We tried to create a script for a radio play; ‘waiting rooms for doom’, where we would work with Brussels Congress train station as a place on pause, a zone to feel through the already present but hard to comprehend, doom.
We wanted to imagine doom as an echo of actual violence outside our own room full of muzak. We thought about forces that push towards ‘waiting’ as a way of spending time. In the play, doom enters our site across different characters who are placed hierarchically within a capitalist society. They are tied to a corporation in one way or another and relate to that bondage in a variety of ways. Doom was present as a potency. A crack that was not yet formed, doom was on the verge of leaking and potentially able to ruin train infrastructure, and more, in the capital of Belgium.
While trying and writing we also got tired. Tired of the capitalist hierarchy that made our characters, and our ideas, static. We forgot about cracks and leaks. So, instead of a fully formed radio play, our broadcast decided to give those architectural flaws some attention. You will hear an interview between The Artist and Leonardo Treno, railway enthusiast and guardian to the legacy of Brussels Congress station, along with rehearsal ruptures and other interference.
Sound Design: Chloë Janssens, amy pickles and Sil Borremans
Sound Engineer: Sil Borremans
Written by: all the above people and more.
waiting rooms for doom has emerged through different periods in residence at Q-O2, and further diffracted collaboration between Chloë Janssens and amy pickles for around one year. Many different voices and perspectives have formed this work through exchanges in workshop and feedback sessions. Thank you to everyone for everything <3
Paul Gründorfer - 19/6/24
