ce qui nous rassemble

THE CYCLE

Two projects, two perspectives on our relationship with images and the digital world

Since 2017, the Institut français and the French cultural network abroad have been organising Novembre Numérique, the international festival of digital cultures, all over the world. At a time when digital technology is profoundly transforming our societies, Novembre Numérique invites us to examine our relationship with technology, creativity and the sovereignty of digital infrastructure. By bringing together creators, cultural organisations, professionals, and local and public partners, the event provides a space for exchange, experimentation and the circulation of ideas.

This year, the Alliance Française de Bruxelles-Europe is presenting a series of events exploring how our relationship with images, narratives and reality is changing in the age of artificial intelligence. How are digital technologies transforming the way we describe the world, share our experiences and build a collective memory? What becomes of images when their authenticity can be called into question, manipulated or artificially generated? These questions are explored from various angles.

With Ce qui nous rassemble, Ludovic Nobileau and his company X/tnt present a participatory experience centred around camps set up in several iconic locations across Brussels’ public spaces. The residents of Brussels are invited to share their stories and help bring to life a collective memory of the city. The outcome of this experiential project will be presented in an exhibition (opening on 28 January 2027 at La Fabrique).

Biennale de l’Image Possible (BIP 2026)

The Biennale de l’Image Possible (BIP2026), Miroir Miroir, explores the creation of images, the mechanisms of disinformation and the boundaries between reality and fiction. Following the publication of an open call for applications aimed at four young curators from France, Germany and Belgium, four exhibition projects were selected to form ‘Through the Looking Glass’. This event is organised with the support of the Franco-German Cultural Fund – comprising the German and French embassies, the Goethe-Institut Brussels, the Alliance Française de Bruxelles-Europe and the Institut français – in collaboration with the Biennale. A round-table discussion and a guided tour of the exhibition will round off this highlight.

1. DIGITAL BIVOUACS

A listening tent set up in the town

From 10 to 22 November 2026, Ludovic Nobileau and the X/tnt company will set up their ‘listening tent’ at five locations across Brussels. Inside, everyone is invited to share a language, a landscape, a memory or a story that is close to their heart. No cameras: here, only the spoken word counts. A numbered card allows participants to retrieve their contribution or to withdraw it. Each participant chooses the uses to which they consent, from recording to broadcast within the exhibition.

As the sessions unfold, these stories come together to form a living atlas of Brussels, made up of unique voices and the things they have in common. This collaborative project will give rise to the exhibition Ce qui nous rassemble, to be held at the Alliance Française de Bruxelles-Europe from 28 January to 24 February 2027.

The dates and locations of the campsites

26 & 27 September – Wolubilis Cultural Centre
10 & 12 November – La Fabrique, AFBE
14 November – Brussels Park
18 November – La Cambre
22 November – Molenbeek House of Cultures

Spotlight on the bivouac at La Fabrique

On 10 and 12 November, the listening tent will be set up at La Fabrique with classes from the Alliance Française de Bruxelles-Europe.

Find out more ➜

At La Fabrique, the digital camp invites visitors to take part in the creation of Ce qui nous rassemble even before the exhibition opens. In a tent approximately four metres in diameter, furnished with felt and cushions, each visitor is welcomed individually for a conversation lasting around ten minutes. Gathered round a brazier, the conversation unfolds at its own pace. A microphone system captures the voices, stories and silences that make up this experience.
Participants can recount a memory, describe a place that means something to them, or share what connects them to others. These testimonies will enrich the installation on display at La Fabrique from 28 January 2027. They will form the basis of an interactive experience where the voices recorded in November can be listened to, explored and linked together using various digital tools.

Practical information

10 & 12 November
La Fabrique, AFBE
From 10am to 9pm
Open access

2. EXHIBITION

Ce qui nous rassemble

28 January to 24 February 2027
La Fabrique, Brussels

The exhibition Ce qui nous rassemble builds on the digital encampments by giving a new form to the voices collected in Brussels. The voices recorded in the tent, the painted portraits and the images of the tent in the city come together to create an experience that invites visitors to discover the residents’ stories in a different way.

The project forms part of a wider initiative led by the X/tnt company, namely to share stories and knowledge from one region to another. Following Brussels, the Citizen’s Atlas is set to be rolled out in Bourges, the European Capital of Culture 2028, and then in other cities. Combining artistic creation, active listening and digital technologies, Ce qui nous rassemble offers an alternative way of preserving memory: drawing on the people who live in a place, their words and the connections that emerge when they are brought together.

Practical information

From 28 January to 24 February 2027
La Fabrique, AFBE
Open access

Who is Ludovic Nobileau?

A theatre director, actor and film director born in 1968. After studying film and modern literature, he directed classical plays before turning his hand to a form of ‘theatre of immediacy’ on the streets of Paris, where he created an ‘athletic and fragmented history of theatre’, staging three plays a year.

