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
Transport XX Face to Face
This 1 minute film is a video impression (February 28th, 2009) of the confrontation of passers-by with the TRANSPORT XX installation in Brussels, that presented photographic portraits of 1,200 of the 1,631 Jewish prisoners deported with the 20th train convoy to Auschwitz in 1943.
Transport XX to Auschwitz
On April 19, 1943 at 10 p.m. the 20th train convoy departed the Dossin barracks (Kazerne Dossin) in Mechelen (Belgium) with 40 cattle cars crammed with 1631 Jewish men, women and children for Auschwitz (Poland). The in Belgium captured Jews were over 90% ‘foreigners’ (with no Belgian nationality) who either when war broke out or (many) years earlier had fled from mainly Eastern Europe, Germany and Holland to Belgium. Half an hour after the departure of this transport XX three young Belgians from Brussels, Youra Livschitz, Jean Franklemon and Robert Maistriau stopped the train between Boortmeerbeek and Haacht, opened one of the cars and liberated 17 prisoners. Later before the train reaches the German border over 200 other prisoners decide to attempt to escape and also jump out of the cars. In total 233 people attempted to escape, and 188 did succeed. Unfortunately also 26 were killed and 89 others recaptured and interned or put on future trains to Auschwitz. This 20th transport arrived at Auschwitz on April 22. Only 153 of those on board survived this death camp. This was the only documented attack on a death train during the Shoah.
More on Transport XX in the 1 hour documentary film ‘Transport XX to Auschwitz’ – a film by Karen Lynne & Richard Bloom and Michel van der Burg – https://michelvanderburg.com/2013/04/19/transport-xx-to-auschwitz/
Project “Give them a Face”
The Kazerne Dossin (project “Give them a Face”) digitalised the photo’s of the Dossin prisoners, that mostly are from the “National State Archives of Belgium. Ministry of Justice, Public Safety Office, Foreigner’s Police, individual files”
The TRANSPORT XX installation in Brussels was organised from 27 January to 15 March 2009 by the BELvue Museum in collaboration with the JMDR / Kazerne Dossin. The photographic portraits were displayed outside in the Royal park in Brussels (opposite the Royal Palace).
Thank you: Marjan Verplancke and other co-workers of the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance (JMDR) in Mechelen (Malines, Belgium) and project “Give them a Face”.
With the ‘Give Them a Face’ project the Kazerne Dossin aims to bring together as many portraits of deportees from the Dossin barracks in Mechelen as possible and give them back their face – and the memory alive.
For this special ‘The One Minute’ edition, the original film of around 3 minutes was edited to a 1-minute cut.
‘Transport XX – Face to Face’ by Michel van der Burg premiered at the ‘Where history starts’ festival by The One Minutes and the Museum of National History (innl) in theater Paradiso , November 28, 2010, Amsterdam, Netherlands. That ‘Where history starts’ series of 1 minute films was also released by theoneminutes foundation in 2010 on DVD (limited edition). That original 2010 1-minute film contained no title nor credits. The title and credits were added in the 2012 edition of the 1-minute film that I made available on DVD and also online (that 2012 edition is republished here in larger format and modified endscreen).
Online the 2010 edition was first shown in a short documentary of the premiere screening via Vimeo (#35784512) 27 January 2012, and the 2012 (DVD) edition with credits was published via Vimeo (#40331755 – vimeo.com/michelvanderburg/txx1minute ) 13 April 2012, and via Youtube at the now dormant iClip channel Apr 19, 2012.
This 2020 edition
Now (January 2020) a 4K edition is published – new online at my main YouTube channel ( https://www.youtube.com/michelvanderburg ) and new also at the today started Instagram account Miracles.Media ( @miracles.media ).
Transport XX Face to Face ~ The One Minutes
This 1 minute film is a video impression (February 28th, 2009) of the confrontation of passers-by with the TRANSPORT XX installation in Brussels, that presented photographic portraits of 1,200 of the 1,631 Jewish prisoners deported with the 20th train convoy to Auschwitz in 1943.
Event : TRANSPORT XX installation by the BELvue Museum / JMDR / Kazerne Dossin, February 28, 2009, Brussels, Belgium.
Original film version : ‘TRANSPORT XX — installation Brussels’ – published online April 19, 2009 by Michel van der Burg | https://michelvanderburg.com/2009/04/19/transport-xx-installation-brussels/ .
This 1 minute film ‘Transport XX – Face to Face’ by Michel van der Burg premiered at the ‘Where history starts’ festival by The One Minutes and the Museum of National History (innl) in theater Paradiso , November 28, 2010, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Instagram : @miracles.media @theoneminutes @michelvanderburg @kazernedossin @belvuemuseum @paradisoadam Full info posted at https://michelvanderburg.com/2020/01/10/ Film : Transport XX Face to Face (20200110) Michel van der Burg | miracles.media
Regularisation Demonstration Brussels Beguinage Church
Art of the November 12th 2017 demonstration for regularisation of undocumented migrants found ‘resting’ March 2019 in the Brussels Beguinage Church . The Beguinage church is a long-standing resource for the Afghan cause.
The manifestation was organized by Coordination of Illegal Immigrants in Belgium collectively with other organisations . Film : 20191119 Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com | miracles.media
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