Rethinking the city
Imagining futures
Futures for everyone
Brussels for everyone
The future starts today
Rethinking the city
Imagining futures
Futures for everyone
Brussels for everyone
The future starts today
Brussels 2048. After 30 years of increased conflict, violence and disturbance, a solution is there: a peace machine. The machine promises to bring harmony, calm and tranquility, on an inner, interpersonal and societal level – not the absence of conflict but the presence of positive factors like justice, equity, and understanding. Peace is a dynamic and active state that requires effort and intentionality to sustain. The Brussels peace machine supports this fluid equilibrium.
With BrusselAVenir we will explore what futures of peace in Brussels could mean by making an audiovisual futures fiction piece, which we will share with the city.
We are forming a group of 5 young artists (18-30 years old), who will be joined by futurists, youth workers and citymakers. The production will happen over two gatherings – two days in March and one week of residency in April. For the post-production, we will find some moments in May.
Thursday 20 – Friday 21 March: Worldbuilding in Au Jus (Saint-Gilles)
Monday 21 – Friday 25 April: Audiovisual creation during a residency in Destelheide (Dworp)
Dates in May to be discussed: 3 days of post-production
June/July 2025: Screening
Languages of the labs: French, English and Dutch
We are looking for:
Brusselèirs (living/going to school/working in Brussels) between 18 and 30 years old with some experience in multi-media art, or older Brusselèirs who identify as youth workers/teachers/policy makers/futurists
and an interest in peace, futures, and fiction making…
that are able to commit to attend at least the worldbuilding days and residency, including some communication and online meetings in between the meeting days
We offer:
A deep dive in the world of futures studies and futures fiction creation, facilitated by BrusselAVenir and Giulia Angrisani – an Italian visual anthropologist and speculative fiction maker.
An interesting experience of collective creation, imagining and discussing possible futures.
Production costs are covered, food during the production days are included, overnight stays during the residency as well.
The end result will be a futures fiction film that will be shown in Brussels, and that will look shiny in your portfolio ✨.
Deadline
Send us a CV and a motivation letter or videohere before the 9th of March 2025.
This lab is part of the project Future Fertilisers by Erasmus Plus.
In August 2022 10 youngsters from Brussels and 10 youngsters from Slovakia gathered in Bratislava to reflect on the question: “How will young Brusseleirs and Bratislavian bond in 2035?” We traveled together to futures, we created and shared creations with the others, and we got the impossible task of making movies in 60 hours. We imagined worlds on how people will connect in 2035, amidst the increasing presence of technology. We had 60 hours, 2 cameras, 1 phone, some tape, some plastic, a reptile costume, a melon and a black box theater to turn ideas into films. With a few imagined movie concepts, we started to shoot to concretise these ideas. The outcome is 3 short films. It’s time now to share them with you:
V
One day, in 2035, a girl is faced with a difficult decision: to leave the earth and go to live in a digital universe. Choosing to live in the metaverse is attractive, but once you go, it is impossible to return. Through a poetic narration, the film reflects the inner voice of the protagonist and gives us a glimpse into the motivations that lead her to her final decision. Director: Léonard Degoulet Director of photography: Romane Solé, Róbert Hojda, Vanessa Minacapelli Scenario and Script: Róbert Hojda, Léonard Degoulet Actors: Diana Jacková, Lívia Zajaková Assistant Director: Alexandra Kurišová Sound: Róbert Hojda Editing and animation: Róbert Hojda, Diana Jacková, Blaise Turikumwe Lights: Karim Bouziane, Miloš Čohán Make-up | Decor | Props | Costumes: Monika Balková, Romane Solé, Lívia Zajaková, Silvia Vimpeľová, Roman Štefánik, Kevin Balog, Katarína Slobodová, Maty Mihalko
Revival
