About Au fil de la Terre
Au fil de la Terre is a non lucrative association. The purposes and aims of the association are:We permanently weave contacts through official and private associations, private persons, all public, with the purpose of introducing art and acknowledgment of art as a force and a support in all aspects of people's life. It is conceived as an education to open-mindedness to the unexpected and unforeseen, allowing a development of creativity and an increase of value of differences.
Allowing people to discover or re-discover the wealth of their culture, makes them proud of their roots, strong about what they are and represent, and is also a work of sustainable development. Being awareness of this is a tool of peace and of positive development. This way of working helps to educate the local population and helps to fight against fear and the rejection of difference.
Our association creates networks between institutions and associations, institutions and the public. Au fil de la terre can be the missing link between institutions and people because sometimes the institutions are limited by their structural feature.
The association has a role of facilitator, promoter, initiator and creator of networks and support.
Our activities have included: a 2002 visit to Senegal for the Dakar Biennale, invited by the cultural minister. We took the opportunity to speak about the biennale in Louvain la Neuve, to students of the university and to a larger public. Since 2002, we are invited by Senegalese artists to each biennale in order to present Belgian artists in the OFF, creating links between the two continents.
Organizing a major exhibition of a well-known African artist in cooperation with an educational event concerning HIV. In 2006 we initiated a new way of approaching and presenting art all around the city of Louvain la Neuve with a good approbation of the press speaking about a « premiere of an original artistic event » : nest boxes transformed by artists from all around the world exhibited everywhere (shops, museum, movie, associations, library, school...) provoking debate about this new city. Our association contributed to the university forum about cultural diversity and durable development (commision de l’environnement de l’UCL) with exhibition and music.
In 2008 : we organized a welcoming of the foreign students in the university : through an exhibition which symbolized their countries and artists. In 2009, we realized another major exhibition about identity “JE est un autre” which included a conference with professors, researchers, the Royal museum of central Africa’s curator and the artists and different partners from all around the city of Louvain la Neuve.
