CROSSING WIRES 2026

Free entry.

Come and discover the works of Anna Safiatou Touré, Anyuta Wiazemsky Snauwaert, Marcel Top, Meriem Steiner and Philippe Braquenier in the imposing building M, and stay for a drink at the Usquare Buvette.

In French
Free admission

Philippe Braquenier will present the outcome of his Democracy Lab residency at Ohme with BrIAS. The cathedral uses the “Dark Enlightenment” philosophy – a reactionary ideology that views liberal democracy as a failing system destined to collapse – as a lens to examine how democratic institutions are quietly losing their integrity, taking Brussels as a case study.

During this presentation, Philippe will walk the audience through his work and invite them to explore the installation: black-and-white photographs of iconic Brussels landmarks : the Palace of Justice, the Senate, media outlets, with which the public is invited to interact.

Free entry.

This event is bilingual: Dutch & French.
Places are limited – registration required.

AI is emerging as a new actor in the making of cities. It is gradually being integrated into urban professions and citizen consultation processes. This workshop brings together public administrations, policymakers, civil society and field professionals to collectively examine this revolution: how can AI concretely facilitate or transform local democracy in Brussels? How might it improve the flow of information, public decision-making, or the ways in which citizens are involved in urban choices?

As part of the programme, we will have the pleasure of welcoming Giulia Sandri from ECAS, who will open the session with a short introduction to the concept of local democracy. FARI will then present a classification of the main AI applications currently used across Europe in relation to local democracy. Finally, participants will work in roundtable discussions to imagine and debate which applications could be most useful for Brussels.
As places are limited and to ensure a diversity of participants, applications will be reviewed based on the profiles sought and their balance.

To participate, please send your registration request, specifying your professional (e.g. administration/private sector) or associative profile to Marie-des-Neiges de Lantsheere: Marie.Des.Neiges.De.Lantsheere@vub.be .
Organised by Brussels Academy and FARI.

In English.
Free. Between 10 and 20 participants – registration required.

Artist Marcel Top invites you to a workshop to discover how video surveillance software works. Together, we will learn how algorithms detect emotions and movements by testing them on our own faces and bodies. Then, in groups of three or four, you will use your creativity to try and outsmart these programs. Create masks, paint faces, and use other methods straight from your imagination: come and try to take back control of the algorithm!

⟶ REGISTER HERE

In English.
Free admission.

Technologies are reshaping our democracies — in our cities, on battlefields, in public space. Between promises of participation and risks of control, how are they concretely transforming our relationship to democracy? An evening of presentations and discussion, somewhere between dystopia and hope.

Researchers, artists and practitioners will explore how AI and digital technologies are transforming the very foundations of democratic life — from the manipulation of information to mass surveillance, from autonomous weapons systems to new tools for citizen participation. Come with your questions, your doubts and your ideas.

⟶ REGISTER HERE

Free entry.

This event is bilingual: Dutch & French.
Free admission – registration required.

At a time when democracies are facing mounting pressures, the role of art and culture in their preservation and reinvention has never felt more essential. In Brussels — a world city of remarkable cultural vitality — this question takes on particular urgency: while artistic richness here is abundant, it remains unevenly accessible, and the balances that sustain it are now being put to the test.

How can the cultural sector remain a space of freedom, inclusion, and democratic resilience?

Brussels, a culture for whom?
Access to culture as a fundamental right. Despite mediation efforts, large segments of Brussels’ population remain on the margins of cultural institutions and projects. Who are these “invisible” people in cultural participation? How do social, linguistic, and geographic barriers reinforce one another? The Forum will give a platform to grassroots organizations that every day devise strategies to ensure that the right to culture is not a privilege, but a civic reality.

⟶ MORE INFO & REGISTRATION

Organised by RABKO in collaboration with OHME, BrIAS and GRESAC

This event is bilingual: Dutch & French.
Free admission – registration required.

Safeguarding our freedoms
Artistic autonomy as a vehicle for democratic freedom and resistance. In a context of rising inward-looking discourse and an increasingly restrictive political climate, culture frequently finds itself on the front line. Targeted budget pressures, challenges to certain themes (gender, decolonialism, migration), and latent forms of censorship: warning signals are multiplying across Europe and on our doorstep. How can we protect the independence of artists and venues in Brussels? How can culture serve as a solid bulwark for democracy?

