FLAGSHIP PROGRAMMES
de Koer
National Network
Belgium
Address
Meibloemstraat 86Country
BelgiumCity
GentTelephone
0479681794Website
Click HereYear of Establishment
2016Contact Person1
Michiel De BaetsJob Title 1
General coördinatorOrganisation Type
Non-Governmental OrganizationFields of Activity
ArtsGeneral Information
De Koer is a vibrant creation and meeting place in the middle of the Brugse Poort in Ghent; a concrete space in the city that acts as a dynamic playing field for social and artistic projects and initiatives. Among other things, De Koer organizes a quirky film and music program, a collective building process, an artistic development operation and community building (including through a community garden and oven). The Koer is consciously committed to shared use of space. We are therefore happy to make our cultural infrastructure available to residents, artists and associations. This makes De Koer a lively base for artists, citizens, freethinkers and do-gooders. It is a place where a variety of people collaborate and participate in a multitude of activities. Its history as a grassroots initiative in temporary infills, first “the Furniture Factory” and later “the Binnenweg,” has led to a unique approach. In fact, De Koer is supported by an open community, with different working groups involved in specific aspects of the operation. The heart of our operation is the Forum, a monthly meeting where everyone meets and dialogue is encouraged. In this way, the Koer creates an open place where both the operation and the program are created in a participatory way. Through this innovative approach, inspired by the commons, de Koer occupies an interesting and necessary position within the cultural landscape of Ghent, with an influence on Flanders.Mission and Objectives
De Koer is a fine-scale, multidisciplinary, artistic and social operation in the middle of the Brugse Poort in Ghent. De Koer makes room for experimentation and inspires play, reflection and action. The place is collective, sustainable and constantly unfinished. De Koer is a place where serious play is made with ideas, with space and with methodologies. De Koer is a place of play: a base of operations for creativity and spontaneity, where people can try, experiment, start over and over again and constantly change and reinvent the rules of the game, whether purposeful or not. In the Koer, play is a tool for emancipation and a stimulating and approachable method of working. In play, we seek connection in diversity. We make imaginations real. De Koer is sustainable and cares for the space, the environment, its partners and users. De Koer is never finished, and to this end builds an open, transparent, flexible and co-creative structure that keeps the place sustainable, lively and relevant. De Koer strives to create and infectious practice that is inclusive, diverse, sustainable and ethical. The Koer is an autonomous and critical place where the shaping of our society is tinkered with. As a thinking place, the Koer offers a forum to 'the political': in gaining insights from each other, in the practice of decision-making in the Koer, in reflection on the social order and in initiatives to give that existing order a different direction. The Koer thereby watches over an interactive, collective and critical dialogue, which takes shape from practice and is aware of unequal social positions, of different interests and of existing power structures. The Koer is collective good, an open place made, carried and imagined by the community. De Koer is a common place that connects and aims to be readable and accessible to all. De Koer brings different generations, groups and cultures together and builds communities from the place.Main Projects / Activities
- Cine Rio - neighborhood cinema - Music projects - Artists in residence - Collective Actions at the intersection between the arts and society - Collective building, cooking and gardeningHow can you contribute to the Network in your country?
Exchange about our common focused way of working, collective making processes, the place of an arts organization in a neighborhood context, shared quest to address social inequality within the artsWhy do you want to join the ALF Network?
This network is new to us. Initially we want to join to get to know it better and see what the common goals are.Additional Information
click here