Find out more ➜

Director, actor and filmmaker born in 1968. After studying film and modern literature, he staged classical plays before turning his attention to a form of ‘theatre of immediacy’ on the streets of Paris, where he created an ‘athletic and fragmented history of theatre’ at a rate of three plays a year. In 2003, he joined the Unité Nomade directing training programme at the CNSAD, further developing his craft under Robert Wilson and Kristian Lupa. As an explorer of living forms, he collaborates with designers and scientists to broaden the scope of theatrical intervention.

Tracking changes to the bivouacs

Ce qui nous rassemble is an initiative organised by the X/tnt theatre company, the Alliance Française de Bruxelles-Europe, the Institut français and Bourges 2028.

ROUND TABLE

Self-image in the digital age

A discussion on our digital doubles, online self-representations, avatars, digital twins and deepfakes… This event brings together perspectives from philosophy, cultural studies and curatorial practice to explore the ethical, political and artistic issues surrounding our digital doubles in the age of image manipulation.

What can we learn from cultural history, which has already ushered in the era of the digital twin? To what extent do digital twins correspond to their offline physical counterparts, and what new contexts do they open up? What artistic aesthetics arise from this? How should we address the complex issues of disinformation and falsification in this context? As part of the Biennale de l’Image Possible (BIP), we invite you to a discussion with Marion Zilio, philosopher and art critic, and Randi Heinrichs, researcher in cultural and media studies. The discussion will be moderated by Anne-Françoise Lesuisse, curator of the Liège BIP, which this year is organised around the theme Mirror, Mirror.

Practical information

18 November at 6.30 pm
La Fabrique, AFBE
French interpretation
Open access upon registration

The speakers

Marion Zilio (FR)

Lecturer and researcher, philosopher, art critic and curator

View her biography ➜

Holding a qualification to supervise research (HDR) and a PhD in Aesthetics, Arts Sciences and Technologies, she conducts research situated at the crossroads of contemporary philosophy, visual cultures and curatorial practices, through a resolutely intersectional lens that extends to the living world.
She is notably the author of Faceworld. The Face in the 21st Century (PUF, 2018; Polity Press, 2020), *The Book of Larvae. How We Became Our Own Prey (PUF, 2020; Cactus éditions, 2022). Her latest essay, The Struggle of Worlds: Delirium and Fascism in the Age of the Multiverse, was published in 2026 by PUF. 

Randi Heinrichs (DE)

Researcher in cultural and media studies, specialising in critical data studies

View her biography ➜

She is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Digital Cultures at Leuphana University in Lüneburg, where she is working on the ‘Smartness as Wealth’ project. Combining ethnographic research with theoretical reflection, she explores the power relations, social practices and technical infrastructures that shape knowledge in digital cultures, with a particular focus on how digital twin practices shape the people and worlds they claim to represent.
At the AI (Ancestral Immediacies) festival organised by the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in 2026, she delivered the opening address entitled ‘Rethinking Digital Twins: From the Doppelgänger to the Performative Persona’, in which she argued that digital twins do not merely reflect reality, but rather stage it, intervene in it and reshape it. She is currently writing Anonymity Reprogrammed for the ‘Software Studies’ series published by MIT Press, a book that examines personalisation and the political implications of (non-)identification in the digital economy.

Anne-Françoise Lesuisse (BE)

PhD in Film Studies from the University of Liège

View her biography ➜

EXHIBITION

Through the Looking-Glass

What happens when we stop trusting images?

At a time when images can be manipulated, generated by artificial intelligence or taken out of context, how can we distinguish truth from falsehood? And what becomes of photographs when their apparent ability to bear witness to reality is no longer sufficient to establish their authenticity? For the 2026 Biennale de l’Image Possible, four young curators have been invited to explore these questions through artistic projects presented in four neighbouring spaces. Each, in their own way, examines the mechanisms by which images are created and their power over our understanding of the world. Through imaginary creatures, incomplete archives, visual saturation and alternative narratives, Through the Looking-Glass invites us to take a step back and reflect on the images that surround us and the stories they help to construct.

Informations pratiques

From 17 October to 13 December
2 Quai Paul van Hoegaerden,
4000 Liège – Belgium
2 December: guided tour

More info

Four curatorial proposals

Silas Edwards

Wondrous Sightings

With Weronika Gęsicka, Edith Morris and Henry Turner.

About his project ➜

Fanny Testas

Élevage d’absences

With Gwenola Wagon, Philippe Braquenier and Marie Quéau. Set design by Shift Entity.

About her project ➜

Thibaud Leplat

(a very deep) fatigue

With Morgane Baffier and Harold Lechien.

About his project ➜

Temitayo Olalekan

eye the threshold

With Anna Safiatou Touré, Cihad Caner, Priyageetha Dia and alongside other artists, subject to confirmation.

About his project ➜

This event is organised with the support of the Franco-German Cultural Fund – comprising the German and French embassies, the Goethe-Institut Brussels, the Alliance Française de Bruxelles-Europe and the Institut français – in collaboration with the Biennale de l’Image Possible (BIP2026).