Death, or spaces for mourning and memory: 22/3 Memorial, Abattoirs, Brussels and Schaerbeek cemeteries – visit-exchange with the participants, Multi.

Death has been increasingly hidden from view and its invisibility is progressively making us illiterate in dealing with mourning. The park-like Brussels cemetery, on the outskirts of the city, allows to reflect on the absence of contemporary spaces of mourning. Facing the pain due to loss together helps construct our collective myths and memories. The 22/3 Memorial, in the Sonian Forest, offers the opportunity to mourn a collective loss together by means of a peaceful circular space. However death can also equate rebirth. The Phillips Building (Multi), constructed in 1969 as the company’s headquarters, is currently being carefully dismantled and stripped of reusable materials before transformation, thus prolonging its heritage. The ongoing projects on Anderlecht’s slaughterhouse, which for a long time provided most of Brussels’ meat, reflect on how the memory of death may be maintained yet also give space to new users and programs.

I. Life

II. Education

III. Ceremony

IV. Love