Samir Hamdard ~ Afghan Refugee Camp Brussels Beguinage Church ~ In March 2014 Kristen Cattell (USA) and Michel van der Burg (Holland) traveled to Brussels, Belgium to meet a group of Afghans living inside an old Catholic church – the church of Saint John the Baptist at the Béguinage (Beguinage Church). At the time, nearly one hundred Afghan refugees had set up camp within the walls of the seventeenth century compound. We made a reportage and interviewed several people including Samir Hamdard (Ahmad Samir Hamdard) .
Samir the tireless activist of peace, justice and solidarity, was the spokesperson for the afghan refugees in Belgium – he died following a terrible fire accident that happened today a year ago (July 2019).
We thank Samir Hamdard and the other Afghan refugee friends who welcomed us and gave the interviews (note : full report of the other interviews in a follow-up later). Special thanks to Isabelle Marchal and others whose works were on display in the church and are shown in this film. Félix Snyers on the Béguinage church pipe organ.
Special thanks also to priest Daniel Alliët – host of the camp – who when retiring in 2019 started a new life for the church as House of Compassion – officially March 21 , 2020 – @houseofcompassionbrussels – http://www.houseofcompassion.brussels .
Reportage by Kristen Cattell (USA) and Michel van der Burg (Holland) | Beguinage Project .
Film : Samir Hamdard ~ Afghan Refugee Camp Brussels Beguinage Church | 20200729 | Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com | miracles.media
Brooklyn Museum video wall JR: Chronicles. Reportage October 2019 as part of our Beguinage Project Series by Kristen Cattell & Michel van der Burg | miracles.media
Join the Brooklyn Museum virtual tour of JR: Chronicles …
the first major exhibition in North America of works by the French-born artist JR. Working at the intersections of photography, social engagement, and street art, JR often collaborates with communities by making portraits and wheat pasting them in nearby public spaces. See how JR has expanded the meaning of public art through his ambitious projects that give visibility and agency to a broad spectrum of people around the world.
Created by Sharon Matt Atkins, Director of Exhibitions and Strategic Initiatives, and Drew Sawyer, Phillip Leonian and Edith Rosenbaum Leonian Curator, Photography, Brooklyn Museum. Tune in next Sunday for another tour of the Brooklyn Museum galleries!
A virtual video wall tour focusing on our project presentation there was published by Kristen Cattell and me , as : “JR: New York Show – Afghan Refugees Inside Out Belgium”
… a Brooklyn Museum reportage made October 2019 by Kristen Cattell as part of our Beguinage Project Series. Film : JR: New York Show – Afghan Refugees Inside Out Belgium (20200206) by Kristen Cattell & Michel van der Burg | miracles.media . Link https://wp.me/p14gqN-nqs
Video ~ JR: New York Show – Afghan Refugees Inside Out Belgium
Action Principles
Agir pour la Paix (Act for Peace) teaching practical action principles to Afghan refugees living in the Béguinage church in Brussels, Belgium, March 2014. Beguinage Project Reports – Kristen Cattell & Michel van der Burg. Film : Action Principles (20200216) Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com
JR: New York Show – Afghan Refugees Inside Out Belgium.
One minute impression of visiting JR: Chronicles in the Brooklyn Museum in New York, focusing on the video wall of Inside Out projects, screening our short film Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild. The film is a documentary of the March 2014 Inside Out project ‘Justice For Afghan Refugees In Belgium’.
Further documentation showing the film online here : Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild ~ JR: Chronicles Edition (20200205). https://michelvanderburg.com/2020/02/05/beguinage-refugees-into-the-wild-jr_-chronicles-edition/
JR: Chronicles | Brooklyn Museum | October 4, 2019 – May 3, 2020
CREDITS
Film Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild – Afghan refugees living in the Brussels Béguinage church with posters by Chiara Ravano for the Inside Out project “Justice for Afghan refugees in Belgium” – Olivier Bonny, Salon Mommen, Brussels, Belgium, March 2014. Félix Snyers on the Béguinage church pipe organ. A Beguinage Project report by Kristen Cattell & Michel van der Burg. Film : Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild ~ JR: Chronicles Edition (20200205) Michel van der Burg | miracles.media
JR: Chronicles | INSIDE OUT | Brooklyn Museum | October 4, 2019 – May 3, 2020
Brooklyn Museum reportage made October 2019 by Kristen Cattell as part of our Beguinage Project Series.
Film : JR: New York Show – Afghan Refugees Inside Out Belgium (20200206) by Kristen Cattell & Michel van der Burg | miracles.media
Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild ~ JR: Chronicles Edition (20200205) .
Our short documentary film ‘Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild’ is currently screening in the Brooklyn Museum in New York at the special exhibition JR: Chronicles – a major show that surveys the complete body of work of the artist JR for the first time in North America.
Best of INSIDE OUT – Justice For Afghan Refugees In Belgium
One of JR’s major projects is the global participatory art project INSIDE OUT, and the film ‘Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild’ documents one of the Inside Out projects ‘Justice For Afghan Refugees In Belgium’ – that was chosen as one of the favorite Inside Out Group Actions.
Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild ~ JR: Chronicles Edition
When visiting the Brooklyn Museum in New York last year, it was exciting to see the JR: Chronicles and our film at the museum’s impressive video wall.
