performance, project, workshop
Topote de Acahual Cultivating a Fandango
6 April-4 May 2025 / Birminghamstraat 30, 1080 Molenbeek
🌴🌴Cultivating a Fandango is an invitation to get to know each other, make verses and play music together. Closing moment on Sunday May 4th from 12h30 till 18h00. Everyone is invited to collaborate, cook, eat, dance, play. Bring your instrument!
🌴🌴🌴Grow verses and get to know each other.
Read more..information, lecture, research center, seminar, workshop
COLLECTIVE LEARNING
3 May 2025 / La Bodega, Birminghamstraat 30, 1080 Molenbeek
a transmission moment with One Field Fallow & Topote de Acahual
COLLECTIVE LEARNING
a transmission moment with One Field Fallow & Topote de Acahual
Saturday May 3rd – 18h00-21h00
FREE SOUP & DRINKS
>>> a.pass new space: La Bodega, Birminghamstraat 30, 1080 Molenbeek
To share part of the research One Field Fallow developed during the a.pass residency we organise a public transmission moment open to everyone and to invite Topote de Acahual, the second collective in the residency program, to be with us.
Selection of the third research residency collective
“(Lying Fallow) is, above all, a way of providing a frame within which a group of people might work through some ideas together. It’s a simple premise but feels urgent and exciting to me, because it invites the possibility of great change without determining how that change might happen, where it might come from, or what it might be.” Rajni Shah
a.pass has been inviting collectives for a 2-month paid collective research residency. In total there have been three rounds, for this third and last round, with deadline February 28, we have made the selection of the third (and last) collective!
In total we received 156 applications, our jury went through all the applications and selected 3 collectives with whom they had a conversation. Eventually, after listening to all 3 collectives, the jury (Hendrik De Smedt, Simone Basani and Lucia Palladino for a.pass together with the 3 external jury members Ash Bulayev, Ichraf Nasri and Kopano Maroga) has decided to give the opportunity for this 3rd call to the collective Arquitectura Expandida, a collective based in Bogotá since 2010, working at the intersection of art, architecture, urbanism, and activism with a focus on the right to the city.
Read more..information, project
BARULLO de HOJAS
17 April-1 May 2025 / Birminghamstraat 30
Study Group by Topote de Acahual
Coming 3 Thursdays April 17& 24 and May 1st – from 11h00 till 13h00
Rue Birminghamstraat 30, 1080 Molenbeek
– Thursday April 17
– Thursday April 24
– Thursday May 1
Let’s put a bunch of leafs together and shake them 🍂
Short texts for Spanish-speaking people in Brussels (but open to everyone) who are interested in talking about ecology and rest. There will be fresh water and hammocks.
Send an ‘🌱’ by email to topotedeacahual [AT] gmail.com and receive info & pdf’s
information, project
Spring Drink
21 March 2025
with a.pass and nadine
March 21st at 18h30
rue de Manchesterstraat 17, Molenbeek
Let’s celebrate SPRING ! nadine and a.pass are very happy to invite you for another Spring Drink! This time our friends from nadine will launch a new cycle of WAB (Wandering Arts Bienniale) and they will celebrate with us the end of our time at Manchesterstraat 17.
PROGRAM
– 18:30: doors open
– 19:00: work in progress (performance) by Helena Dietrich
– 20:00: work in progress (installation) by Annika Katja Boll
– Launch of a new WAB cycle (Wandering Arts)
information
a.pass moved
From Manchester to Birmingham… but still in Molenbeek! a.pass is moving to a new location.
From Manchester to Birmingham… but still in Molenbeek! a.pass has moved to a new location, from now on a.pass resides at La Bodega, Birminghamstraat 30, 1080 Molenbeek! We share the building with some other art organisations (Habemus Papam, Entropie Productions, Impulsion Dance, ABOUTT and some individual artists). Check out the new space during the events organised by our 2nd collective TOPOTE DE ACAHUAL, or explore the space during Kunstenfestivaldesarts in May.
a.pass Open Call #3
9 January-28 February 2025
Open Call #3 for collective research residency
“(Lying Fallow) is, above all, a way of providing a frame within which a group of people might work through some ideas together. It’s a simple premise but feels urgent and exciting to me, because it invites the possibility of great change without determining how that change might happen, where it might come from, or what it might be.” Rajni Shah
This is the third and final open call launched by a.pass for a 2 month paid artistic research residency for collectives.
