映像 - 会場

Arnaud Leclercq : It's like an iceberg, there's the top. That's what you see here, that's what we're filming, that's the top. But the reality is all the ice underneath.

Arnaud Leclercq : As for us, we arrived at the Mirano at the end of 2003, worked for six months in 2003 with Paul, and launched the project in early 2004. And we wrapped up in 2010. And we brought that touch of madness that's in the name, actually. It's unexpected, it's hot, this spectacle, this return of glamour. We came with stilt walkers, we came with fire breathers, we went baroque, if you will.

Olivier Gosseries : Once you walked into the Mirano, everything became possible. It was the place where everything became possible. The most improbable things could happen. And I was captivated because, right away, I understood the theatrical side of the place.

Olivier Gosseries : I found myself at the Mirano at sixteen, in '86. From the moment I walked into the Mirano, my only dream was to work there, to be able to play music. There were three hundred of us who wanted that spot, and I met the first DJ of the Mirano, whose name was Jean-Claude Maury. So, I met the master.

Arnaud Leclercq : You'd walk in, you'd go: "Wow!"

Arnaud Leclercq : It's not just a nightclub, it goes beyond a nightclub. It's a temple, because that's the Mirano's advantage: it's a performance venue. It's truly a place that breathes entertainment, with seven-meter-high ceilings that allowed us to do crazy aerial shows.

Olivier Gosseries : All the codes of modern clubbing were born with the Mirano in Brussels. All forms of art came together there.

Arnaud Leclercq : The improv league, the first cyber-theatre, digital cafés, and so on. And thousands of ventures that happened, exhibitions, film premieres. It's a cultural venue, because basically, it's a theatre.

Olivier Gosseries : You have to know that the Mirano was always avant-garde, for everything, including music, up to a certain point. Carl De Moncharline, his mission was precisely to restore the Mirano's music to its former glory. And then, ten years later, in 2003, another change, but with a sense of continuity, with Dirty. I took part in that adventure, actually, Dirty. A good DJ is first and foremost about feeling. The DJs who left the biggest mark on me, the ones who influenced me the most, were DJs who didn't have great technique, but who had extraordinary programming.

Arnaud Leclercq : Generally speaking, when you do scenography, you build a nice set, you stage it and it plays out, and people watch. For us, it's the exact opposite. They definitely shouldn't just watch. At some point, the set has to disappear so the adventure can begin, their personal adventure.

Arnaud Leclercq : The Mirano was a place everyone had already been to. You had to put your own stamp on it so they'd feel it was different, new. That's the magic of it, you know. It was done with just a few elements: the lighting, the decor. We managed to make a statement, to make sure we pulled people into a universe.

Olivier Gosseries : Today, a DJ isn't just someone who plays records. They have a certain image to cultivate on social media, that's become important today. In substance, the job hasn't changed. In form, it has.

Arnaud Leclercq : We lived through the digital age and then the transition. The chandeliers were changed during the Dirty era, with the arrival of LEDs. Being able to change the color without a guy climbing up for forty-five minutes to put on a gel. I did shows where people were hidden in the chandeliers at the start of the scenography, and then they'd rise, and people didn't expect it. If you look at the photos, if you look at everything, you'll see that people... That's why we were instagrammable before Instagram.

Olivier Gosseries : Every DJ I knew dreamed of working at the Mirano. The Mirano always had that magical side where, as soon as you find yourself behind the decks, something happens. Something quite unique that I've rarely experienced elsewhere. It's part of the walls. It has a soul.

Arnaud Leclercq : For me, the Mirano was the greatest school. And I had the greatest teachers. Whether it was Yves Croiset, Vincent Dallemagne, Jacqueline Kuzee, who brought me to the Mirano. Marco, Paul... There were of course the bartenders, starting with Wim, who had his own bar. There were the lighting technicians, there were the people who came for the sound. The Mirano is all of that. It's one of the rare places where I took on interns. Thomas, well, that's it. I saw that he had potential and I passed those things on to him.

Arnaud Leclercq : As I always say, like a Padawan with a Jedi.

Olivier Gosseries : The day they officially hired me as a resident, my dream came true, you know.

