The commune of Molenbeek became infamous in November 2015 when local terrorists played a key role in planning and executing a series of coordinated strikes in Paris, which killed 130 people and left roughly 400 injured. The tragedy repeated itself in Brussels a few months later, in March 2016, when two suicide attacks originating from the same commune took the lives of 32 people. In the immediate aftermath of these events, Molenbeek seemed forever destined to be associated with the violence of fanaticism. Luckily, however, its history took a different turn: at the very moment when these events were unfolding, the seeds for a different, and brighter, future were being planted.
The art centre “LaVallée”, named after the Molenbeek street in which it is located, opened its doors precisely in 2015, thanks to the joint efforts of the cooperative SMART, which signed a 27-year contract to rent a 19th-century industrial site recently used for a number of purposes (laundry, voodoo church, storage facility, and cinematheque), and project manager Pierre Pevée, who over the years turned it into a renowned creative hub.
Pierre was born in Liege and moved to Brussels 24 years ago. He grew up listening to electronic music, which at that time was still quite niche, and began his journey in the artistic world as a DJ. “I’ve always wanted to play and organise music events. I started putting together techno nights in Liege in 1999 and then I moved to Brussels, where I launched Berlin-style parties”, he told us during a chat in his office.
“As a DJ I used vinyl records. And after playing in Brussels I was offered gigs in Paris, London, and Switzerland. I didn’t consider myself famous, but I had a huge network and I’ve always strived to make people feel welcome, whenever I played music or organised concerts. This is what, I think, opened many doors to me”, he recalled.
It wasn’t long before his events started attracting a lot of attention and shaping the local scene: concerts were soon combined with art exhibitions and fashion shows, attracting thousands of people. “I was glad to be part of a network capable of animating the city. And this is how I started managing artistic communities”.
These experiences indeed gave Pierre an idea: finding a way to provide local artists with low budget, but functional, ateliers and workspaces.
This led to the opening, in 2011 and in cooperation with Alexis Gaillard and Valériane Tramasure, of BAF (Brussels Art Factory), located in the commune of Saint-Gilles: it was the first attempt at turning a large venue into a new artistic centre. “It was an utopistic project, which immediately attracted a lot of interest”, he said with a smile.
Identifying the right place for such an ambitious project proved challenging, but Pierre managed to overcome this obstacle when he partnered for the first time with cooperative SMART, which agreed to rent an 800 m² building for a 6-month trial. The initial test was tremendously successful and consequently it was quickly extended with the signature of a 28-year rental contract, even though the BAF economic model still had to be fully developed.
The launch of LaVallée, with a surface of 6000 m² and a more sophisticated concept, involving not only the provision of ateliers but also the organisation of business and artistic events, was the logical next step in Pierre’s journey. “In LaVallée we organise both concerts and exhibitions not only to animate our community but also to collect the resources needed to manage the whole place. We want to provide our artists with a safe, clean, and stimulating work environment. This requires a level of funding that public resources alone cannot cover”, he explained.
And even though keeping LaVallée running can be difficult at times, it remains a rewarding exercise for him. “LaVallée is not merely a place: it is the group of people working here. The best part of my job is meeting, every day, all the artists that are part of our community. Because bringing them together is what truly motivates me”. 
One of the artists that are part of this community since its early days and that contributed to creating it is Hanna Ilczyszyn, a Polish painter born in Wroclaw. “The first time I felt the desire of becoming a painter I was 16 years old. Since then, it never left me. I’ve always had an urge to create”, Hanna told us during a visit to her studio in LaVallée.
After studying fine arts in her hometown, she moved to Belgium 15 years ago, first to Ghent and then to Brussels. And 10 years ago she made her dream come true: becoming a full-time painter. 
“I feel like I am in the right place. Brussels is very lively from an artistic point of view and very welcoming and supporting of artists. Plus it is inspiring, because it is a slightly surreal place. It definitely is one of Europe’s art capitals”.
Hanna, who over time exhibited her works not only in Belgium but also in Poland, Austria, Germany, France, Latvia, Estonia, Italy, Bulgaria, Spain, The Netherlands, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the USA, gets most of her inspirations from old photographs. “The family of my father fled from Ukraine during the second world war, carrying only old pictures. This is perhaps why they are so moving to me. And then of course there is the visceral power of images: I’ve always found the visual side of things very appealing”, she explained. This is also why Hanna considers fellow Polish painter Aleksandra Waliszewska, and her raw, gothic style, very influential in her work.
But LaVallée too played an important role in Hanna’s artistic path, as it made joint projects and exhibitions with other artists much easier. “Painting can be a lonely job, which is why sharing the creative process with other people is very important”, Hanna said while gesturing towards all the other studios in LaVallée.
The toughest challenge for her however, as for any artist, is actually making a living out of art. “I have the feeling that painting is sometimes considered a hobby, something that people do for fun, rather than real work. And so there’s no immediate economic reward for it. On the other hand, my job allows me to experience every day the joy of creating something new and sharing it with the world. And this is certainly my biggest achievement”, Hanna confessed, her eyes sparkling.
Hanna’s paintings are all about unfiltered emotions. “When I paint I don’t necessarily try to convey a rational message: I’m more interested in eliciting feelings in the viewers. This is why most of the people in my paintings have no recognisable faces or features: when we think of a memory that is dear to us, the details are often blurred, images that used to be clear fade away even if we try to preserve them and what remains is a pervasive sense of nostalgia. In other words, people in my works are not real: they are memories eroded by time”, she explained. And this is indeed what her paintings exude even behind the brightest colours: a bittersweet melancholia, a longing for something lost. Like visiting for one last time the garden where we used to play as kids.
Hanna is now about to begin a new chapter in her artistic path: she recently started working with ceramics and she found a new studio in Ghent, located in the NUCLEO art centre, in which she plans to work to expand her network and horizons. Meanwhile, SMART appears intentioned to handover the management of LaVallée to another entity, with a transfer of responsibility that should take place in the coming months.
But while changes are an inevitable part of life, LaVallée continues to be both a reference point for all artists in Brussels, as well as a symbol of Molenbeek’s redemption. So much so that in 2018 Belgian King Philippe invited French President Macron to visit precisely this art centre during a state visit. “It was an endorsement of our project, especially considering that we developed it in Molenbeek, a commune with a troubled past and reputation”, recalled Pierre. “Welcoming such important guests took over a month of intense work: a unique experience that certainly made our team tighter”, he continued. “We cannot say that LaVallée is changing Molenbeek all by itself. But it certainly brought something new to the neighbourhood, while at the same time helping many local artists to emerge and have access to opportunities that didn’t exist before”.
Both LaVallée and the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels were conceived in the same place and at the same time. But their impact and legacy cannot be more different. LaVallée and the work of people like Pierre and Hanna, are part of the city’s future, which they are helping to redesign. Whereas violence is only destined to be swallowed by the past, forever condemned to look for shameful, hidden corners of our collective memory in which to settle