The Aqueduct Project
I hesitate for a second, then walk across the square, aiming for the gap between the two large groups of homeless people. A woman comes right up to me, tells me my tattercoat is strange but pretty; takes a ribbon and runs it through her fingers; asks me what I'm doing. Twenty unwashed faces are watching me. I tell them I'm trying to get to the river, and I keep walking. No one follows me. There's no shelter or fresh water but they are living here anyway. If you don't have somewhere to go, where can you be?
An aqueduct is an architectural device for guiding water from one place to another. My research takes this concept as the source for investigation of public space through the movement of water. Using walking, mapping and filmmaking, and a theoretical raft built from scenography, performance studies, urban design, archaeology and biology, I dived into the streets of Brussels, studying public spaces as conduits, as rivers and as islands. The research revealed the depths of the performative relationship between the movement of water and streets as public space: the flows of people and water, emotional and bodily connections with the city, and the turbulent relationship between public space and places of shelter.
Special Thanks
Infinite thanks to: my coach David and tutors Danae and Heleen, and Ulla and Xenia backstage; my dear PPS collaborators in mischief Anne, Dimitri, Rita and Vittorio; Sephora Gauci, Loranne Vella and all at Barumbara Collective; Laura Sobral; Anja Reinhart; Benjamin Andréo; Jim Clayburgh and Johanne Saunier.
