Mercerie
In 1891, Ernest Absalon, a craftsman from Molenbeek, established himself in Rue Saint-Christophe and bought the plot behind it to build a large haberdashery and hosiery workshop. The building, designed in 1912 by Victor Horta, has been on the heritage preservation list since 1997.
Regrettably, the site has been unoccupied for the last few decades and slowly declining into disrepair. Now, thanks to a two-year temporary occupancy contract with the current owner, VZW Miauw is breathing new life into the building by setting up a cultural and social programme open to all Brussels' residents. As a showcase for the emerging art scene, La Mercerie's main mission is to give visibility to promising talent from all over the city, outside institutional systems and the art market. Each week, La Mercerie develops a new multifaceted project, which hatches and blossoms over the weekend, as an individual or collective exhibition, a corpus performances, a dance piece or a live show, a diploma or jury exhibition for an art school, a cabaret, a concert and much more.
