stoemp-‐lecture `brusselse scènes, bruxelles en scène`

info@brampenninckx.be www.brampenninckx.be 0473 39 41 49 STOEMP-­‐LECTURE ‘BRUSSELSE SCÈNES, BRUXELLES EN SCÈNE’ Brussels is my frontline! How well can you really know a big city that you have lived and worked in for years? To answer this question, I decided to start exploring my own city. "Brusselse scènes, Bruxelles en scène" is the result of this exploration. It is a photo documentary about the urban collection of 19 municipalities, known under the collective name of Brussels. Welcome, bienvenue, welkom to the Stoemp-­‐lecture, All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
1 A row erupted when the members of Magnum voted to allow Martin Parr a full membership to the photo agency. When Parr started his plea with ‘The supermarket is my fronline’, the late Henri Cartier Bresson nearly had a heart attack. Philip Jones Griffith, an icon of war photography, said Parrs pictures made him sick and he wanted to throw up on them. Parr was narrowly elected with one spare vote, but he later became one of the leading members of the agency. His view was that a photographer is more aware of his surroundings when he’s exploring his own environment instead of a faraway country, at home his look is less clouded than abroad, because “L’exotique ça pique” Years ago I worked as an animator on summer camps for children from Brussels. These kids, aged between 2,5 and 6 years, could tell me everything about the latest videogames and cartoons. But what surprised me was that they where easily bored and preferred watching television instead of playing outdoors. When I was their age, I explored my garden and collected ants in a glass jar. We took these kids on a discovery of their own backyard, looking for insects and flowers, making music with dried leaves and small branches. At the end of the holidays I observed a kid looking for something, when I asked what he was doing, he replied ‘collecting bugs in my cup’. All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
2 Brussels never ceases to amaze me, in both positive and negative ways. When I became the victim of a brutal robbery in the Matonge district in 2000, I wasn't able to take photographs in the streets of Brussels without being afraid. Some time later, the municipality of Vorst asked me to do a photo report about the Saint-­‐Antoine neighbourhood, one of the poorest neighbourhoods of the Brussels Capital Region. Again I was confronted with aggression. Instead of giving in to my fears, I took the decision to face them by exploring and photographing the city. All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
3 In an era of instant communication, photographs are often only viewed for mere seconds on the screen of a smartphone. I want to champion slow photography, which takes the time, necessary to fully understand a subject. ‘A picture is worth more then a thousand words’ … provided we take the time to read and understand the message. In an ideal world, photography would have stopped violence for breakfast, halted inequality for lunch and convinced the sceptics of the dangers of global warming for dinner. We all know that an image isn’t that powerful. Though I believe that it’s the duty of every committed photographer to keep on creating these thousand words stories, written with light. Divided in chapters I learned from mistakes, made by my predecessors. In 1955 Eugene W Smith, a renowned documentary photographer, received the assignment to photograph the city of Pittsburgh. The project was supposed to last three weeks, it took him three years. The final selection of more than 2000 photos was never shown as a whole. His portrait of the city was split up and the photo’s are gathering dust in archives of collectors and museums all over the world. Since 2009, I have been wandering through the streets of this urban labyrinth, and I haven't been able to reach the end of the maze just yet. Due to the complex nature of the city, the All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
4 project is split into different chapters. Each part is a stand-­‐alone story that tells you something about the city in its own way. ‘Bonsoir Bruxelles’ After sunset, the city transforms. Offices, shops, schools and parking lots stand empty. The night shift takes over. Ladies of the night take their places behind their windows, night shops open their doors. The taxi drivers hurriedly smoke one last cigarette before the start of their shift. The supreme rule of King Car reaches its height, but once rush hour has passed, its domination slowly ebbs away. In some places, the other team, those on two legs or on two wheels, temporarily take control. Daylight is replaced by all sorts of artificial lights, colours fading to dark orange or blue-­‐
green. A little back lane turns into a dark hiding place where in our imagination, all kinds of dangerous characters might lurk. After dusk, a row of identical grey apartment buildings is transformed into a spectacle of colours and lights, once the residents get home and turn on their lights. The action of the scene fades away, the actors disappear to the background, but the traces remain. All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
5 All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
6 ‘Brükselisations’ Brussels is the number one city in Europe for demonstrations, with three to four of them taking place in the city every single day. They exist in all manners of shapes and sizes, and some demonstrators come from all over the planet to state their opinions to the rest of the world, usually simply by chanting slogans. When tempers run high, the posturing between demonstrators and police only rarely causes any kind of actual violent outbursts. Sometimes it almost seems like law enforcement and demonstrators are negotiating just where exactly the line is. But when this line is crossed by either party, it opens the floodgates and everyone gets punched. Besides demonstrations, countless events are organised that don't always get the media attention they deserve. These picnics, carnivals, parties, Facebook events and processions are nonetheless just as interesting as the demonstrations. They highlight the more cheerful and friendly face of the city. These forgotten scenes often tell a different story than the photographs published by the media. They counter the image of the rough, impersonal metropolis which many people imagine Brussels to be. All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
7 All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
8 Scenes with a caption The photos don’t always need a caption, words can distract the spectator. But some of the scenes do need some background information. If it rains in Paris it drips in Brussels 12 March 2012 in Kuregem a religious fanatic murdered a Shiite imam, because the poor man and a dictator in Syria shared the same belief. He was the first victim of a terrorist attack inspired by an extreme conservative and narrow-minded form of Islam. Like most of the victims of this kind of terrorism, he was a muslim. And I haven’t seen any soldiers guarding mosques. To this day I can still hear his daughters voice ‘Why you daddy?’. All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
