We’re Going Down by, Down by, the Muddy River

This visual essay reports on collaborative research conducted by Latitude Platform on the cellars of houses that pixelate a large part of the Brussels underground. The cellars of Saint Antoine, one of the poorest and most densely populated neighbourhoods in Brussels, are inhabited spaces tormented by the persistent issue of water intrusion. This includes problems such as soil dampness, rising groundwater levels, sewer backups, street or garden runoff, and the passage of an underground stream. Photographs, micro-stories, maps and drawings reveal the geography of a condition whose causes and responsibilities are manifold. The remedies for this structural problem must be sought by examining the engagement of different human and non-human bodies at multiple scales: from the individual resident’s basement to public structural interventions at regional and interregional levels, while also considering the essential collaborations that can be fostered. Meanwhile, the inhabitants have embarked on continuous acts of repair, care, and adaptation: great labours and unconventional acts of continuous “building” that enable the inhabitation of fragility.