We Willow

 

Ongoing project

Place Antoine Delporte

 

We Willow is a project of (re)connection and creativity over a 5 year period around the weeping willow located opposite les passagées (remarkable tree of the Bruxelles-Capitale Region). This tree is a true symbol of life, standing on the axis between Saint-Gilles prison and the Town Hall.

 

We want to give life to this unused space, located just opposite the prison’s entrance gates, so that it becomes an epicenter for reflection and poetic action on how to live together, in connection with an urban prison facing us. We are bringing together people from different backgrounds, generations (from schoolchildren to the elderly), as well as residents and curious passers-by. A first gathering in 2024 will inaugurate the space.

 

We Willow aims to

  • create a space for conversation, observation and reflection
  • reconnect the neighborhood to the prison
  • open up a space where locals can express themselves freely and publicly
  • invite artists, thinkers, poets, designers… to create and think around the themes of the prison, public space and the link to the living.

 

© Prison de Saint-Gilles 2010, la Ezwa

© Speakers’ Corner 1993, Philip Wolmuth

© Dexia Banque postcard collection