2035 is the year where people can live and be in the digital world. Revival is the new programme where people can be fully digital and are able to be reborn. What would a rebirth in the digital world be? Does it have any similarities with birth in the analogue world? Through radical movements, we see barriers break down in a choreography that is certainly not meant to leave us unmoved. Director: Vanessa Minacapelli Director of photography: Blaise Turikumwe Actors: Tomas Ntamashimikiro Hand actors: Alena Tomanová, Katarína Slobodová, Miloš Čohán, Monika Balková Storyboard: Diana Jacková Scenario: Tomas Ntamashimikiro, Vanessa Minacapelli and Blaise Turikumwe Sound: Vanessa Minacapelli Editing and animation: Vanessa Minacapelli Lights: Karim Bouziane, Miloš Čohán Make-up | Decor | Props | Costumes: Monika Balková, Romane Solé, Lívia Zajaková, Silvia Vimpeľová, Roman Štefánik, Kevin Balog, Katarína Slobodová, Maty Mihalko
Middling
Maty is an AI child of human parents, being judged by other AI beings due to looking too human. During a party, he is criticised for his looks and this causes him an identity crisis The film questions the ethics of creating virtual beings and their rights. Will virtual beings exist just to fulfill our desires and needs? And what about theirs? Director: Bori Szekeres Art Director: Justine Cappelle Director of photography: Tomáš Tomis Actors: Maty Mihaľko, Róbert Hojda, Silvia Vimpeľová,Tomas Ntamashimikiro, Justine Cappelle, Blaise Turikumwe, Bori Szekeres, Diana Jacková Storyboard: Bori Szekeres, Justine Cappelle Scenario: Bori Szekeres, Justine Cappelle Sound: Bori Szekeres Soundtrack: Buttechno – Pkds Editing and animation: Bori Szekeres Lights: Karim Bouziane, Miloš Čohán Make-up | Decor | Props | Costumes: Monika Balková, Romane Solé, Lívia Zajaková, Silvia Vimpeľová, Roman Štefánik, Kevin Balog, Katarína Slobodová, Maty Mihalko
Generalcreditsfor 3 films
Technician: Robert Klváček from A4 Venue: A4 – priestor súčasnej kultúry Audiovisual coach: Vinco Zierowan Scenario coach: BrusselAvenir, YouthWatch Editing assistance: Vinco Zierowan Sounddesign assistance: Vinco Zierowan Interludes sounddesign: Vinco Zierowan Audiovisual interludes: Vinco Zierowan Production: BrusselAVenir & YouthWatch Ellen Anthoni, Khushboo Balwani, Alena Tomanová, Maty Mihaľko, Alexandra Kurišová Thanks to Saji Debongnie & Gateway Traffix
These films are made as part of the project YouthFutures 2035 by BrusselAVenir and YouthWatch in the framework of the Erasmus plus funding programme. The research question of the project is “How will young Brusselèirs and Bratislavians bond in 2035?”
July 2040: a television show called “The Slessurb Show” manages to hack every device and spreads throughout the city. Slessurb – Brussels in reverse – is a city where nothing seems to work and technology invades every aspect of life. The show features a series of events and objects that move beyond the current societal dysfunctionalities and finds new ways to meet, socialise, and bond. Zinnema welcomed us for a 5-day residency adventure: together with an intergenerational and multidisciplinary group of participants, we co-created this multilingual TV show. We re-imagined the possible futures of social relations, invented suitable costumes, scenography, and music, and filmed the scenes you can discover below. From a cooking show recreating underground communal dining at times when agrifood has been taken over by 3D printers industries, to an advertisement for the Reality Rehabilitator, a device that rescues those lost in the metaverse and brings them back to reality. And let’s not forget the dating show, reviving spontaneity in a world of algorithm-based matchmaking …
The Première of the Show was broadcasted on BX1 television on 8 July 2023!
Scenography: Jan Rymenants | Editing & Post-production: Mattia Petullà | Jinglemusic: Dantel – Alexandros Lykouras | Music credits: Sound Syntesis – Margarida Albino | Graphic Design: Andrés Silva | Venue & technical support: Zinnema | Habibi Habibi animation footages: Everything videogame by artist David OReilly
A production of BrusselAVenir: Khushboo Balwani, Ellen Anthoni, Ilya Pringot, Lilia Raikhline, Annagrazia Graduato Special thanks to Chloé Luchs-Tassé from Plurality University.
This show is made as part of the project Future is now by BrusselAVenir in the framework of the Erasmus plus funding programme and as part of the artist in residency at Zinnema.