Arnaud Leclercq : We were incredibly lucky because the Mirano is the Louvre.

Luan Kolgjini: I knew the Mirano from its great years. It was the place everyone dreamed of getting into. It was truly the cult spot of nightlife. I went there as a customer… But as the owner of the place, it was something else.

Laura Beyne: I have older brothers and sisters who were already going there back then. And then, when I was old enough to go out, I thought: "Why not, just once, go see what everyone is talking about?"

Romain Garcin: When I arrived in Brussels, I worked in small bars where I remember the cooks were old-timers who told us about their nights at the Mirano. They were fifteen or sixteen at the time and nearly sixty when they told us about it.

Beba Storm: When I see the Mirano, so many images come back. So many nights I relive, as a customer or when we performed there.

Zoey Hasselbank: It's a magnificent club. It's big. I don't know how to explain it, it's an experience.

Luan Kolgjini: When the opportunity came to take over the Mirano, it was a great opportunity. Especially since the Mirano has a history. Madonna, Prince passed through there. It was a new challenge for me. First, I surrounded myself with people who were already in the nightlife scene: DJs, artistic directors, people who master social media. That universe, that identity, well, it wasn't mine. Over the years, I evolved, I learned about everything. And here I am today, well established in the nightlife scene.

Laura Beyne: When I had been elected Miss Belgium, I was invited and so I arrived in front of the club. I was truly welcomed like a princess. Really, I had two bodyguards who took me up to the VIP area. It was quite impressive because I was nineteen and we had a truly memorable evening.

Luan Kolgjini: Having a date there is never simple for a DJ. I lost many litres of water that day because I really tried to give it my all.

Zoey Hasselbank: I mixed there two or three years ago. A good DJ, to me, is someone who knows how to make people dance. Man or woman, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all.

Luan Kolgjini: For me it's the number one club in Belgium today. Even if it has faded a bit lately, it remains number one. It was hard to sell it. We did it. We left through the back door. But it was a great experience. A very, very great one.

Luan Kolgjini: It's a club that gave momentum to other clubs. It's one of the first clubs that really brought hip-hop in. They opened a lane for other people.

Luan Kolgjini: I saw this evolution happening, how it was going. And we really told ourselves there was something to play for. And that's why we went for another musical colour, towards hip-hop.

Laura Beyne: A few years ago, listening to hip-hop was a bit frowned upon.

Beba Storm: There was something forbidden about it because those were, for me, the first albums where I saw written: "Parental advisory required".

Romain Garcin: It was hyper codified as being aimed at a male audience. Now it has taken another turn and we've arrived at something that appeals to the widest audience.

Zoey Hasselbank: From the start, I took risks. I just bought my equipment and jumped in because I love music too much. I feel like the hip-hop scene in Belgium is starting to exist. Everyone is starting to support each other and we're rising together.

Beba Storm: We were also able to show that it's a coming together. It makes me happy to see Whites, Blacks, Rebeux all together. They all dance together, they sing the same lyrics. There's good and less good, as in all music, but it's a music that is respected today and fully belongs in clubs.

Romain Garcin: An art that is popular is, precisely, destined to spread through all social classes.

Luan Kolgjini: The first artist I booked was Drake. I did Wiz Khalifa, A$AP Rocky, at the Birdy and the Spirito. And that's when I saw this enthusiasm, this demand. I think I've really done all the French elite: Booba, Gims, Lacrim, Kaaris… And so many others. And it was also a success.

Romain Garcin: We work with quite a few artists, mainly rappers, in order to develop their album covers, to start with, and their image as well. With the arrival of streaming, what has completely changed is that the physical album format exists less and less. We have this square format which is much wider and much more conducive to creation, because we're not limited by track placement, with a marketing aspect that is completely different now.

Luan Kolgjini: It's not just music, it's a lifestyle, it's a fashion universe. So you see certain footballers playing on the same team as the artists. There, that's a strong message.

Zoey Hasselbank: I'll give the example of Lil Pump. He drops a track, "Gucci Gang", and everyone is like: "Gucci, Gucci". Just because a track came out, everyone follows.

