Street art at Anneessens

An atmospheric and festive studio

Hubbie has a studio space in the Rue des Vierges, close to their activity centre on the other side of the Anneessens square. I met Antoine and Thomas there an hour before the workshop was due to start. Antoine has just become a father, as his tired eyes betray, but his enthusiasm is undiminished. "The workshop is a lesson in slowing down," he says, even before we get started. "It consists of ten workshops, which take place every Friday afternoon for two months. At two o'clock, the Hubbie people arrive, a diverse group of a dozen participants with intellectual disabilities who are looking forward to working artistically with the students of Atheneum Brussels. They join us from three to four."

In that last hour, it’s quite a challenge for Thomas and Antoine to keep the group focused and working together in an artistic setting in an open and playful way. Antoine: "We only have one hour to work on the project with everyone, but at that moment, the workshop always has a very pleasant and festive atmosphere."

I am eager to discover how the workshop takes shape, but first I want to know who Antoine and Thomas are and, above all, what brings them here. Antoine studied contemporary arts, has been living and working in Brussels for twenty years and is a multidisciplinary artist: "I make installations, create sound objects, do crafts and draw, but I also write and regularly participate in musical performances." Antoine has a preference for projects in public spaces and often collaborates with socio-cultural organisations, organising workshops and exhibitions, but also participating in larger events such as the Zinneke Parade. "In recent years, I have mainly focused on street art, with an emphasis on collages." Antoine explains that this art form allows him to engage in dialogue with society, to intervene in and appropriate public space, but also to provoke and play: "Public space is where people meet, where interesting things happen, but where there is also friction."

Thomas started working as an educator at Hubbie in 2009. In 2020, he became a policy officer and since 2024 he has been combining that role with that of coordinator. "When I was organising camps for young people at the age of seventeen, I discovered that there were also camps for young people with disabilities. This was the first time I came into contact with this specific group. It motivated me to study educational sciences and specialise in orthopedagogy. That's why I chose Hubbie as my first job." His work at Hubbie has now become his life's mission: "It frustrates me to see how people with disabilities are hidden away in our society, as if they were disruptive elements. I want to give these people their place in society." According to Thomas, collaborating with artists and taking to the streets with these people fits in seamlessly with this.

Step by step towards inclusion and co-creation

The pilot project started with a neighbourhood walk in small groups, each consisting of two students and one Hubbie participant. Antoine: "The groups had to look around carefully, think about what they found positive and negative, and what could possibly be changed in the neighbourhood." Thomas: "What immediately stood out were the many construction sites and broken-up streets and the associated inconvenience: the noise and dust, footpaths that are inaccessible, wheelchair users who cannot get through..." In a subsequent workshop, the pupils and the people from Hubbie were asked to make drawings and stage themselves, based on their impressions. Antoine shows me a pencil drawing of one of the people from Hubbie being run over by a forklift truck, fortunately a fictional incident.

Antoine then set to work with the drawings and portrait photos of the participants in the testing ground. The result: real Street Art figures. "In the second hour of the workshop, we meticulously cut out the figures so that they can be pasted in the neighbourhood in a playful way, in the next workshop. And take on a life of their own." Antoine emphasises the importance of cutting them out 'meticulously': "Simply sticking up square sheets with a figure on them has little effect. We want our participants to come to life in the neighbourhood through their drawings and photos. For example, we can have one of the figures dangling from a windowsill, as if she has just crawled out of the window. Another character looks at his smartphone and bumps into a wall. Or someone flying through the air on his scooter."

"Today we're working with glue sticks, next week we're going guerrilla-style into the neighbourhood with real wallpaper paste!" says Antoine with a broad smile. Thomas adds: "Although our approach is actually quite well-behaved: we walk around, ring people's doorbells and discuss the possibilities with them, the Hubbie participants and the pupils." Whether the drawings will remain in place for long is uncertain, says Antoine: "In itself, it's not a sustainable action, because we work with ordinary paper and wallpaper paste. The works take on a life of their own. Some may disappear on the same day , but with a bit of luck, they may remain in place for several months. That's just Street Art, and that's okay." According to Antoine, people are generally very positive about such projects because they add something positive to the neighbourhood. Thomas: "In any case, we ensure maximum involvement of the neighbourhood with a festive vernissage, to which we invite everyone!"

We want more!

Thomas en Antoine zijn laaiend enthousiast over de samenwerking. Thomas vertelt dat het voor Hubbie een extra gelegenheid biedt om hun mensen aan iets leuks te laten deelnemen. “Onze mensen

Thomas and Antoine are wildly enthusiastic about the collaboration. Thomas says that it offers Hubbie an extra opportunity to let their people participate in something fun. "Our people always choose for themselves whether they want to participate. After the Zinneke Parade, the enthusiastic response was: we want more!" According to Thomas, collaborating with an artist also provides an extra layer of connection and reflection: "An artist takes people out of their daily routine and makes them pause for a moment, look around and think about certain things."

Thomas hopes that the pupils will have fond memories of this workshop and that they will continue to remember the people at Hubbie in a positive way. "As a child, I never came into contact with people with disabilities. I have the impression that in the past we had a reflex to hide them. But I believe in the power of encounter and I hope that with this workshop we are already taking a step in the right direction." Thomas also talks about how wonderful it is to see how the pupils and the people at Hubbie interact with each other. "No question – and the people at Hubbie do ask a lot of the same questions – is ever too much for the pupils. They always answer all questions patiently, in a kind, gentle and warm manner." "The numerous hugs are also always received with a lot of love and patience," Antoine agrees.

For Antoine, it was the first time he had worked with people with disabilities, but he didn't hesitate for a second when he was asked. "As an artist, I don't just want to create myself, I also want to guide people in making art. The challenge is mainly to find the right way to touch and captivate people, which with this audience is mainly achieved through simple, manual and playful interventions. The enormous added value of working with the people at Hubbie is that they are always enthusiastic. We just have to put some markers and pencils on the table and they immediately start drawing." Antoine also takes individual differences into account: "No two people are the same. Some people become overstimulated more quickly, while with others you can work longer and in more depth. Some talk easily, others are more introverted." Thomas also emphasises the importance of gradually involving people with disabilities and immersing them in an artistic process. "The added value that we, Hubbie's carers, can offer here is that we know our people well."

No lack of enthusiasm

The interview is over and the Hubbie people are trickling in. "Are the students coming today too?" Even before Antoine and Thomas have time to welcome everyone properly, the question is asked several times. The Hubbie participants are clearly eager to work with the students again. But they have to be patient, because they won't be here for another hour. Patience is not a trait that comes easily to all of them. One question follows another, one of them rummages through the box that Antoine has placed on the table, another participant displays her companions – Mickey and Minnie Mouse – on the table in front of her.

Antoine and Thomas explain to the participants what they can expect today. Then we walk together to the activity centre for the first collage exercise. It doesn't take long before the group enthusiastically hangs up the drawings and figures. When it's almost three o'clock, we return to the studio to wait for the pupils and their teacher. After everyone has been greeted and hugged by the Hubbie staff, Antoine and Thomas gather all the participants around a table. Antoine unrolls a giant roll of paper with the street art illustrations on it. There are lots of oohs and aahs, and everyone points to their drawing or character. Thomas and Antoine give the final instructions and scissors and pencils are handed out. The cutting and colouring can begin, and it promises to be another atmospheric and festive studio session.