This open call is to find a collective having an artistic practice that is research-based and active already at the time of submitting the application.
The selected collective is already busy with, or interested in, organising a sustainable ‘laying fallow’ period, observing what happens there, and in relation to other periods of production/development/presentation. Also, the collective wishes to share with others the research tools and methodologies used during/for the fallow period, and transmitting what was found fruitful during the residency.
The selected collective is ideally made of 5 persons (min.3 max. 10 – not individuals nor duos).
Selection of the second research residency collective
“In a world in constant motion there is an ecological imperative to embrace the value of idleness” Michael Chieffalo and Julia Smachylo in Lying fallow: the value of idleness
a.pass has been inviting collectives, existing or newly established ones on the occasion of this call, for a 2-month paid collective research residency. In total there will be three rounds, for this second round, with deadline October 13, we have made the selection of the second group!
In total we received 116 applications, our jury went through all the applications and selected 3 collectives with whom they had a conversation. Eventually, after listening to all 3 collectives, the jury (Goda Palekaite, Hendrik De Smedt (both from a.pass board/GA), together with One Field Fallow (the 1st residency collective) and the 3 external jury members Ash Bulayev, Damla Ekin Tokel and Kopano Maroga) has decided to give the opportunity for this 2nd call to the collective Topote de Acahual, the artistic and pedagogical branch of the ngo Vivero de Tebanca based in Tebanca, Los Tuxtlas rainforest, Mexico.
-, information, lecture, performative publishing, research center
One Field Fallow OPEN SCHOOL
16 October-29 January 2025 / Onderrichtsstraat 60, 1000 Brussels
Open School III : Holding Space: In- and Exclusivity
In the context of their Collective Research Residency, One Field Fallow introduces their OFF Open School – a series of five sessions diving into the internal questions they’ve been dealing with the past two years. For every Open School, they will dive into one topic. Each time another collectove is invited to bring material to the conversation. Every Open School will be a dialogue between OFF, the invited collective and the audience.
Read more..information, performative publishing, project, workshop
AM I EVIL ? – Brussels Edition
19 October 2024 / rue Manchesterstraat 17, Molenbeek
Public sharing moment
Am I Evil?* Brussels Edition
by Simone Basani and Alice Ciresola with Els Moors
Public sharing moment on Saturday October 19 from 16:30 on
Can erotic writing become a place for decolonial and feminist exploration?How could one embrace the tools of erotic writing to unveil, investigate and question power processes of colonisation, discrimination, nanoracism, marginalization, exoticization, abuse and seduction from diverse perspectives?
These questions are at the core of Am I Evil? process writers of all sorts are invited to embark upon.
On this journey the group of writers embrace erotic writing as a tool to investigate their own desire, and how this relates to the Other and the Unknown.
Read more..
a.pass Open Call #2
20 August-13 October 2024
Open Call #2 for collective research residency
This is the second call for a 2 months paid artistic research residency for collectives, existing or newly established on the occasion of this call, ideally 5 persons (min.3 max. 10 – NOT for individuals nor duo’s).
CONTEXT ?
“In a world in constant motion there is an ecological imperative to embrace the value of idleness” Michael Chieffalo and Julia Smachylo in Lying fallow: the value of idleness
By the end of 2023 a.pass (‘advanced performance and scenography studies’) entered a period of (self-)reflection and reimagination, a period of lying fallow: a field when it lies fallow – seemingly ‘doing nothing’ but in fact engaging in a deep process of rejuvenation and enriching as Rajni Shah says, a space for attention and transformation. Due to the ministry’s decision to end their financial support (based on radical savings and political choices) we were forced to end both of our educational programs: the Postgraduate Program as well as the Research Center that were at the heart of our co-learning environment for research-based practices came to an end, and by this also the educational institution a.pass has been for 15 years. The organisation entered a transition process, and an integral aspect of this process involves opening it up by inviting others to participate, to think together, to be together, to re-imagine a sustainable way forward for artistic research practices and their pedagogical aspects. Therefore, we are extending invitations to three collectives for a two-month paid residency to reimagine our fallow land and its implications for collective artistic research practices, methodologies, and sustainable harvesting. The first collective, One Field Fallow, has been selected in the first round in July and they will start their residency in September 2024. This call is to invite a second collective into this process.