Music of, from and about the future – TrackBX2035 is here!
2035 is the time when the babies of today will be the youngsters. These babies grow up in times of pandemic, dominant presence of social media, and tons of uncertainties and insecurities brought up by technology. What will it be like to be young in Brussels in 2035? What will the music be like in Brussels in 2035? What will be the role of music in the lives of young people in 2035?
In April and May 2022 we gathered for a 8-days futures music atelier with 25 young people from all around Brussels, together with futurists and musicians. While composing and singing, we discussed futures that led to many new questions.We questioned the role of music, sounds, and genres in 2035 in Brussels. During the 8 days, different experts accompanied us physically in the process of creating this music and we had several Zoom calls with local Brussels artists to ask them whatever we wanted to know. The outcome is 3 music tracks with the sound of the future of Brussels that you can listen to now !
A production of BrusselAVenir funded by Erasmus+ under guidance of Vinco.zone and Arthur Chambry. In partnership with with Zinnema, Entree, Overkop and Dbroej. Thanks for the inspiration: Rrita Jashari, Jeunes Boss, Dance Divine, Mambele, Madcurse, SVDU, Volta. Participants: Amine Bouarfa, Younes L’Mourabiti, Ryan Salu, Genza, Gus Itali, Juicyroyce, Ramses, Ritchie, Lexie, Nemia, Akbar Bigira, Ky Rayleigh, Juiceisdope, Moussko, Sunray_helena
Tram 20.3.0 Talks are audio fiction stories narrated by Tram 7 about its passengers in the year 2030. The six stories paint a picture of everyday interactions between Brusseleirs. People that meet each other on the public transport and open up about their changing lives.
Created for and by Brussels citizens, the stories of Tram 20.3.0 Talks are the result of one year process of participatory futuring and co-creation of various visions of the future for Brussels. By answering the question “How will we share the city amongst each other in Brussels in 2030?“, about 500 people imagined near futures during the workshops organised by BrusselAVenir. This, together with discussions in the community, research, interviews with experts and discussions with citizens, is what made up the different layers & features of the six different stories.
As the omniscient narrator, tram 7 travels through time and into different stories, each story tells us about different encounters. During their conversations we come into contact with various elements of possible futures: new ways to communicate, the new material reality of the tram, the route, the different stops and the local stories of the neighbourhoods, a host or hostess who welcomes passengers, all with the aim of triggering action to make these imagined futures a reality. The objective is to show what sharing the city could look like in 2030 and how it can trigger solidarity, a sense of belonging, linguistic and cultural pluralism… and how, together, we can create new stories.
Conception and coordination: Ellen Anthoni, Khushboo Balwani, Islin-Lucrezia De Fraye, Mattéo Scognamiglio, Annagrazia Graduato and Ilya Pringot Editors: Matesa von Hildebrand (English), Islin-Lucrezia De Fraye (French) and Ellen Anthoni (Dutch) Voice actors: Joey Wright (English), Line Pillet (Dutch), Islin-Lucrezia De Fraye (French) Graphic design: Ellen Anthoni and Bram van Bree Installation design: Jan Rymenants and Koray Sels Sound artist: Zino Moons Recording and technical support: BNA-BBOT Special thanks to STIB-MIVB, Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie, Bruxelles Mobility for their support
‘20:30 Bruxsels Talks: A Talk Show of the Future’, is a scripted radio show set in the year 2030. In a live performance on 23 January 2020, Brusseleirs were transported to a future where Brussels has made an inclusive and sustainable transition that takes care of its diverse population on both an ecological and social level. This future fiction piece is a twofold attempt to make the vastness and complexity of an eco-social future understandable and relatable through storytelling, while also demonstrating the role of media, such as radio, in the process of sustainable transition. Over the past six months BrusselAVenir gathered content for the show through several ‘LabAVenirs’ participatory workshops, specialist interviews, and collective imagining of Brussels in the year 2030.
In this fun and entertaining show you will hear people from the future sharing about their lives, hopes and fears. There will be reminiscent throwbacks of the past (that is today) through sound archives; contemporary breaking news; live music; and interviews with influential members of 2030’s society, all with the aim to trigger action to make this plausible future a reality!
