In the beginning 2018, SoHoLab started a digital storytelling trajectory in Peterbos, in collaboration with Nele Gulynck of the Odisee Hogeschool, who developed the tool.
Digital Storytelling is a tool in which participants create short movies, consisting of moving images, pictures and drawings. It is often used in marginalized or sensationalized communities, with the underlying idea to offer a creative tool for “unheard” voices to be heard. By promoting them as “experts” in their own lives , they are included as active subjects in forming an image of their neighborhood.
In the case of Peterbos, over the course of six weeks, we developed small movies 8 inhabitants, using a self-written text, pictures, drawings and short moving images, resulting in 6 stories.
The initial goal of the project was to work on narratives surrounding the estate, but the movies were also a valuable tool in other projects. The trajectory and the information gathered from the movies inspired to reflect on general conceptions on public space and participation in the regeneration of large-scale social estates. Additionally, the project inspired the participants to develop an up-cycling project in the neighborhood (see Brico Rencontre).