⟶ MORE INFO & REGISTRATION

Organised by RABKO in collaboration with OHME, BrIAS and GRESAC

Free admission – registration required
This event is in English

The Brussels Institute for Advanced Studies invites you to its Season Closing Event, marking the end of the first year of its current programme, “Democratic Governance: Challenges and Innovations.”

Over the past year, the programme has brought together 10 Senior Fellows, chosen among leading scholars and practitioners to explore some of the most pressing challenges facing democratic governance today: from polarization and populism to the impacts of artificial intelligence, as well as questions of sustainability, inequality, and inclusion.

This closing event offers an opportunity to reflect on what we have accomplished and learned from these highly productive and successful months, as well as continuing to engage in conversation on the future of democratic governance in a rapidly changing world.

Join us for an evening of celebration as we conclude this chapter of the programme and get ready for the start of the second year of this Season in autumn of this year.

⟶ REGISTER HERE

In English.
Free entry.

Join our colleague and curator Camilla Colombo for a one-hour tour of the exhibition, as she guides you through the intentions, techniques and stories behind each work and artist.

In English
Free . Small Group (max 25). Registration Required.

A participatory workshop exploring the relationship between performance, democracy and public speaking.

The workshop invites participants to explore how movement, speech, writing, and artistic practice can open new ways of engaging with democratic life. Led by artist and researcher Danae Theodoridou the workshop took place at BriAS in the past weeks.  

On the 29th of May from 18:00 – 20:00, we open the doors and invite you to come, think and act along! You’ll get the opportunity to become a participant of our workshop for a moment and experiment with us through simple speaking and moving tasks that aim to reflect on the way we think and act as citizens.

⟶ REGISTER HERE

This workshop is organised within the framework of VUB Kennisnesten in collaboration with BrIAS and with the financial support of Innoviris.

In French, Dutch, English or Russian

One-to-one encounter for max 3 people: One participant at 19:00, one at 20:00 and one at 21:00.
Reservation required.

Artist Anyuta Wiazemsky Snauwaert invites you to a rare and intimate encounter – but only three people will have this opportunity!

In 2022, after living in Belgium for ten years, Anyuta obtained Belgian nationality. The moment was reduced to signing a document declaring respect for the Belgian Constitution and laws. There was no ceremony, no collective acknowledgement, no ritual marking the transition. From this experience emerged verBELGingsfeest: an ongoing artistic project that imagines what a welcoming ritual for new Belgians could be, and asks what Belgian identity means today in a society shaped by migration, multiple belongings, and cultural complexity.

For Crossing Wires, Anyuta offers something unique: direct, unmediated connection with the artist and her work. In three individual waffle goûters (19:00, 20:00, 21:00), she prepares and shares a waffle while engaging in a one-to-one conversation about nationality, belonging, hospitality, and the kinds of gestures or rituals that can create a sense of connection between people. This is a format intentionally designed for intimacy – a chance to experience the work through personal exchange.

Each conversation lasts approximately 45 minutes. Participation is free, but reservation is required – and spaces are extremely limited. First come, first served!

⟶ Reserve your 19:00 waffle encounter

⟶ Reserve your 20:00 waffle encounter

⟶ Reserve your 21:00 waffle encounter

Join us for drinks and music at the Usquare buvette. We welcome Filipino Belgian producer Unos b2b Bon Public (co-founder of Magma collective) and VTT, with roots tracing back to Vietnam, currently making waves in the eclectic scene. The sets will take place right in front of the beautiful Hall M, where you can also visit the exhibition.

Free entry.

In English.
Free entry.

Join our colleague Charlotte for a one-hour tour of the exhibition, as she guides you through the intentions, techniques and stories behind each work and artist.

In English
Free · Small group (max. 12)
Registration required 

Join Brussels-based artist and risography specialist Meriem Steiner for a playful, hands-on exploration of how patterns can speak.

Meriem’s research project Surface of Meaning explores how a narrative can be translated into abstract visual forms through a series of rules and repetitions : building a system where the structure of a text becomes a surface.

In this workshop, we’ll work through that process together. Starting from a given text, we’ll translate it into a set of simple rules and build a shared modular grid using geometric shapes. Rather than representing information, we’ll explore how it can be embedded within the structure of a pattern itself — creating non-figurative compositions where meaning becomes part of the surface. The resulting patterns may be readable to those who know the rules, or remain purely visual.

This workshop is a starting point for exploring how meaning can emerge through constraints, repetition, and modular systems — and concludes with printing your compositions using risography.

No prior experience needed, just curiosity.

⟶ REGISTER HERE

Free entry.