Laura Beyne: When you see, for example, houses like Balmain asking Kanye West, a rapper, to be their face, you can really see that hip-hop is current at every level.

Luan Kolgjini: It's the movement of the present. Clearly. For me, it's the music that will blow up even more in the years to come.

Romain Garcin: Besides, today rappers are rock stars. You see it during concerts, during interviews, in their personality, in the risks they take. They are the new rock stars.

Zoey Hasselbank: Hip-hop is the future.

Carl De Moncharline: This whole Mirano story… it's trying to put words, after the fact, on something where there really aren't any words. These are things we lived.

Lorenzo Serra: You have to go sit inside it for 30 minutes, and if the walls don't speak to you, well, don't try to do something there.

Arnaud Leclercq: The venue is incredible, but it can still have a second youth.

Yves Ruth: When you open a club, when you do a reopening, there are several aspects: artistic direction, taste, musical choices, musical culture, whether for electro or for more urban crowds.

Nicolas Logelain: We will have to succeed in offering a cultural programme that is in tune with the codes Brussels people have always known, but also with the new codes coming from outside. So it's going to be quite a challenge.

Yves Ruth: The artistic director's job becomes really interesting when you allow people to have that palette of discoveries between experience and renewal, but where everything is connected, because there is a desire to make people discover, a desire to thrill them, a desire to make people move.

Nicolas Logelain: That's exactly what drives and motivates us. It's telling ourselves that we're going to try to shake things up and offer something new. And I think that's very much awaited.

Luan Kolgjini: My advice is to surround yourself well. You really need to surround yourself with people who love the night, who love music, who love the place. The Mirano has a history, as I said. It needs people who are up to that history.

Renaud Deru: You really have to approach the Mirano with respect and humility. I didn't arrive like a mercenary going: 'OK walls, it's cool, I'm going to blow the place up.' No, no. I listened to it. I tried to understand… and then we totally nailed it.

Lorenzo Serra: Yes.

Yves Ruth: I think, somewhere, the most beautiful challenge of the reopening is that they gave themselves the desire and the idea of using two artistic directors for two different universes.

Nicolas Logelain: It's more urban music meeting electronic music. I think it's a marriage that is bound to exist in the very near future.

Yves Ruth: We don't step on each other's toes, we complement each other.

Nicolas Logelain: We feed off each other and off each other's ideas. It has to be an experience – I'm not saying unique – but at least different, something that leaves a mark.

Romain Garcin: The Mirano has a historical strength it has to play on.

Jean-Pierre Mels: Multiply yourselves, multiply the facets of the Mirano.

Olivier Gosseries: A right balance between mainstream and underground.

Nicolas Logelain: Culture has evolved a lot, so I think the primary job of an artistic director is really to feed on everything that's being done, and not only within the universe that belongs to us. We have to find influences elsewhere in order to constantly offer new things. The advantage we have with the Mirano, I think, is that it's a cultural showcase. Known and recognised for decades. For the youngest generation, it's a disco. But for some people it's still a concert hall, for others a cultural hall, a theatre.

Nicolas Logelain: A podium where fashion shows took place. There, I think it has many labels. Artistically, what we can offer is a mix of all the identities it has had in the past, while obviously constantly proposing something new.

Luan Kolgjini: The Mirano must come alive again today. The Mirano is the flagship club here in Brussels.

Paul Sterck: I think they have the intellectual means, the creative means. And I found them, like us back then, willing to listen. And that, I think, is important.

Aldo Gigli: It's a place I loved so much, it's like a baby. I found it fabulous that a new generation would take it over to do something in that spirit. I find it fabulous.

Olivier Gosseries: It's looking good. We already want to be there.

Arnaud Leclercq: Knowing this baby is in good hands, what a pleasure.

Jean-Pierre Mels: The place has a soul. So, enjoy it. Enjoy it.

Carl De Moncharline: These are different stories. They are different Miranos. They all have their reason for being, they all have their code. And each time they are periods that have died and that were beautiful periods. We wait for the next one.

Aldo Gigli: I hope so. Lots of luck. It's going to be thunder.