SamenDurable | La mobilité dans le secteur culturel

In The Belly of the City [EN]

Project presentation and discussion with Futurefarmers artists Amy Franceschini & Lode Vranken, farmer Tijs Boelens, artist Honoré d’O and poet Inge Braeckman.

In the summer of 2024, a visionary project developed on and around the Brussels-Charleroi canal. A special wooden boat transports food from 12 farmers in the Pajottenland region to the belly of the European capital Brussels, making the connection between small-scale, local farmers and the global flow of goods and foreign trade.

Twice a week, farmer Tijs Boelens (Degroentelaar) coordinates waterborne transport from Halle to Brussels. On the boat, the food is sorted and packed into bundles and then taken by bike across town to the shelves of cooperative shops and to collective kitchens.

In the Belly… is a call to action to rethink our food system and the network of actors and movements that shape it. Can artistic research be an appropriate medium for innovation and promoting social transition? What is the ‘learning’ potential of experiments like this and what do we do with the things we have learned when they point us to adjustments that are difficult? How can we ensure that the space we give to (artistic) experiments around sustainability is itself sustainable?

In the Belly… was realised on behalf of GLUON in collaboration with Innoviris, Good Food Brussels, VUB, EIT Food and UGent. This project was funded by Innoviris, the National Lottery and S+T+ARTS (Science, Technology & the Arts), a European Commission initiative launched as part of the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The aim is to support collaborations between artists, scientists, engineers and researchers to develop more creative, inclusive and sustainable technologies.