I live in a Monument

Conforta, Arena and Unitas are old working-class districts in Deurne, Antwerp with a special historical and architectural character. In Conforta, you will find the first owner-occupied dwellings for workers, the Unitas neighbourhood is a textbook example of a garden suburb, and Arena – designed by Renaat Braem – is a modernist monument to social housing. The project was not just an investigation into the history and architecture of the districts. The residents were intensively involved. The residents of the neighbourhoods were intensively involved. The project also tries to strengthen social relations in the neighbourhoods.

The project culminates in a door-to-door magazine that every resident receives, and an exhibition of photos, documents and testimonies in the party hall of the local secondary school. In a lounge – set up in a lower part of the banquet hall – visitors can look at family photos and the video with testimonies from residents at home and impressions of the neighbourhood.

For the film, four residents were sought who were prepared to appear on camera and who were contagious storytellers. They had to live in a place that was representative of the neighbourhood. By filming the residents in their homes, their stories as well as their living conditions could be revealed. In order to locate the various neighbourhoods and homes in relation to each other, a brass band was called in, which followed an elaborate route through Deurne. Length of film: 30 minutes.