The project explores how personal stories and everyday voices—shared through oral history and sound—can reveal the identity of Schipperskwartier, a layered neighborhood in Antwerp shaped by migration, maritime memory, and social boundaries. Once home to a vibrant Greek community of sailors, the area was filled with music, dance, and cultural exchange. Today, little of that presence remains. The project collects sonic fragments, urban myths, and lived experiences of Skipper's Quarter to map, reimagine and activate voices of the past—tracing how memory shapes the present and future. The collected material will inspire a multimedia concert combining field recordings, video, and live performance by Sibil-la Ensemble, a medieval-inspired contemporary music group. Outcomes will be shared through two public workshops at the Conservatoire with staff and students from both the Conservatoire and the Academy. A keynote and academic paper will be presented at the International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies, hosted by Eliwise Academy. The project is embedded in the Conservatoire’s CREATIE research group, exploring cultural heritage as a transdisciplinary artistic method, and developed in close collaboration with research group ArchiVolt at the Academy, aiming to activate the archive through artistic research.
Update: May 2026
