Distress Flare / Fusée de détresse

Distress Flare / Fusée de détresse is a European Project based on The Encyclopedia of Migrants. Cifas presented its first phase in Septembre 2019

Distress Flare intends to raise questions among the ones who make up our contemporary societies (citizens, politicians, media), questions about the political and social situation of migrants in Europe today.

The project continues the work initiated with The Encyclopedia of Migrants a previous European project intending to create challenging - though sensitive and intimate - artistic forms on an eminently political subject.

Cifas takes part in this European cooperation project, which is deployed between 2019 and 2022 in France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Turkey.
Each partner creates its own local artistic projects, led by a selected local artist in collaboration with citizens, researchers and students, based on the project The Encyclopedia of Migrants. 

Fusée de détresse in Brussels

In Brussels, Distress Flare was led by Frédérique Lecomte. She led a residency for a group of professional and non-professional performers. The outcome of this work was presented in public space on Friday 27 September 2019 in the frame of SIGNAL.

The public presentation took place on Friday 27.09 at the following places:

13:30: Petit Chateau
15:00 : Vismet/Marché aux Poissons
16:30 : Place Sainte Catherine
18:00 : Bourse/Piétonnier Bd Anspach

Crédits

"Fusée de détresse#Bruxelles" was presented for a second time on Monday 4 November as part of the days "Les Sans-papiers, ni vus, ni (re)connus" organised by Gsara asbl.
Meeting point in front of the Cinéma Palace - 18:30

With the support of the City of Brussels
Fusée de détresse #2, creation Frédérique Lecomte
In the frame of the European cooperation project Fusée de détresse,
Conceived by Paloma Fernández Sobrino for L’âge de la tortue
In collaboration with Cifas,
co-financed by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission.

Vidéo

The Encyclopedia of Migrants

Distress Flare is based on the previous project The Encyclopedia of Migrants

The Encyclopedia of Migrants is an artistic project gathering 400 testimonies and intimate accounts of migrant people together in an encyclopedia.

The collection began in 2007, initiated by Paloma Fernández Sobrino, director and author of interdisciplinary projects.

The Encyclopedia of Migrants questions migration through a sensitive and intimate approach focused on the theme of distance.
Each witness was invited to write a handwritten letter in his or her mother tongue to a person who remained in the country, and to answer the following questions:
What does remoteness produce on the individual?
Where and how do landmarks remain when abandoning a country?

Distress Flare - international conference

Morning session open to all

26 September 2019
10h-13h
La Bellone - Rue de Flandre, 46 - 1000 Brussels

Programme:

Introduction - Distress Flare project /The Encyclopedia of Migrants
Round Table / presentation of the international participants
Intervention about the cultural rights (Jean-Michel Lucas, Benoit Vreux and Paloma Fernández Sobrino)
Discussion with the participants