However we noted the original Vimeo film version (20160620) was screening at the museum’s video wall, not the special edition we had prepared (with title and endscreen credit updates). A minor mistake but also an opportunity now to offer this new film edition that is posted today (20200205) – with a final update in the endscreen (credits) – called : Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild ~ JR: Chronicles Edition.
This new edition was archived today in JR’s project INSIDE OUT, and is forwarded to the Brooklyn Museum to hopefully soon allow replacing the current version – running for another three months…untill May 3, 2020 .
JR: Chronicles | Brooklyn Museum | October 4, 2019 – May 3, 2020
Film Credits
BÉGUINAGE REFUGEES INTO THE WILD
Afghan refugees living in the Brussels Béguinage church with posters by Chiara Ravano for the Inside Out project “Justice for Afghan refugees in Belgium” – Olivier Bonny, Salon Mommen, Brussels, Belgium, March 2014. Félix Snyers on the Béguinage church pipe organ. A Beguinage Project report by Kristen Cattell & Michel van der Burg.
Film : Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild ~ JR: Chronicles Edition (20200205) Michel van der Burg | miracles.media
Samir Hamdard « We Want Justice ! »
Afghans sans-papiers spokesperson Samir Hamdard (Ahmad Samir Hamdard) demanding justice…regularization of the belgian afghan refugees with no papers… the ‘sans-papier’…20 nov 2013 on the arrival of the silent solidarity march for afghan refugees in front of the Belgian Federal Public Service for Justice (FPS Justice) building at the Boulevard de Waterloo in the City of Brussels, Belgium.
Film (20191115) ~ Samir Hamdard « We Want Justice ! » by Michel van der Burg – michelvanderburg.com | miracles.media
Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild – JR: Chronicles in Brooklyn Museum
Excited to announce the screening of our short documentary film ‘Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild’ starting the night of October 3rd, 2019 in the Brooklyn Museum in New York at the special exhibition JR: Chronicles – a major show that surveys the complete body of work of the artist JR for the first time in North America.
Best of INSIDE OUT – Justice For Afghan Refugees In Belgium
One of JR’s major projects is the global participatory art project INSIDE OUT, and the film ‘Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild’ documents one of the Inside Out projects ‘Justice For Afghan Refugees In Belgium’ – that was chosen as one of the favorite Inside Out Group Actions.
Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild ~ JR: Chronicles Edition
Visiting the Brooklyn Museum in New York, it was exciting to see the JR: Chronicles and our film at the museum’s impressive video wall. However, we noticed the original Vimeo film version (20160620) was screening at the museum’s video wall, not the museum edition* we had prepared (with title and endscreen updates). A minor mistake but also an opportunity we got for another update in a new edition, called the : Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild ~ JR: Chronicles Edition (20200205).
This new edition is archived in JR’s project INSIDE OUT, and is being forwarded to the Brooklyn Museum to hopefully soon allow replacing the current version – running for another three months…untill May 3, 2020 .
Beguinage Project
In March 2014 Kristen Cattell (USA) and Michel van der Burg (Holland) traveled to Brussels to meet a group of Afghans living inside an old Catholic church – the church of Saint John the Baptist at the Béguinage (Beguinage Church). At the time, nearly one hundred Afghan refugees had set up camp within the walls of the seventeenth century compound. We made a reportage over several days and interviewed several people including Samir Hamdard – the spokesperson for these afghan refugees – who died recently following a house fire.
In between these interviews, Michel visited the artist Olivier Bonny in the nearby artist village Ateliers Mommen in Saint-Josse (Brussels) and filmed the InsideOut installation outside on the facade of the Mommen building – portraits of Afghans living in the Beguinage church.
Sans frontières ! Borderless ! Zonder Grenzen !
That InsideOut project was inaugurated a few days earlier at the Borderless ! festival in the Ateliers Mommen – a festival of 4 days of solidarity with Afghan asylum seekers , March 2014 in Salon Mommen, Saint-Josse, Brussels, Belgium.
CREDITS
JR’s project INSIDE OUT
JR: Chronicles | Brooklyn Museum | October 4, 2019 – May 3, 2020
Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild
Afghan refugees living in the Brussels Béguinage church with posters by Chiara Ravano for the Inside Out project
“Justice for Afghan refugees in Belgium” – Olivier Bonny, Salon Mommen, Brussels, Belgium, March 2014.
Félix Snyers on the Béguinage church pipe organ. A Beguinage Project report by Kristen Cattell & Michel van der Burg.
Film : Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild ~ JR: Chronicles Edition (20200205) Michel van der Burg | miracles.media
Links
*) Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild – 2019 Brooklyn Museum edition (20190911). Posted online October 3, 2019. From Feb. 5, 2020 status has been changed to ‘private; at Vimeo and Youtube.
Replaced Feb. 5, 2020 by film : Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild ~ JR_ Chronicles Edition (20200205) . Online at YouTube
Oct 4, 2019 – Added News section with JR’s opening tweet
Oct 6, 2019 – Added Beguinage Project section and updated credits section
Feb 5, 2020 – Post edited , with news on our museum visit, and the new film edition shared : Béguinage Refugees Into The Wild ~ JR_ Chronicles Edition (20200205)
michelvanderburg•com 