Rue de la Victoire (Saint-Gilles, Bruxelles)
Victory for health!

In these delicate times when it is necessary to be attentive to ourselves and to others, we would like to invite several artists to propose an artistic action/reflection starting from our common situation of confinement and its consequences on the notion of public space.

VICTORY FOR HEALTH is an initiative by inhabitants of the Rue de la Victoire in Brussels (in the disctrict of Saint-Gilles, Belgium) for World Health Day. For this special day, we proposed you to participate from your window in a collective and creative action.

We declare that Rue de la Victoire becomes from today a departure point for the propagation of solidarity. We invite all inhabitants of the street - and all those who wish to do so, from here and elsewhere -, to join forces and deploy their creativity by participating in this event.

Here are many ways to get involved:
- Write your messages on banners (made with a sheet, paper or cardboard…). Don't hesitate to make some for your neighbours! Here are some ideas for messages: https://urlz.fr/chIP
- Install banners on your windows, balconies, front doors... already in the morning of Tuesday 7th April.
- Learn the lyrics of the "Song of Remedies" and sing loud and clear, all together, on Tuesday 7th April at 8pm (see the karaoke version on Loop-s page).
- Share the event with the hashtag #health4all and/or #healthforall
- Take photos, make videos, record yourself during the event to make the action visible. Send your files so we can edit a film -> victoirepourlasante@protonmail.com.
- Help us to mobilise the whole Rue de la Victoire and/or your own street!

This initiative has been imagined as a response to the campaign "Our health is not for sale" of the collective of health workers LA SANTÉ EN LUTTE and the European Health Network. Through this action, we wish to support health workers (carers, cleaners, nurses, doctors, stretcher-bearers, etc...) and become spokespersons for their demands! The liberalisation of the sector has led to a decline in the quality of care. It is no longer acceptable to ask public services to do more with less in order to increase profitability for the benefit of private interests.

Thanks to Loop-s and Cifas Asbl for their support in the realisation of this event. Thanks to Anna Muchin for the composition of the song Flatten the curve.

Thanks to Radio Panik for helping us to broadcast it. Thanks to Réseau Ades, Rise for Climate Belgium, La Bellone, La Maison du livre for their support to the communication of this event.

To support the Collective LA SANTÉ EN LUTTE: https://growfunding.be/fr/bxl/lasanteenlutte

Link to the international call for action during the World Health Day: https://www.facebook.com/events/549550719025438

More info : victoirepourlasante@protonmail.com

Confined Public Space

CIFAS has been interested by artists working in public space for 10 years, thus investing the city as an open space for reflection and action, organising workshops, debates and artistic interventions.

In this public space, the role of the artist is complex and varied: disrupting our aesthetic habits, developing tools for social cohesion, contributing to urban renewal projects, etc... The artistic strategies to be deployed in the public space meet necessities and constraints that are very different from the spaces usually reserved for art (theatre or exhibition spaces).

Today, however, with the COVID-19 crisis, public space is suffering: it is no longer possible to move around, cross each other, or get together. A social shock that we all experience, confined to our private spheres. So how do we make art at a time when everyone fears for their health and that of their loved ones and wonders when and how it will be possible to return to urban life? Is there an art of confinement? What artistic strategies should be deployed in order to create in this context? What has become of public space today?

In these delicate times when it is necessary to be attentive to ourselves and to others, we would like to invite several artists to propose an artistic action/reflection starting from our common situation of confinement and its consequences on the notion of public space.

If you do not receive an email confirming we have received your application, please contact Cifas: