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1. How is Globe Aroma positioning itself in relation to the police raids?
As mentioned before, on February 9th, Belgian Federal Police conducted a raid at the premises of Globe Aroma, during which seven people were arrested.
1.1. Legality
The documents we reviewed reveal that Globe Aroma is operating legally. The organisation expressively commits itself to abide by the laws of the Belgium government. One of the pamphlets distributed as part of the #OneAlarmManyVoices campaign reads as follows:
As an association without lucrative purpose (sic), we must also respect those rules (sic). Our means are limited and mainly consists of subsidies. It’s logic (sic) that the way we use them is strictly supervised.
1.2. A changing migration policy
Globe Aroma, that is, its staff members, the artists and people using its space, and its partner organizations responded to the February 9 police raids collectively within the framework of the #OneAlarmManyVoices campaign. However, it is important to note that the said campaign was specifically directed at the methods and manner with which these raids were carried out. The legality of the measure was not being disputed.
Our findings during the event suggests a conscious act of resilience, if not resistance. While the response of the Belgian government to the terrorist attacks of 2015 and its goal to combat radicalization seem not to be disputed, its scope and implementations are not only challenged but openly criticised. The distinctive targeting of migrants - legal and illegal alike - often results in collateral damage, that is the intimidation of legal citizens. Results can be devastating. Globe Aroma and its partners highlight the reverse effect of such processes that result in devastation rather than prevention of radicalization. The #OneAlarmManyVoices campaign also aims to reassure participants of continued organizational support. Hence, the event can be viewed to increase resilience of all participants, through emphasizing the collectivity of the different organizations that participated that day and the unified voices of those present speaking out against the raid.
1.3. Perceptions
The police raid was a dominating topic during our visits at Globe Aroma. However, open discussion about it often depended on the availability of English language skills (with the exception of the project SPEECHLESS).
For Paapa Shangoo, the police raids drive migrants to desperation as artists working at Globe Aroma. They do not only produce art pieces, but also have the opportunity to sell them (via auction) and earn a livelihood. Police raids at Globe Aroma have the (potential) effect of discouraging migrants to use the space of Globe Aroma to produce the art pieces that they can then sell or auction. He believes police raids of safe places such as Globe Aroma will in fact drive many migrants into illegality. He says that most of the migrants are not gainfully employed and that Globe Aroma keeps them occupied in a constructive way. Such emancipating processes are then undermined by breaches such as the raid from February 9th.
People without papers are treated in a manner worse than dogs are treated… I do not want people to forget their history. When white people first came to Africa they also did not bring documents. Christopher Columbus (and) …. Vasco Da Gama... did not bring documents… visas... At that time our forefathers did not need anything from Europe…. It’s Europeans who needed something and they came to us. Now when everything changes why do they treat us like that…. My paintings tell people about their history (Interview with Paapa Shangoo: March 6, 2018).
Paapa Shangoo emphasizes his disapproval of the fact that migrants seem to solely bear the burden to proof their innocence in light of authorities that seem to indiscriminately target all migrants. In this light the famous-infamous Canal Plan is viewed as highly discriminative, treating all migrants as terrorists. Most of migrants, he says, deserve assistance, not ill treatment.
For Baminla the raids represent a reminder about police conduct in his home country, Togo. Reflecting on it, he was almost amazed that this was something he wanted to leave behind - only to now be confronted with similar challenges here.
Oussam, a pianist from Algeria, emphasized the facilitating effect of Globe Aroma for artistic collaboration projects - because an positive perception of migrants is vital.
Saidou, a painter and poet from Mauritania, in turn stressed the atmosphere at Globe Aroma that allows him to express his inner freedom.
Participants at Globe Aroma, however, have knowledge on seeking legal recourse in case their stay in Belgium is terminated outside the provisions of the law and are in touch with organizations that can assist them with legal representation.
1.4. A space in between
The staff of Globe Aroma in turn unanimously acknowledged the legality of the police measure. Moreover, they emphasized a certain importance of a continued cooperation with Belgium authorities. At the same staff members reckon that at any given time migrants without official documents may be present at Globe Aroma. However, Globe Aroma does not enforce identity controls of any kind. While they at times assist with certain bureaucratic challenges the political neutrality remains a defining pillar of its conceptual framework. In this light Globe Aroma provides a space ‘in between’ - in anthropological jargon a liminal space (Turner 1966) - designed to welcome each and everybody in general and migrants and refugees of all kind in particular - but at the same time remain somewhat “empathetically indifferent” as to where and how visitors go to once they leave. In fact, the relative safety Globe Aroma strives to provide within the confines of its premises aimes to not only individually empower its participants but, by locating them ‘in between’, actively facilitating conditions suitable to generate a necessary counterbalance of processes of dispossession, seclusion and radicalisation.
With its main focus on providing opportunities to safely express emotions and ideas Globe Aroma nevertheless doesn’t operate in a vacuum. As cultural expression in Belgium traditionally differs from most of the countries a majority of participants are coming from Globe Aroma seeks to establish a dialogue between these different cultures of expression. The project Art for All identifies suitable cultural and artistic event throughout the city for such an intercultural dialogue and facilitates respective participation. With many migrant struggling to make a living Globe Aroma for example provides entrance fees and/or transports. Such approach also directly counterbalances any conceivable distortion in public perception that tend to label such ‘in between’ spaces as radical simply based on the fact that they don’t fit into existing drawers (see Larsen 2009, Ranciere 2004).
In this light Globe Aroma seeks still seeks to remain neutral while attempting to provide participants with the opportunity, even agency, to be put into a “positively labeled” drawer once they leave the premises. In this way Globe Aroma indeed seems to contribute to a certain level of resilience of its participants or, as Reid would put it:
The resilient subject is a subject which must permanently struggle to accommodate itself to the world. Not a subject which can conceive of changing the world, its structure and conditions of possibility. But a subject which accepts the disastrousness of the world it lives in as a condition for partaking of that world (Reid 2012:74).
Consequently Globe Aroma concentrates its effort on the social and psychological constitution of its participants as long as there are present - as stated before without condition. Globe Aroma will not engage in effort to keep artists in the country. This fact was mentioned and acknowledged during our interview with Brecht. Globe Aroma therefore assists its artist in creating local social capital as conceptualised by Béné, Wood, Newsham & Davies 2012, Kirmayer, Dandeneau, Marshall, Phillips & Williamson 2011.
2. What are the main reasons for participants to use Globe Aroma’s space?
The reasons for participants to enter the described ‘space in between’ are as versatile as they are numerous. However, we identified 2 main groups of respective objectives:
The first concentrates on the use of the infrastructure as such - e.g. the use of the kitchen, the use of the studio for purposes of rehearsal, the use of the freely provided Wi-Fi, the use as exhibition room, the use as event location, the use as working space or - simply - as a place that is not the asylum center as a participant, who didn’t want to be named, reported. In this sense the notion of the premises of Globe Aroma as a safe Haven refers to a safe geographical location in distinction to the relatively volatile space outside Globe Aroma.
The second group is characterised by more intangible properties that arrange themself around five major topics: First - as space for inspiration and creativity. Second - as space for family, solidarity, and cooperation. Third - as space for dissent. Fourth - as a safe haven. Fifth - as a space to connect and network. In this sense the notion of safety refers to Globe Aroma as a place that allows its visitors not only to be themself without the fear of rejection by a dissenting majority but also to experience personal growth and advancement.
Before we take a closer look at the second group of reasons we have to list here the limitations of Globe Aroma as well. As the events that unfolded on the evening of February 9th demonstrated is Globe Aroma not able to provide protection beyond a certain spatial seclusiveness during working hours. It also does not serve as shelter or accomodation (outside its working hours). It further can not and does not want to provide social services that is to act as broker for its participants in order to assist with administrative or otherwise bureaucratic processes of any kind. The management the emphasizes its unwillingness to turn into a welfare organization.
2.1. Globe Aroma as a space for dissent
Some artists in Globe Aroma expressed the importance of the organisation as a space of political expression. Baminla used the words: “combating the system together at Globe Aroma”, to depict the view that all participants at the organisation have the freedom to speak about what they encounter in Brussels. In literature, freedom of speech is connected to the expression of dissent (see Larsen 2009, Ranciere 2004) and the enhancement of the freedom to pursue what one has reason to value, such as expressions of dissent, is a form of development (Sen 1999; WCCD 1996).
Although almost all artists expressed their frustration with the objectives of the Canal Plan and the subsequent police raids, their artwork is for the majority not directly related to the changing migration context in Brussels. Saidou’s poem might be seen as one of the sole example of a critique on the wider context of Brussels, describing a city with ‘long and obscure nights’, while the protagonist is ‘thinking back to Doiyola, a town surrounded by streams and banana trees’. On the one hand, we might see this imagination as an expression of the grim reality that Brussels might represent to him, on the other hand it can also be seen as an expression of personal identity, describing where he comes from in Africa. We could also see in other interviews, for instance with Baminla and Paapa Shangoo, that the theme of their respective home countries was an important feature of their artwork, and less related to a Belgian context.
The #OneAlarmManyVoices campaign painted a more holistic conceptual picture of dissent. In literature, dissent is not only merely conceptualised as disagreeing but also the articulation of disagreement (see Larsen 2009, Ranciere 2004). The campaign itself was an act of defiance, of disagreeing with the police raids and some of the objectives of the Canal Plan. The various art pieces displayed served the purpose of articulating the disagreement. Reviewed literature emphasize the importance of creativity in articulating disagreement (Ranciere 2004), and to this extent, art displayed at the campaign was one such creative vehicle. The value of culture in the context of expressing dissent is on how it serves as a tool to manifest or reflect the given problematic reality of a dominated group (Cabral 1974). As in the case of Saidous poem being reinterpreted as an expression of Brussels’ grim reality, Globe Aroma and the #OneAlarmManyVoices campaign hosts such artworks that provide for what Boltanski and Chapello (2007) would refer to as an artistic critique on society in the face of increasing police raids and the threat of the Canal Plan. Artistic critique, which primarily reflects the ideals of liberation in a climate of oppression, can be effectively combined with social critique in order to ponder on the current social issue at stake and raise certain questions that needs addressing. In a way, the ability of these artistic expressions to codify the desires and personal experiences of the migrant artists of Globe Aroma echoes Gell’s (1998) notion of the extension of the agency of the artist through the index created by his artwork. Additionally, Baminla and Paapa Shangoo’s preference for highlighting their rootedness on African history and culture serves both as a critique on the European way of life and as an expression of their desires (Bloch 2000) to uphold their identity, and find recourse in art as a reminder for where they come from in the face of racism, marginalization and police violence.
2.2. Globe Aroma as a space for inspiration and creativity
What emerges from findings in our engagement with the concept of space is the notion of Globe Aroma as a safe, ‘non-political’, free space for meeting, hanging out or engaging in creative practices. For the participants of Globe Aroma, there is a lot of emphasis on Globe Aroma as a space where people treat each other with respect, dignity and equality. This, according to the participants at the organisation, is in contrast to the disrespectful, aggressive and hypocritical situation outside the organisation in broader Brussels.
Findings also point to the importance of expression of personal experiences or emotions through artistic or creative practices. For example, Baminla says he sings and paints, in order to put the world into words, filtering deeply felt emotions that he feels need to come out. Oussam states that music for him is a way of finding solace in life. Saidou says he writes semi-autobiographically about himself, his feelings, his connections with others from different parts of the world. The many examples of personal expression through art at Globe Aroma might tell us something about individual strategies of resilience towards an unfair, or hypocritical (in the words of Baminla) political system in Brussels that are made possible through the space that the art house provides to counter hostilities and feelings of insecurity. In this sense, creative created out of personal grief, fear or even happiness can tell us something about individual forms of resisting an increasingly volatile dominant system.
The findings show that Globe Aroma as a creative space is central to the way that the organisation sees and presents itself, and also how it is perceived by others. They also show that Globe Aroma provides some of the materials and training needed to make different works of art. For example, workshops with varying objectives are organized from time to time and even projects are set up. The TXT project explicitly shows Globe Aroma’s objective to incorporate women more in their daily activities, as they feel that women’s participation in its space is lacking behind compared to men. Through promoting creativity among women migrants, Globe Aroma is going beyond the mere facilitation function, and is actively engaged in issues of discrimination and inequality.
Throughout history, inspiration has been associated with artistry. In the context of poetry it is written that “every poet recognizes that during poetic composition material emerges – word, images, figures, rhythms – from sources which lie beyond the pale of consciousness”. One such example is Saidou’s poem on the village of Doiyola where his personal expressions turn into concrete thoughts and narratives. Moreover, inspiration is also defined as relational and can become possible after a “mutual tuning in” (Wulff 2012). The role of cooperation in creativity is central in these explanations. According to Ingold and Hallam (2007) creativity takes place against the backdrop of culture and society and inspiration and creativity can be understood as intrinsic to the processes of social and cultural life. Inspiration and creativity form something new from existing parts, where inspiration is often cited as the initial state that turns into a creative flow. Creativity as inspiration means being inspired by another person. Therefore, social change can occur through the creative process that connects individuals, families, communities societies (Corley 2010). Globe aroma is a space where these processes can take place.
Singing and playing an instrument was the most occurring creative practice that we found in our interviews at Globe Aroma. In relation to other creative practices, making music is something that is easily shareable- meaning that you can record, play or have jam sessions with many different persons. The collaborative aspect that we discussed earlier often comes back in the process of making music: music as a way of working together and showing a good image, learning from each other and combining styles to overcome barriers. In contrast to this, music, singing and also dancing can be something very personal, deeply rooted in the artists themselves.
There is even a transnational aspect to the performing of songs in Globe Aroma, as Paapa Shangoo emphasized that he preferred dancing or singing traditional songs from Africa. In this sense, music is thus both a cooperative and social creative practice in Globe Aroma, as well as a very intimate and personal form of expressing oneself.
While less of a social experience than making music, painting was something that several of our interviewees did, and a lot of the same elements as with making music come back here too. Paintings, however, have the benefit of being immediately visible once you enter Globe Aroma. The walls are decorated with many of the paintings that the different artists have made and at some locations in the building we even observed the contours of a freshly painted artwork still drying in the painter’s easel. The interesting thing that came to the fore with regards to the painting was that despite the artists often stating that they came out of some sense of personal emotion wanting to be liberated on the white canvas, the paintings often did not deal directly with the context of Brussels. Paintings by Paapa Shangoo and Baminla dealt more with African themes, life in a rural village or dealing with African history or ancestors. In this sense, painting is also a way to express history, identity, transnationalism, which are themes that are unfortunately outside the scope of this research.
Globe Aroma as a creative space is central to the way that Globe Aroma sees and presents itself, and also how it is perceived by others. Next to providing the space, Globe Aroma provides some of the materials needed to make different works of art. Workshops are organized from time to time and even projects are set up. These workshops are not always without any idea on forehand. The TXT project explicitly shows Globe Aroma’s objective to incorporate women more in their daily activities, as they feel that women’s participation in the space of Globe Aroma is lacking behind compared to men. Through promoting creativity among women migrants, Globe Aroma is going beyond the mere facilitating function that it perceives to be the limit of their activities, and is actively engaged in issues of discrimination and inequality.
2.3. Globe Aroma as a space for family, solidarity and cooperation
The staff members state that they are engaged in a constant balancing act between providing a ‘non-political’ space while at the same time availing a network in which they help the migrants connect to the wider context of Brussels. Here we can see how this notion of family or togetherness is in some ways in friction with the objectives, capture that Globe Aroma sets itself. One of the aspects that often came back in the conversations at Globe Aroma was the role that Globe Aroma plays (and also sees itself playing) as a space for solidarity among newcomers, artists, visitors and staff.
