The Post Collective consisted at that time of Elli Vassalou, Mirra Markhaeva, Marcus Bergner, and Sawsan. After a few meetings, it became clear that The Post Collective should be strengthened within the BNA-BBOT project. On May 26, 2023, The Post Collective comes together with new members: Fareed Aziz, Firewyni Getahun, Golnesa Rezanezhad, Taziri Al Omrani, Inanna Nasr, Lazara Rosell, Souheila Yildiz, and Maarten De Vrieze to start the collaboration.

The Post Collective is an autonomous platform for co-creation, co-learning, and cultural activism founded by and for refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented people, and allies. We aim to create artistic, cultural, and employment opportunities and provide a shared space for all our members regardless of their legal status. The collective originated during the ‘Open Design Course for Refugees and Asylum Seekers’ in 2018 at the KASK School of Arts in Ghent, Belgium, when some alumni and teachers decided to continue their collaboration. Our approaches to art are based on generative forms of dialogue and storytelling, both speculative and experiential. We strive to develop creative alternatives that reach beyond the dominant systems of control and exclusion we face. This means we do not strive for assimilation but rather critically reconsider our future together.

This group of twelve, regularly meets in Brussels, either at the offices of BNA-BBOT, The Manchester Space: new polyphonies, Cinema Maximiliaan, The Green Corridor, city lab: Pianofabriek, the atelier of Lore Smolders and in Ghent at Sawsan’s and Hanan’s home or Kunsthal Gent. During our initial sessions together, we examine the PAACT, a document previously created by The Post Collective – published in the kin arts almanac 2023, State of the arts -in open dialogue. The Paperless Art Alliance Contract (PAACT) emerged from experiences working in the cultural sector. It is a response to the urgent need to create a set of mutual conditions between employers and employees involving the collective as a whole. The goal is to create safer spaces with clear expectations and guidelines for collaboration with both institutions and individuals. Questions about equality and recognition of the collective and its members are addressed in the PAACT. It is important to emphasize that the PAACT is not only a means to draw attention to the challenges of (undocumented) artists or cultural workers but also represents a broader struggle with ethical, cultural, and social implications. It aims to imagine another world where equality, inclusivity, and sustainability are central, both within the collective, the institutions we collaborate with, and society as a whole.

The Post Collective