In the Belly of the City is an artistic platform and a call to action to reconsider our food systems and the interdependencies that shape them. Realized by artist collective Futurefarmers during a residency hosted by GLUON, this project transforms the Brussels-Charleroi canal into a conduit for system change. As a functioning transport vessel, it moves food from a network of peasant farmers in the hinterland of Brussels (Pajottenland) into the belly of the European Capital city of Brussels, it brings small-scale, local farmers into contact with the global flow of goods and foreign trade.
Amidst the already present theater of the canal, a rassemblement of farmers, seeds, artists, soil, the canal, poets, electromagnetic frequencies, solar energy, architects and techno-disobedients form the scene of a series of actions. Moving upon an unconventional, wooden canal boat in intimate relation, this constellation enables new imaginaries – through a slow, reflective process of repair, resilience and reflection on our habits of agri-cultural production.
In the Belly… is shifting local food transport from diesel trucks to water transport, using the existing infrastructure of the Brussels-Charleroi canal. Tijs Boelens, lead farmer at De Groentelaar farm, coordinates produce from twelve farms to be transported from Halle to Brussels. Once in the city, the food is sorted, packed and delivered by bike, making its way to cooperative stores and collective kitchens.
About Futurefarmers (San Francisco/Ghent)
Futurefarmers is a working group founded in San Francisco in 1995. They are artists, architects, computer programmers, designers, farmers, scientists and anthropologists aligned through a common interest in creating frameworks of participation that facilitate encounter, exchange and tactile forms of inquiry. Their various practices coalesce in many forms – from the far reaching digital realms to the deeply rooted earthly domains. . Their temporary public art often evolves into permanent, durable programs which have influence on public policy and city design. Futurefarmers’ work has been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim, New York; MAXXI | Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo, Rome.