The banner with the heading ‘HIER ENKEL SOLIDARITEIT’ (HERE ONLY SOLIDARITY) that was prominently exposed in the building’s outside space perfectly shows this emphasis on stepping up for each other. The narrative of solidarity is constantly interwoven through the formal and informal talks we had there. This was from the side of the organization itself, as well as from the side of the visitors. From the perspective of the organization, this was visible in the #OneAlarmManyVoices manifestation, as different migrants and artists were jointly speaking out against the way they are treated, discussion panels were created with the intention to have a constructive debate on the issue of migration in the city, and where posters, letters and flyers promoting love, solidarity and hope were handed out. With regards to the conversations we had with the interns and the staff members, represented by Brecht, phrases like ‘feeling at home’, ‘helping each other out’ and ‘providing a place for meeting people’ is in line with this idea of Globe Aroma as a space of mutual solidarity. From the perspective of the artists, Globe Aroma as a space of working together to achieve common goals is an important theme of the conversation.
The possibility to forge and maintain solidarity is thus for both the staff and the visitors an important element of what Globe Aroma’s role as an alternative space is in Brussels, and hence this expression of solidarity, through unity, combating the system, or oneness, might even be seen as a way of creating or strengthening group resilience for the newcomer-artists. Looking at resilience as a dynamic continuum between collective strategies as well as individual narratives (see Kirmayer, Dandeneau, Marshall, Philips & Williamson 2011), we argue that the notions of togetherness, family and unity are strong terminologies to express resistance and resilience in the face of a changing attitude towards migrants in Brussels. As Baminla stated, “life goes on, I will continue making my artwork even in the face of increasing violence” (Interview with Baminla: March 9, 2018). Ingrained in this personal narrative are the possibilities that Globe Aroma as a space still provides him to do what he has done until now, to continue his life as he has done it for 6 years in Brussels.
Next to solidarity, Globe Aroma as a space for cooperation was even more visible in our observations and interviews. Here we have to expand our notion of space somewhat, as from the perspective of Globe Aroma as an organization this space for cooperation was interpreted differently from the perspective of the visitors. From the perspective of the organization, the aspect of cooperation was mainly visible through the art house’s connection to other organizations, for instance the asylum center Le Petit Chateau, with which they maintained the closest bonds. From the perspective of Globe Aroma, as became clear in the contextual part, keeping a close line between the cultural sector in Brussels and the migrants was an important element of their work. Globe Aroma as a space for cooperation from the organizational point of view thus mainly showed itself in the cultural activities that were organized, such as the Art for All project. As the interview with Bjarne showed, the cooperation between volunteers, interns and staff members on the one side and the migrants on the others can sometimes also be difficult, as it can happen that migrants arrive that do not speak English or French.
On the other side, from the perspective of the visitors, narratives of friendship, togetherness, freedom were closely connected to the daily encounters of people within the physical limitations of Globe Aroma’s space. For Baminla, for instance, Globe Aroma was his ‘workshop’, where he could work together and catch up with friends. At the same time, he stressed that for him, Globe Aroma is a space to learn more about Belgium society and he expressed the value of getting into contact with Belgian people. For Oussam, playing music together and in the process connecting different music styles, learning from each other and thereby showing a positive image was important, even necessary. We interpreted this necessity on showing a good image as a struggle for the musician to convey a positive image of migrants in other places in Brussels. Another example, for Saidou, Globe Aroma is a space for sharing, meeting and being able to freely express his mind through music and poetry.
In sum, this emphasis on sharing, meeting, showing a good image or being able to have freedom to speak your mind shows the struggle of these individuals to be able to do this in the wider context of the city.
2.4. Resilience
The concept of resilience in our research was central in several different ways during our research. From the perspective of Globe Aroma as an organization, it is clear that the #OneAlarmManyVoices campaign sought to connect with other networks in the city of Brussels to on the one hand express anger and dissatisfaction about the increasingly volatile situation in the city, and on the other hand to create resilience among different organizations together towards the growing police aggression in the capital of Belgium. From this stance, resilience takes on a clear political form, while on the same time we already argued that Globe Aroma struggles with finding the balance between creating resilience for the organizations as well as the migrants and the same time keeping distance from the artist’s personal lives.
