Bienvenue / Welkom in Anderlecht, Nicolas Mouzet Tagawa

Action, performance, video (16 min)
Anderlecht
24.05.2023

Note by Nicolas Mouzet Tagawa

There was this intention note that the three of us, Evelyne, Norma, and myself, conscientiously wrote after a week of investigating in Anderlecht, more precisely Cureghem and Saint Guidon.

This intention note was formulated from an observation we made, linked with the theme chosen for us: the “super multicultural superparty” seemed difficult to put into place. Different people living and working in Anderlecht seem to want the superparty to be more multicultural in the part of the commune they live or work in. Certain areas or streets of the commune seem to act as borders that divide it into squares.

We also discovered that twenty-five years ago, a “Bienvenue/Welkom in Anderlecht banner had been hung at the beginning of the Wayez street, just after the canal bridge that separates the Cureghem district from this street. The Cureghem district was symbolically orphaned. Isolated, ostracized by the large municipality of Anderlecht.

We had all the elements for our project: a film, taking place on a historic bridge in Anderlecht, the Canal Bridge, which would show a great game of tug-of-war, a kind of social satire that would humorously point out the tense relationships between different territories in the same municipality.

This is what I was asked to do.

I therefore went to meet different people, non-profit organisations, who live or work in this part of the municipality of Anderlecht. Between Cureghem and Saint Guidon. I was looking for residents, workers, important people for the area to play in the film.

I discovered another project, another party, another multicultural. That of the exchanges, the discussions that the possibility, that the hypothesis of the film allowed... What can you do with a rope? What else can we do, together, than a competition?

On Wednesday 24th May, Sara, Anne Claire, Dada, the rope and I will go to the Place de la Résistance from 2.00 to 8.00 pm.

Rather than a performance, I prefer to talk about a time.
A time during which all three of us question our presence.
We will have our video in our pockets.
We will share it. And then... I can't predict what will happen.
Maybe we'll bond. Maybe we'll shoot. Untie, bound, jump...
Maybe not.

But we will be there, at the meeting.
Multi us, multi everything.
A small party.

Video Bienvenue/Welkom in Anderlecht

The video is also shown at Cultureghem and at the café La Fourmilière (Rue d'Aumale,19c) from the 25th May to the 8th June.

Cultureghem:
Monday and Friday 9.00am > 2.00pm Tuesday and Wednesday 9.00am > 4.30pm

Credits

By Sara Sampelayo and Nicolas Mouzet Tagawa
  Based on an intention note written by Evelyne Huytebroeck, Norma Prendergast and Nicolas Mouzet Tagawa
  With a rope, Dada (Daflow), Marcel Jacobs, Anne-Claire Kelam, Ariane Sadowski, Eden Shriki, El-Ron Shriki, Norma Prendergast, Evelyne Huytebroeck, Yvette Piret, Claire Rappin, Bastien Montes and Damien Trapletti
  Production by the Cifas
  A collaboration with L’âge de la tortue and the Centre culturel d’Anderlecht Escale du Nord
  We would like to thank Cultureghem, Anne Watthee, Benoit Leclercq, Roberto Roméo, Philippe Voglaire, Nadera Chilah, Thomas Griffet, Adèle Pion, Cibely Ayres Silva, Solange Bontemps, Ariane Sadowski, Yvette Piret, Joëlle Piquet, Khadija El Maachi, Peter Clasen, Koen De Leeuw, Olivier Roisin, Mathilde Maillard, Gilbard and Anna Czapski.
  In the context of the European Cooperation project Secondary Residence, coordinated by L’âge de la tortue and co-funded by the European commission (Erasmus+ program)