Panorama Ring Ring

Panorama Ring Ring gives you a unique 360° panoramic view of special locations in and around the Northern Quarter, which is on the eve of radical changes. Look for one of the lookouts, get up there and call one of the operators. The stories of Rua Breathnach, Pascal Verbeken, Ubah Cristina Ali Farah or Grażyna Plebanek will then lead your gaze around the invisible layers that make up the city – from history, politics and economy to culture – and the life stories that emerge from between the cracks.

What kind of life lurks behind the façades of the apartment buildings, under the bridges, in the canal or in the clouds above the towers? From cobblestone to sand heap, from city easel to real estate developer, you will experience a live viewing and listening game that sings of the urban landscape around you as it is today. Together, these four views form an anthology of the Northern Quarter, written by four writers who have a special connection with this part of the city.

The starting and finishing points are at the Panorama Call Centre on Akenkaai, where you can pick up your personal tour documentation. You will be listening on your own phone, so make sure it is well charged, and bring earphones or headphones for your comfort. We recommend that you experience the performance with a second person, although you only need to reserve a single time slot.

THE PANORAMA RING RING OPERATORS

Rua Breathnach is an Irish poet and playwright who has lived on the outskirts of Brussels for many years. In 2020, the Brussels publishing house MaelstrÖm reEvolution published Breathnach's long prose poem The City Next Door, the poetic reflection of a grand tour of Brussels. For the Passa Porta Festival 2021, he adapted this text into a reading performance in many languages.

Pascal Verbeken has a long-standing fascination with Brussels, and has written Arm Wallonië, Grand Central Belge and Tranzyt Antwerpia, among other things. His books were on the tip list of the AKO Literature Prize and the shortlist of the ABN Amro Prize for Non-Fiction. In Brutopia. De dromen van Brussel Verbeken takes you on a grand journey through the history and present of a number of Brussels districts.

Ubah Cristina Ali Farah is an Italian writer from Verona. She has an Italian mother and a Somali father and has been living in Brussels for many years. Trauma processing and oral literary traditions are major focuses of her work. In Brussels, she is actively involved in the Asmara-Addis Literary Festival (in Exile), an initiative of Sulaiman Addonia.

Grażyna Plebanek is a Polish writer and journalist who moved to Brussels in 2005. In addition to columns for Polityka and Wysokie Obcasy, she writes prose and scenarios. Central to her work are themes such as boxing, gender, morality, desire, eroticism, violence against women and multiculturalism. A new book of literary essays on 'animal Brussels' was published in Poland in 2021.