In Aalst, the Dender River forms both a physical and mental boundary. Since the river was straightened near the city centre in 1863, it has dramatically changed the city’s mobility and industrial landscape. During the industrial revolution, the Dender was an important source of transport and energy, but at the same time it also marked the divide between poverty and prosperity—a boundary that remains palpable to this day.

The first episode of Info~Angel explores the historical development of the neighbourhood on the right bank of the Dender where NW is located through the lens of the water and its inhabitants. Once a marshy area, Rechteroever (right bank) transformed into an industrial core with factories and workers’ housing. The neighbourhood evolved into a vibrant working-class community but also faced poverty and difficult living conditions. Using historical documents, photographs, and personal stories, it becomes apparent how the rise of the working-class neighbourhood ‘across the water’ not only affected the social fabric but also led to a stigma: an inferior image compared to the more prosperous Linkeroever (left bank), where the city centre was located. How has this evolution and persistent stigma shaped residents’ current lives and visions for the future?

Today, Rechteroever is a very diverse place where people from different backgrounds live together. This diversity leads to divergent views and historical frames of reference, which can sometimes create tensions when viewing heritage practices. During the exhibition, NW is organising workshops around ‘emotion networks’. This is an interactive conversation methodology that makes feelings and points of view about the past discussable. Visual translations of these emotion networks are included in the exhibition to keep the conversation around heritage and the future alive.

Over the Water was compiled in collaboration with Rick Jimenez (KADOC) as part of the To Bridge a Gap project, an investigation into internal migration, diversity, and religion in Flanders, and heritage as a lever for local community building.