Selection of the first research residency collective
“In a world in constant motion there is an ecological imperative to embrace the value of idleness” Michael Chieffalo and Julia Smachylo in Lying fallow: the value of idleness
a.pass has been inviting collectives, existing or newly established ones on the occasion of this call, for a 2-month paid collective research residency. In total there will be three rounds, for this first round, with deadline June 9, we have made the selection of the first group!
In total we received 55 applications, our jury went through all the applications and selected 4 collectives with whom they had a conversation. Eventually, after listening to all 4 collectives, the jury (Heike Langsdorf, Lilia Mestre, Hendrik De Smedt, together with the 2 external jury members Ash Bulayev and Kopano Maroga) has unanimously decided to give the opportunity for this 1st call to the collective One Field Fallow (OFF), an already existing collective housing in a former night shop in Brussels.
information, performance, performative publishing
SUMMER DRINK
7 July 2024 / rue Manchesterstraat 17, Molenbeek
with a.pass and nadine
work in progress by Diego Echegoyen (sound performance) & Davide Tidoni (film)
July 7 at 18h30
rue de Manchesterstraat 17, Molenbeek
Let’s celebrate SUMMER ! After the Spring Drink nadine and a.pass are very happy to invite you for their Summer Drink ! This time with work in progress (performance, sound and film) by Diego Echegoyen and Davide Tidoni.
Join us, together with our friends of nadine, for a free drink and 2 presentations!
PROGRAM:
– 18:30 – doors open + drink
– 19:00 – Invisible Cities by Diego Echegoyen
– 20:15 – The Birth of a Song/Come nasce una canzone by Davide Tidoni
Read more..
a.pass Open Call #1
9 April-9 June 2024
Open Call #1 for collective research residency
This a call for a 2-month paid residency for collectives (existing or newly established on the occasion of this call, ideally 5 persons). The period of 2 months can be spread over a maximum of 5 months. Read more about the practical details further below. First we would like to give you more info about the context and the framework of this call.
CONTEXT? WHAT? MISSION?
“In a world in constant motion there is an ecological imperative to embrace the value of idleness” Michael Chieffalo and Julia Smachylo in Lying fallow: the value of idleness
For about 15 years a.pass has been hosting a co-learning environment for research-based practices, focusing on collaboration, performativity, self-organisation and transdisciplinarity. a.pass is an acronym for ‘advanced performance and scenography studies’: ‘performance’ refers to how practices act in their surroundings, ‘scenography’ is the production of space and context, ‘studies’ stands for a co-learning pedagogical approach and the prefix ‘advanced’ is a dedication to challenge the frames of existing disciplinary determinations.
In 2022 however, the Flemish Ministry of Education decided to end their financial support of a.pass by the end of 2023. a.pass managed to get a transition budget and after a period of conversations with different partners (Schools of Arts, workspaces, universities, places for artistic research), and working on a new plan in order to make a restart. Nevertheless, due to the financial inflation, the tight budgets and even budget cuts in the other institutions, the budgetary framework needed to make an adapted restart was impossible to reach without any structural support from the Ministry of Education.