Resilience, as a narrative of the individual in relation to his or her wider group, takes on a somewhat different meaning when seen from the perspective of the visitors of Globe Aroma. The individual meanings that the artists gave to Globe Aroma is more related to a personal and intimate sphere, for example in the case of Baminla and Saidou, who paint, write, sing, and dance for their own benefit and the freeing of their mind, or Oussam who plays music together with others to get better and show a positive image of migrants through collaboration with others, or Paapa Shangoo and Romeo, who paint to show their history, as an expression of where they come from. Saidou was somewhat an exception, as he stated that he was aligned with a social movement in Brussels dedicated to combat racism and xenophobia by providing migrants with lawyers and social assistance. We can thus indicate different aspects of resilience that are being highlighted by Globe Aroma as organization and the individuals that use its space.
2.5. The safe haven
Globe Aroma as a safe haven is one of the most important and widely discussed topics of our meetings with the visitors and staff of Globe Aroma. The police raid sooner or later always came up as a conversation topic, and it became clear that Globe Aroma could only actively perform their objectives by the grace of being able to constitute this safe space for creative practices and projects. At the same time, it seemed that the organization does not want to expand their role as space provider towards further organizational or administrative functions for migrants. As became clear from the interview with Brecht, Globe Aroma is very cautious not to get involved in other spheres of the lives of the visitors, for instance with regards to advice on how to pay taxes or how to arrange an insurance. He also indicated that it is sometimes difficult from a personal perspective not to help them, as trust, solidarity and cooperation are important values for the community of Globe Aroma. Thus, it seems here that from the perspective of the direction, there is a fine line between proximity and distance.
From the perspective of the artists, the police raid nearly always came up as a topic while discussing the role of Globe Aroma as a space vis-à-vis the police raids. The brutality, humiliation, lack of respect, inhumanity are words that have been used to describe the sentiments towards what happened that day. In contrast, Globe Aroma is being referred to as a space where everybody treats each other with respect, where equality and cooperation are at the forefront of encounters between people. However, the scar that the police raid left on Globe Aroma and its visitors was visible during all the formal and informal talks. Oussam, for instance, kept talking about the necessity of showing a good image, through playing together and learning from each other. Thus, even within the space of Globe Aroma, the contradiction of being yourself and showing you from your best side is important. As another example, Romeo and Paapa Shangoo indicated that people were afraid to go to Globe Aroma after the raid, confirming the fear of the organization’s direction not to be able anymore to provide a safe space for creative expression. The most salient example of the fact that something changed in the relationship between Globe Aroma as a space and the ones who used it was voice by Baminla, who related Belgium to the situation of Togo, and literally conveying to us that the atmosphere of Globe Aroma for him has changed slightly after the raids.
Another important element of the role of safe space in the Globe Aroma context is that of a space in which one is able to speak freely, or where one is able to make use of the right of freedom of expression. As already earlier mentioned, Baminla expressed his relief after finishing a painting, and being emotionally and mentally liberated. Here notions of personal expression, freedom of speech and resilience come together to give the artist, in this example Baminla, the agency to speak out against forces that hold him back outside Globe Aroma. In a same vein Saidou expresses that for him poetry is about expressing the freedom that is strong and active inside of him. Globe Aroma’s role for him is twofold, on the one hand a space in which he is able to express himself through poetry, but on the other a way to reflect upon himself and improve his own ability to express himself in words. The freedom that Globe Aroma thus provides has strong connections with the intimate, as well as with personal development, freedom and exchange. From the perspective of the organization, it became apparent that the freedom to be at Globe Aroma without being obliged to show papers is an important element of what the art house wants to provide as a space. This, it might be argued, can be seen in light of the police raids, and the role that Globe Aroma’s perceives itself to have, to provide a safe haven for migrants and newcomer-artists. There are functions that Globe Aroma as a platform provides, other than a safe haven or a place for free expression. According to Brecht, the building is at times used for meetings and projects. Sometimes people enter that do not want to engage in creative practices, but solely make use of the Wi-Fi. At times people come to cook a meal. This shows that Globe Aroma as a space is quite multifunctional, and multi-interpretable according to whom is using it, because of its low-key access and open-minded attitude. Globe Aroma as a space also has its limits and this can be problematic at times, as more and more media attention after the police raids raises the fear of the organization for too much publicity and over-crowdedness. Next to this, some attention has to be given to Globe Aroma as a space for doing nothing, or just hanging out, which is something that definitely was important in the interviews. Some of the people interviewed indicated that they liked coming to Globe Aroma for the relaxed atmosphere, for being able to zone out, or doing the opposite, which is keeping yourself occupied in a constructive yet easy-going manner as mentioned by Paapa Shangoo. Another notable, and more commercial interpretation of Globe Aroma as a space, is given by Baminla in mentioning that Globe Aroma also serves as a platform for exposing and eventually selling his artwork to make a living.
