‘Next Generation, Please!’

What happens when you gather young people, politicians and artists and ask them to spend one year reflecting on the future of our society? Fireworks of course!
During the third edition of ‘Next Generation, Please!’, hundreds of young adults in Belgian schools and youth associations collaborate with young people from France, Serbia, England, Greece, Ireland and Denmark, focusing on the themes of freedom, citizenship, revolution, identity and democracy. They each do this in their own way, with performances, installations, compositions, audio stories and sharply-edited video content. At the end of the school year the end result is shown in a pop-up exhibition in the Centre for Fine Arts, where you can also attend talks, performances and debates as part of the Next Generation, Please! interactive exhibition. Browse the selected projects for this 2018-2019 edition here.

SELECTED PROJECTS

Atheneum Brussel

The fifth year of general secondary education of Atheneum Brussel sees the bigger picture! Together with the artist Dirk Hendrikx, the philosophers Steven Raemen and Gideon Hakker and the journalist Lode Delputte, they spent a whole year working around freedom. How can we define freedom? How free are we really? What does freedom of speech mean?

Destelheide & Hanenbos

The choreographer and dancer Yentl de Werd delves deeper into the theme of ‘gender equality’ with twenty pupils from COOVI Anderlecht. Real equality between men and women remains no more than an ideal in Europe. How can we break through damaging stereotypes? The philosopher Jan Knops oversaw the thought processes and discussions. The pupils extend their reflection to other regions in Europe by working with organisations in Serbia, France and Greece.

École Mondiale

The École Mondiale develops an alternative model for the city of Brussels while walking through the Senne Valley. The specific hydrographical structure of Brussels, with its eight small river valleys, serves as the cornerstone of a model for the future in which the landscape plays a key role in the city’s governance. Students from Sint-Lukas Kunsthumaniora, Sint-Lukas Brussels and ERG set out on a walk together with the artist Filip Van Dingenen. The international partners are the Schumacher College in Devon, the Edinburgh College of Art and Askeaton Contemporary Arts in Ireland.

Emotional Europe

Emotional Europe sheds new light on the power of citizen participation and engagement in today’s fragmented Europe. What does it mean to be a European citizen? Which values do we endorse? The Romanian choreographer Cosmin Manolescu examines contemporary problems starting from the ‘emotional body’, searching for a common language together with Belgian and Romanian youngsters in the context of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of European Union.

Institut Communal Technique Frans Fischer

The youngsters of the Institut Communal Technique Frans Fischer in Schaerbeek test the boundaries between reality and memory, between a location and past events there. They recreate the journeys of migrants and the places they visited en route using 3D printers, photographs and sounds. Their international partner is very familiar with this issue: the G. La Pira school in Pozzallo, Sicily, also opens its doors to young immigrants.

IStudio/IS asbl

IStudio and IS-vzw use the slogans of May ’68 as a starting point to break up abstract themes into digestible fragments, together with the youngsters of the not-for-profit association Calame in Saint-Josse-Ten-Node. The participants and the artists Safa-Eddine Taghian, Nikoo Nateghian and Olivier De Roeck will get inspired by their exchange with the French Le Fresnoy school to create an installation that combines sound and images with music.

Muziekforum

The students of the Royal Conservatoire in Antwerp will be spending a whole year exchanging interesting ideas with the students of the Danish Høy Design College and members of the Alexandra Gadzina Band, Katharina Smets and Mauro Pawlowski. Together they experiment with new formats, developing moving audio stories that paint a bigger picture of various European themes. They search for real stories behind the processes (e.g. migration, stereotypes…) and values (civic responsibility, social justice).

Thomas More Kempen

What is the perfect teacher like? How does today’s European society define and shape a teacher’s identity? Twenty students who are training to become nursery, primary and secondary school teachers examine how context and society shape a teacher’s identity, together with artists and politicians. How does a teacher approach such topics as global citizenship and culture? How does the teacher, who must guide children and young people, with an open mind, in a world that is evolving at breakneck pace, go about this?

European Activism Incubator, Zinemma, Margins

Social media is now omnipresent: there's no shortage of YouTube and Instagram influencers. But how are women represented online? Is there a sufficient number of female personalities who share their opinion on social issues? Zinnema, European Activism Incubator and Margins join forces for this project to develop and promote a positive image of girls and women, with videos and photos, in collaboration with a group of young girls.

Philocité & École Supérieure des Arts de la Ville de Liège, Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts de Liège, La Baraka

Philocité developed three projects in Liège for Next Generation, Please!: 
- Sofie Vangor and the students of L'École Supérieure des Arts de la Ville de Liège use tattoo art as a starting point to delve deeper into revolution, protest and the relationship between the body and image. The philosopher Jessica Borroto supervises the thought process, including a discussion about tattoo with art historian Alix Nissen.
- The youngsters of the ‘La Baraka’ youth centre examine how they can use 'krumping', a dance style, to defend their rights. The choreographer and krumper Hendrick Ntela supported by the film maker Catherine Lévêque and the krumper Patribe Kanyinda help them develop a multidisciplinary project, focusing on the body and revolution.

Digital Natives

Digital Natives is built around an artistic reflection on the accessibility of technology and the representation of minorities and women, both historically and today online, explored through the prism of multiculturalism and cultural heritage. This project adds a unique dimension to the Next Generation, Please! adventure. BOZAR, in partnership with Soul of Nations in Washington, D.C., Native American artist mentors and the Brussels based Belgo-Italian artist Sophie Saporosi, have assembled a group of young Belgians with a diversity of migrant backgrounds to partner with a group of young Native Americans. These youth will have the opportunity to exchange their ideas, energy and debate the challenges they face, both online and during two residencies in the United States (November 2018) and Belgium (May 2019).