To make a virtue of necessity we chose for a more radical, more riskful path towards a possible future. Both programs, the Postgraduate Program as well as the Research Center, came to an end in 2023. We chose to embrace the fallow land that lays before us and a.pass entered a period of reflection, reimagination, and ultimately reorganisation: a field when it lies fallow – seemingly ‘doing nothing’ but in fact engaging in a deep process of rejuvenation and enriching as Rajni Shah says, a space for attention and transformation. An integral aspect of this process involves opening it up by inviting others to participate, to think together, to be together, to imagine a sustainable way forward for artistic research practices and for a.pass as a re-generated soil for collectivity and research. Therefore, we are extending invitations to 3 collectives (existing or newly established on the occasion of this call) for a 2-month paid residency to reimagine our fallow land and its implications for collective artistic research practices, methodologies, and sustainable harvesting.
information, project
Spring Drink & Films
9 April 2024
with a.pass and nadine
April 9 at 20h00
rue de Manchesterstraat 17, Molenbeek
Spring comes with a fresh new wind: a.pass installs a temporary place in Manchesterstraat 17, Molenbeek, where artists and alumni can organise gatherings and presentations in the coming months. For this spring event, a.pass invited nadine to host together an inauguration drink and an evening with screening of three short films by independent makers living in Brussels.
Join us, together with our friends of nadine, for a free drink and 3 short films!
FILM PROGRAM:
– Memories of a Camera Perspective by Anna Lugmeier
– Show Girl by Amari
– shemortelle by Shelbatra Jashari
information
The a.pass archive
From now on the a.pass archive is part of the AMVB collection, which has many archives by Flemish cultural institutions in Brussels in their collection. In this way the a.pass archive, with the many publications made during more then 14 years, will be publicly accessible and preserved for future generations.
You can find AMVB here: Arduinkaai 28, 1000 Brussels or www.amvb.be
information
Towards Apartheid Free Zones
On the 21st of March, the day of Spring and the International Day against racism a.pass joined the TOWARDS APARTHEID FREE ZONES – Cultural Solidarity with Palestine campaign. By doing this we want to express, as an organisation, once more our solidarity with Palestine. We say NO to any form of discrimination, racism, violence and violation of human rights and international law. We say NO to anti-semitism, we say NO to islamophobia. And we say NO to any form of terrorism, including organised state terror like apartheid.
Read more..information, performative publishing, project, workshop
AM I EVIL ?
Open Call for writers
Am I Evil?* Brussels Edition
by Simone Basani and Alice Ciresola with Els Moors
Can erotic writing become a place for decolonial and feminist exploration?How could one embrace the tools of erotic writing to unveil, investigate and question power processes of colonisation, discrimination, nanoracism, marginalization, exoticization, abuse and seduction from diverse perspectives?
These questions are at the core of Am I Evil? process writers of all sorts are invited to embark upon.
On this journey the group of writers embrace erotic writing as a tool to investigate their own desire, and how this relates to the Other and the Unknown.
For the duration of the whole journey they stay in dialogue through a peer-to-peer editing methodology. Actually such a methodology is not ‘just’ editing. It is rather an intimate and radical way of dialoguing through re-writing.
Am I Evil? starts off with a-lecture introduction by Basani and Ciresola open to everyone about the legacy of Jeanne Walschot, the first white female dealer and collector of African art we know, active in Brussels from 1920s.
statements for a.pass
“We are all very familiar with oppressive education; with its systems of reward and punishment, the stimulus of competition, the naming of the strong and the weak, the encouragement of reproduction by repetition, the reinforcement of norms and normativity, the unquestionability of the accommodating attitude towards the status quo, and its decision-making-educators—who by refusing dialogue—do not organise the people. The very goal of oppressive education isn’t to liberate nor to be liberated but to manipulate, control and generate conformism.
However, there is another sort of education that is precisely based on dialogue; a form of education that doesn’t function as a tool to facilitate anyone’s integration into the logic of the present system. It is the practice of freedom in its most germinating terms; the facilitation of critical thinking, creativity and citizenry.
Read more..IS THIS THE END?
Friday 21st of January 2022, a.pass received news from the Ministry of Education that their subsidy will come to an end by the end of 2023 the latest. From one day to the other a.pass is left with two years to find other means of survival or close the institution.
Read more..performative publishing
a.pass lexicon in process
information
Agenda
performance, project, workshop
6 April-4 May 2025
Location Birminghamstraat 30, 1080 Molenbeek
Topote de Acahual
Cultivating a Fandango
information
call
for artistic research PROPOSALS
Due to the Ministry’s decision we have to put the Intakes on hold until further notice.
Thanks for your interest in a.pass!
Read more..information
information
about a.pass
