Polis and Performance: Political Representation in Brussels as a Cultural Discourse

Documentary filmmaker Tomas Hendriks recently finished "Decision Pending" an ‘audiovisual symphony’ about political spaces in Brussels, about the sense of uncertainty and impotence in the corridors of power. His ‘non-political film about politics’ reveals a theatricality of politics, or at least a performative framework shaping political processes. In my paper I will propose the theoretical framework of a field study about political behavior in Brussels, on different levels: municipality, region, nation, Europe. Politics discourse will be observed as an ethnographical object, as a culturally (over)determined discourse, parallel to 'proper' cultural discourses such as architectural landmarks and city parades. The planned study should also use specifically artistic tools - re-enactments, documentary theatre - as a refinement the analysis of political performativity in Brussels, and as a contribution to the methodology of political field observation.