9 A windmill, a nephew of those chased by Don Quichote, stands in the valley of the Woluwe. The windmill originates from the province of Henegouwen. In the 1950 doctor Raoul Duthoit brought the mill to Sint-­‐Lambrechts-­‐Woluwe. Historically the valley possessed numerous mills but they all used hydropower. The biggest disadvantage of its location; there is not enough wind in the valley to propel the blades. The mill awaits his Godot and like the play it will never show up. All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
10 The air is filled with a mixture of pepper spray and smoke. The dairy farmers are angry; their tractors are blocking every entrance of the European parliament. A cat and mouse game unfolds between them and the police. To this day I’m not sure who was chasing whom. While most photographers and cameramen where focused on cats and mouses, a farmer from Henegouwen suddenly appeared waving the Belgian flag. The scene lasted a couple of seconds and then the police charged, but a photographer only needs a fraction of a second. An image is not an exact reproduction of reality, it can fool you. The only reality you’re looking at is the one the photographer wants you to see. Even before the age of Photoshop,
objects and people where added or removed. Leon Trotski could tell you all about it, if he was still breathing. All to often clichés where used to confirm the cliché. I was fed up with the stereotype image of Molenbeek that is protayed by certain media and politicians. When I passed through the Scheutbos parc I was fascinated by the unique view over the city. A couple of months and centimetres snow later I returned to photograph the anti-­‐cliché image. All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
11 When football club Anderlecht played in Bilbao, a photo appeared in the newspapers and in social media of a Basque supporter who was urinating on the Anderlecht fans. When the Bilbao team came to Brussels the hard core fans wanted to teach them a lesson. After some scuffles in the city centre, the police decided to separate the two sides. The visitors where not allowed to eat Belgian fries during half-time, the only customers of the fries-­‐stall wore blue uniforms. They weren’t amused that they were being photographed while eating a ‘big one with mayonnaise’. An ID-­‐check and a ‘we are going to arrest you and erase all your photo’s’ threat later, I was still taking pictures. The funny thing is that the best picture of the series, has no police officer in it. All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
12 A week before the concert of ‘Tokio Hotel’, the first tents started to appear in front of the concert hall of Vorst Nationaal. The hard core fans were girls in their late teens, early twenties, without their boyfriends – the girls ordered the guys to stay at home. When I arrived, 3 days before d-­‐day, more than a hundred girls camped on a car park in precarious conditions. A temporary mini-­‐society arose, with it’s own rules and customs. One girl gave every newcomer a torn piece of paper with a number on it, to prevent a stampede when the doors of the concert hall would open. A nurse trainee and devoted ‘Tokio Hotel’ fan, cared for the sick girls. It was a peculiar combination of a girl scout camp and a hen night, doused with alcohol. But I’m sure they had the time of their life. To be continued… The photo documentary isn’t finished; every two to three years, a new section will be released. The choice to only show part of the photo documentary was carefully considered. Bringing all the chapters together means that a considerable amount of the necessary nuances would be lost. It would take away the diversity, all the different rough and delicate facets of Brussels, the true richness of the city. All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
13 ‫ﺷﺎﺭرﻉع‬, straat, calle, street, sokak, strada, mitaani, ulica, stradă’ is an exploration of the streets, squares and parks of the city. These public spaces represent the face of the city. These 'urban arteries' of the city are often colourful and lively, but sadly sometimes grey and bleak, an assault on our sight and smell. Rue, All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
14 ‘En route’ Hundreds of thousands of people use public transportation every day to get around in the city. These coincidental companions, brought together by their itinerary, share moments together on the same metro, tram, or bus. A spontaneous encounter isn't impossible, but mostly the interaction is kept to sharing glances. The illuminated screen of a smartphone creates an extra barrier to hide behind. The goal of the ride is the journey. All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
15 Photography goes Growfunding Photography needs the courage to break out of the box and travel different roads. The images were taken in the streets, parks and squares of Brussels, and that is where they belong. Poster-­‐size photographs will be placed on billboards, walls and buildings in 19 separate locations in the city. Places where people like Abdel-­‐Kader, Rosita, Jan, Claudette and Boniface will be able to see them every day. All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
16 The project will be financed through Growfunding. The organisation brought crowdfunding to Brussels. Not by simply copy pasting the concept, they flavoured it with a distinctive Brussels sauce. When they started, in March 2013, they gave local ideas a platform where they could prosper. A few other projects financed through Growfunding are: ParckFarm, a greenhouse next to Thurn & Tassis, Cultureghem an urban living room in the Abattoir, BXLNoord Gestript a lifesize comic in Brussel Noord. The active participation of the public in financing the project will give it more support and exposure. If you want to, you can surf to Growfunding and also deposit a donation. In exchange you will receive a nice gift. You can also inform your friends and family about the streetexpo. . If we succeed in gathering the necessary funds, the street-­‐expo will start the 20th of September. Because this is the carless Sunday, you can relax and enjoy visiting the various locations in the Brussels-­‐Capital Region by bicycle or on foot. Who knows? You might just discover a part of Brussels that you never knew about. How well do I know Brussels? The more I walk through its streets, the more I realize I will never fully know and understand the city. The goal of the photo documentary is not to find the answer; because then the mystery surrounding this urban labyrinth will be lost. This never-­‐ending search is my motivation to continue this project, because in Brussels there is more that meets the eye. All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
17 Links •
•
•
•
•
http://brussels.brampenninckx.be/ https://www.growfunding.be/bxl/streetexpo https://www.facebook.com/StreetPhotoExpoBrussels Google maps of the street expo Subscribe to the newsletter All rights reserved © Bram Penninckx
18