Rif
Zoöp since: 2025 | Location: Mortsel, BE | Speaker for the Living: Didier El-Bacha
RIF is a workshop for music theatre. As the first Belgian Zoöp, it works to create a place where music, theatre, neighbourhood and natural environment come together. They explore the musical power of theatre and the theatrical power of music. RIF is working step by step to become a place that supports more life.
Highlights
Highlights of the goals RIF is working towards as a Zoöp:
- Raising awareness of more-than-human life
RIF demonstrates that their place is part of a larger ecosystem. Through programmes, stories and activities, it becomes visible how human life is always connected to animals, plants and other life forms. This fosters the understanding that an organisation is never separate from its environment. - Building an engaged community around the site
A broad community of neighbourhood residents, volunteers and visitors is forming around RIF, actively taking part. Children, for example, helped sign the Zoöp contract using vegetable ink during the Rif festival. Initiatives such as the children-run pop-up "Restrontrant" also show how the site is shared as a space of care, creativity and collaboration. - Making the building and surroundings regenerative
RIF is working on a masterplan to make the building and its surroundings progressively more regenerative, including increasing biodiversity around the site, a potential rooftop garden, and stronger connections between inside and outside. The infrastructure is also being reconsidered as a circular system, for example by reusing rainwater and making water and energy flows circulate more intelligently.
