Following the 2024 edition of the Biennale de l’Image Possible – MUTANTX, the 2026 edition – Miroir Miroir – is returning to the former Chiroux library!
BIP2024 – MUTANTX led to the creation of the WeAreChiroux collective, whose aim is to promote the temporary occupation of the Chiroux-Croisiers building and to foster a diverse range of activities there (production grants, shared workshops, residencies, exhibitions, shared spaces, etc.), socio-cultural and community organisations, as well as events. Ultimately, we are calling on the political authorities to use this temporary occupation as a basis for assessing needs before simply selling the building to the highest bidder.
The core group of WeAreChiroux comprises institutions and individuals from diverse backgrounds, supported by a base of 4,500 citizens who have signed the founding open letter. WeAreChiroux, with the agreement of the Province of Liège, the building’s owner, is maintaining a vibrant community and creative life within these 17,000 m² in the very heart of the city.
Following the successful experience of BIP2024 and the many variations that MUTANTX enabled, we are repeating the experiment with BIP2026 – Miroir Miroir, this time looking ahead with the WeAreChiroux collective to 2027 and beyond, in the hope of urban, artistic and civic revitalisation for as long as possible.
Currently, in addition to BIP2026, the building is occupied by:
L’Enfantine, a project involving shared art studios that forms part of a Europe-wide network run by the non-profit organisation Mouvement Sans Titre;
Interra, an association that creates spaces for newly arrived residents in Liège to meet local people, by showcasing their talents, skills and passions.
Habitat-Service, an organisation offering support to people living in poor housing conditions or who are homeless.
the non-profit organisation Nectar, a Liège-based organisation rooted in hip-hop culture, founded in 2012 and stemming from the hip-hop group Indocile, which runs art workshops and supports the local hip-hop scene by organising concerts, managing projects and managing artists
Le Comptoir des Ressources Créatives (CRC), a platform active throughout Wallonia that helps creators and artists through a network of shared spaces, shared equipment, support, promotion and networking.
From 2027, the spaces used for the ‘Miroir Miroir’ exhibition will be taken over by other organisations and artists, with a view to expanding the temporary occupation.
Our renewed presence in a venue situated at the heart of the urban fabric, amidst the city’s flow and its raw, even brutal** energy, reflects a long-term commitment (initiated during BIP2020) to bring contemporary creation—linked to research and social action—back to the heart of urban life, as close as possible to its reality.
**Liège – like many other cities – is experiencing budget cuts that are affecting public services and social support, and are clearly undermining social cohesion; we have consciously decided not to erase these scars or push them out of sight en masse, but to attempt to coexist with the difficulties that beset us all, to varying degrees of severity – we take Donna Haraway’s injunction, ‘Stay with the Trouble’, very literally, not metaphorically.