Jeremiah Day: Citoyenne Reprise

notav song (for Arlon)

oh, ok
so 40% of us are gonna get cancer
oh, ok 

oh, ok
so 20% of us are on anti-depressants
oh, ok 

oh, ok
what percentage of our kids are on psycho-stimulants?
oh, ok 

oh, ok
notav 

what are you fighting for?
no tav 

what is your affirmative argument?
no tav 

isn’t there something to say yes to?
no tav 

the kids in the trees
kids locking themselves to trees

the kids in the trees
are more realistic than me 

the kids in the trees
are more practical than me  

the kids in Dani
the kids in Hambi
the kids who were in Sivens
the kids in Arlon
the kids in Notre Dames des Landes – they are not just kids
actual-ly 

Notre Dames des Landes: against an airport
and its world
they stopped an airport
they stopped an airport
but its our world

locking yourself up to a tree
might be a good use of time
and money

locking yourself to a tree
might be the rational way to be

—Jeremiah Day

Citoyenne Reprise approaches contemporary events with one eye on history and the other on “Fridays For Future”. Stories of politics and civics, artists and activists are being captured and challenge us to find our place in the landscape of our close struggles and broader forces. Forests and streams, occupations and strikes, “fake news” and true secrets: what is the landscape of civic action today?

A forest at Arlon was bulldozed in recent weeks, after a largely ignored occupation by young civic actors. The center piece of the exhibition Citoyenne Reprise is an artistic assembly formed in response of the eviction of this Belgian citizen initiative. Jeremiah Day acts as the conductor in this sprawling, informal and mixed-media “jam session.”

Collaborating artists: Luca Bertolo, Chicks On Speed, Bart de Kroon, Fred Dewey, Discoteca Flaming Star, Ken Ehrlich, Claire Filmon, Arianne Hoffman, Yuchen Li, Alisa Margolis, Jonas Marx, Anike Joyce Sadiq & André Mulzer, Gilles Vandaele, Mirte van den Bos, Arjan Van Helmond, Rezi van Lankveld, Jeremy Woodruff

Talk with Christophe Busch and Jeremiah Day: Drawing on the writings of Hannah Arendt, Busch and Day will discuss the author’s insights in light of contemporary challenges.
Thursday, June 10, 7–8pm CEST. Online on Zoom.

Logomotion workshop with Claire Filmon: In this workshop we explore in four sessions the logomotion method of Simone Forti. Improvising, moving, writing, speaking.
Saturday, June 19, Sunday, June 20, Saturday, June 26, Sunday, June 27. 3–5:30pm CEST.

Citoyenne Reprise is part of The Astronaut Metaphor, an evolving programme on politics, aesthetics and the human. What is the position and role that artists, writers, thinkers and institutions and their responsive practices can take up within a complex public sphere? With this programme, devised as a series of long-term commissions, Netwerk Aalst wishes to understand what an integral support for artists can entail, how we can rethink the institution departing from the needs and wishes of artistic practices holding the here and now of Aalst as its compass.

Netwerk Aalst is an open house, an international centre for contemporary art, and an independent cinema located in Aalst, Belgium.

Netwerk Aalst is supported by Flanders State of the Art and the City of Aalst.

Thanks to: Arcade, Joanne Bland, Sebastian Bodirsky, Christophe Busch, Centre d’art Le Lait (Albi), Wouter Davidts, Eléa De Winter, Ellen de Bruijne PROJECTS, Koen Kievits, Antoine Marchand, M — Museum Leuven, Jonathan Ortegat, Youth for Climate