARLIE (Emilio Lopez Menchero) is an identical copy of a checkpoint at the Berlin Wall. It questioned the canal as being a border (or a bridge?) for Brussels. The installation was set up by the social organization ART2WORK that gives the neighborhood youth a chance to have a work experience. It created a lot of discussion and that was exactly the purpose.
BODIES IN URBAN SPACE (Cie. Willie Dorner)is the name of this amazing project. 20 dancers spread out in the streets of the old Molenbeek and in the neighborhood of the quays. This surprising parcours of acrobatic human sculptures was very popular with both the 'official' visitors of the festival and the casual passers-by.
There were more than 20 other projects like these two in the festival. The festival was very successful, both the organization Platform Kanal an the neighborhoods were put on the map of Brussels. People were moving through streets they had never seen, made contact with others, got some new impressions and had a great time. The program made bridges between territoria, people and disciplines.
I think it is clear why I consider this as an open city project. It gets all sorts of people out of their bubbles and mixes them together. Visitors from the city, locals, youth. It opens up the negatively connotated bubble 'Molenbeek' and shows the inner-city population that the canal shouldn't be considered a border for their bubble. Even the people that knew nothing about the festival being organized were involved, due to the installations that took place in their own street. What I like about it is that the organization works on this topic profoundly and that it is not just a one-time-thing. They work on the topic of the canal zone as a border on many, many levels.
You can visit the organizations' website at http://www.platformkanal.be
PLATFORM KANAL is a Brussels citizens' movement. The organization wishes to share information on creative forces in the central urban canal zone in order to increase their presence and visibility, as well as merging them with the local population’s potential. They have their own magazine,they organize workshops and they work together with architects and urban planners to gather information about the canal zone and to think about its future.
Every two years the organization organizes 'Festival Kanal'. This creates a moment to investigate the possibilities,challenges and problems in the Brussels canal zone together with the people living there by mobilizing them in a positive way.
The canal zone has to deal with a negative image in the city of Brussels and by symbolically 'making the bridge' with this arts- and cultural festival, the organization wants to turn this around and to show that these very lively neigborhoods in the canal zone have something to offer to the city. Often people refer to Molenbeek as a 'no go zone' and the organization turned this around by making it a 'must go zone' filled with artistic interventions and inviting the public to take a walk around the neighborhood to experience it.
Here are some examples of urban installations and performances from the festival.
CHECKPOINT CHARLIE (Emilio Lopez Menchero) is an identical copy of a checkpoint at the Berlin Wall. It questioned the canal as being a border (or a bridge?) for Brussels. The installation was set up by the social organization ART2WORK that gives the neighborhood youth a chance to have a work experience. It created a lot of discussion and that was exactly the purpose.
BODIES IN URBAN SPACE (Cie. Willie Dorner)is the name of this amazing project. 20 dancers spread out in the streets of the old Molenbeek and in the neighborhood of the quays. This surprising parcours of acrobatic human sculptures was very popular with both the 'official' visitors of the festival and the casual passers-by.
There were more than 20 other projects like these two in the festival. The festival was very successful, both the organization Platform Kanal an the neighborhoods were put on the map of Brussels. People were moving through streets they had never seen, made contact with others, got some new impressions and had a great time. The program made bridges between territoria, people and disciplines.
I think it is clear why I consider this as an open city project. It gets all sorts of people out of their bubbles and mixes them together. Visitors from the city, locals, youth. It opens up the negatively connotated bubble 'Molenbeek' and shows the inner-city population that the canal shouldn't be considered a border for their bubble. Even the people that knew nothing about the festival being organized were involved, due to the installations that took place in their own street. What I like about it is that the organization works on this topic profoundly and that it is not just a one-time-thing. They work on the topic of the canal zone as a border on many, many levels.
You can visit the organizations' website at http://www.platformkanal.be