2.6. Connect!
Globe Aroma as a space for networking is one other element that is crucial to our research. This became evident at the #OneAlarmManyVoices campaign. The official aim of Globe Aroma is to work together with different socio-cultural organizations in Brussels, with the Asylum center Le Petit Chateau and to maintain a close link between the art house and the Brussels art sector. We observed the following organisations working with Globe Aroma for the #OneAlarmManyVoices campaign: Koninklijke Vlaamse Schouwburg (KVS), De Buren, La Bellone, BRONKS, Bozar, RITICS (Research Institute in Trustworthy Industrial Control Systems), Brussels Kunstenoverleg (BKO), Decoratelier, Kaaitheater and Beursschouwburg. Representatives of some of these organisations gave solidarity speeches while the images about this campaign reveal the network process. Furthermore, the artists coming at Globe Aroma also say they participate in the activities of the other organisations. In this sense, we can argue that together with the facilitation of people meeting each other, Globe Aroma is at the same time fostering civic engagement through Brussels. In this way, Globe Aroma as a space can incite social change (see Nicodemus, Mukanga-Majachani 2015). Also, the receptiveness of Globe Aroma in hosting us as researchers demonstrated their willingness to network. Even when the staff members were overwhelmed with work in clearing a backlog after police raid related disruptions, they always tried to create time for us as researchers and they have always maintained an open door policy. From the perspective of Globe Aroma, networking is all about integrating artists within the cultural sector of the city, as well as providing a platform in which people from Brussels, for instance inhabitants of the neighborhood in which the arthouse is located and elementary schools in the vicinity and artists, can come together and meet each other in a low-key and accessible manner.
Networking is thus at the heart of the objectives of Globe Aroma as an organization. From the perspective of the artists however, making and creating art is one of several other elements that constitute their relation with Globe Aroma. Meeting people, learning from each other, hanging out, and relaxing, are important features that have been mentioned by visitors of Globe Aroma to describe their relation with the organization. In this sense, we widen somewhat our own understanding of what a space is from the perspective of it being a space in which minorities can be included in the public sphere (Habermas, Lennox & Lennox [1964] and Kehl [2014]), but as a space in which the artists can meet, discuss, exchange and collaborate, in short, to widen their network (see Nicodemus, Mukanga-Majachani 2015, p.14). From the perspective of the staff members that work there, it is important to provide a space for people without papers to be at ease, and feel part of a community and connect to the wider context of Brussels. While from the perspective of the artists, it was emphasized that being with or without papers was not very important to them and they are rather more concerned with the social, creative and expressive opportunities that Globe Aroma as a space provides.
We argue that the various uses of Globe Aroma as an open art house are infringed upon by external forces such as the police raids. This shows that without supportive policies and a conducive operational framework, the capacity of Globe Aroma to avail a safe space for newcomers (refugees and asylum seekers) is severely limited. Thus, there is the need for a supportive policy framework and external operational environment to continue to exist as an organisation given that the insecurities and precariousness afflicting participants threaten their continued use of Globe Aroma as a space.
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