The history of the Canal Wharf

The history of the Canal Wharf

It was in 2013, in partnership with Vooruitzicht, that we decided to buy the BPost site. Here we had 17,000 m² of offices to demolish in order to rebuild a residential project.

We were then approached by a large number of cultural and artistic associations that wanted to occupy the premises. We were completely open to this idea, and we even created an internal ‘commodatum’ agreement, a kind of tenancy agreement without rent; only the expenses and insurance for the occupation and organisation of events in the building were required.

The following entities had access to our premises: the Kanal Playground Festival, Brussel Brost for its academic night, the public arts fair Poppositions, the end-of-year board of examiners of ESA le 75 and Ensav La Cambre colleges  as well as the DJ Lady Jane who held her Catclub nights here.

From January 2015 to 2016, the Canal Wharf also hosted the WBTD (Wallonia-Bruxelles Theatre/Dance Agency) under the name of Belgium Artistic District (BAD), at the personal initiative of Stéphanie Pécourt (Director of Halles St Géry / St-Gorikshallen). 58 artists worked here each day on two 6,000 m² stages. Visual artists, graphic designers, as well as Belgian and foreign architects took part in this self-managed collective. From time to time, the BAD opened up to the public to allow them to discover creation in action. One such occasion was for Art Brussels.

We also hosted the production house Pic Pic André and their directors Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar for their second episode of Panique au Village.

We also made available over 1,000 m² to the Citizens’ platform and its partners at Parc Maximilien (Maximilien park). The aim was to open a space where refugees and citizens can meet and be together, a project supported by the City of Brussels. The space included a welcoming meeting space, a school, language classes, a legal service, medical assistance (Médecins du Monde), the distribution of clothes (Oxfam), etc.