Weave Cureghem

Over the course of a week, we occupied a small area overlooked by the council stuck between the Cureghem Bridge and the Senne Canal. The goal was to reactivate the space while raising residents’ awareness of their neighbourhood, collectivity and a do-it-yourself approach. I provided basic tools built for the occasion such as a ‘pipe guillotine’ made from kitchen knives and wood scraps. Plastic sheaths were salvaged from the Citylek factory buildings in Charleroi. Installed along the length of the canal, our encampment attracted the curiosity of passersby, who in turn were taught a bead-threading technique. At the end of the week, we had woven enough material to construct a roof, and a small shelter thus pointed towards the sky like the ephemeral marquee of Cureghem Bridge. Between architecture and craftsmanship, my practice here deployed an experimental, convivial playground to embellish the area and celebrate summer while offering shade and a fresh perspective. Its micro-architecture spontaneously delimited a zone of refuge in the middle of an urban and sometimes hostile area, opening up a new, private space for possible encounters.

*” Hands on the canvas, a roof overhead”