workshops

Workshops

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Cultural heritage workshops in coöperation with Red Star Line Museum

The Red Star Line Museum tells a universal story of hope, dreams, and the quest for happiness at the authentic location of the historic shipping company on Antwerp’s Eilandje, using personal stories of emigrants from the 20th century.

The “ONS MUSEUM” project | Shaping the museum’s future collection together
[2025-NOW]

What do you think is important to preserve and display? How do people with a migrant background want to preserve and display their stories? What objects, memories, smells, tastes and traditions do they pass on to the next generations?

ONS MUSEUM is a participatory project by the Red Star Line Museum. Together, we explore: How do you create a museum collection with the people whose stories we tell? How do you put their wishes and choices first? We research inspiring examples in foreign museums and, above all, we have started working together.

Workshops

For six months, twelve people with a migrant background worked together with creative coach Sara Avci (Palhik Mana vzw) and Lisa Yolanda Lambrechts (Red Star Line Museum). In a series of workshops using creative methods and heritage discussions, they answered three key questions:

What would I like to donate to a museum to share with others? Are these just objects, or also tastes, smells, memories, objects that no longer exist?
How can a museum preserve my migration heritage and share it with others? Even if there are no objects?
What care, relationship and trust do I need from the museum throughout this process?

Each participant created a collage, a Museum of themselves. In it, they interwove their personal migration history and that of their parents and grandparents. Objects, absent things, traditions, smells, tastes, sounds and memories all found a place.

The result of this process was on display in September 2025 in the temporary exhibition OUR MUSEUM.

Moussem Cities

With Moussem Cities, Moussem and its Brussels-based partners focus their attention on a metropolis with a rich and culturally diverse history, where artistic vitality plays a central role. Following previous editions dedicated to Casablanca, Beirut, and Tehran, Istanbul takes center stage in 2025. This city, shaped by centuries of transformation—from its origins as Constantinople to its current status as a transcontinental metropolis—has maintained its role as a beacon of inspiration, radiating an unmistakable grandeur.

For one month, the multidisciplinary festival Moussem Cities offers a diverse program of exhibitions, participatory projects, performance art, literature, film screenings, concerts, and discussions. These events celebrate Istanbul’s vibrant artistic scene and highlight its profound connections to global creativity.

Moussem Cities serves as a dynamic platform for artists, exploring universal themes, highlighting local artistic and socio-political contexts, and fostering meaningful exchanges with Brussels.

Playback Theatre Workshops

Theater of the Oppressed was started in 1975 by Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas from New York and is practiced worldwide. It is theater based on personal experiences from the audience. These can range from everyday events to significant (life) stories. It is improvisational theater. The facilitator invites the audience to share a personal experience, and the performers – not necessarily professionals – bring it to life through various forms of play.

(intra-family violence, honor-related violence), radicalization, migration, racism, social injustices, refugees, human trafficking, tsunami, war victims, etc. It is an innovative and empowering project. Among other things, it works for and with socially vulnerable women from the Brussels-Capital Region. The women are coached and trained in an accessible way using techniques and methods of Playback Theatre to become performers and facilitators.

It is improvisational theater. All scenes are created on the spot. The game leader (conductor) invites the audience to share a personal experience. The players (not necessarily professionals) bring it to life immediately and use various forms of play.

Replay theater is a form of communication and therefore very suitable for creating a dialogue between different generations, cultures… for example: mothers replaying stories of their daughters, or vice versa. Or immigrant women reenacting stories of indigenous seniors…

Playback theater is an experience that connects people and communities. Watching re-enacted stories together provides recognition, familiarity, understanding, and promotes openness and camaraderie among individuals. Both performers and the audience gain a new perspective on their own behavior and that of others. It makes the invisible visible, turning abstract themes into concrete experiences and making sensitive topics discussable. It is an exciting form of creative expression that contributes to community building and personal transformation. It connects individuals and groups with each other, creating a deeper sense of community. It can also be applied in the treatment of individuals with trauma, both on a personal level and in relation to their surroundings.

It is a fundamental human need to tell (personal) stories and share them with one another. From our early childhood, we are fascinated by listening to and telling stories: big or small, dramatic or trivial, interesting or boring. We use these stories not only to share our experiences but also to enhance our interpretation and understanding. Storytelling helps us make sense of the world we live in. We learn to cope with everyday and unusual experiences. Stories are usually composed of a series of events, and they only become significant and unforgettable for us when something unexpected occurs. Such surprises often change the expected course of actions and events into something that could not be anticipated, resulting in strong feelings and emotions. This is also strongly evident in this form of improvisational theater.

Reversal theater honors the stories of individuals and communities, connecting them and affirming the dignity of personal experiences. It brings individuals and communities closer together by helping them to see their shared humanity and enables people to view their lives in numerous new ways. It is at once artistic, healing, community-building, and visionary! This is a unique tool for audiences to bring about lasting change.

Through this project, dialogue becomes a ‘verb’, bridging the gaps between different communities and organizations to promote a harmonious intercultural society. It can serve as a model for Brussels (and perhaps even other cities) and achieve a multiplier effect.

Coach: Sarah Avci