DOFA (Department of Frozen Affairs)

October 2026 first iteration

At Metarage one-year anniversary – Brussels

Department of Frozen Affairs is an evolving participatory project exploring the shifting balance of power between those who serve and those being served. Drawing on my years working in hospitality in Belgium and my own encounters with the bureaucracy of settling here, it brings administrative procedures into sensory encounters, playing with the tensions between care, classification and control. Its first iteration, presented during Métarage’s anniversary celebration in Brussels on 3 October 2026, took the form of an ice cream stand turned administrative counter, where a coloured die determined the distribution of flavours, portions and tasks. Participants were invited to decipher unfamiliar tastes and engage with one another through smell, conversation and touch. This first experiment opens an ongoing inquiry into how the act of serving can shape our attention to others, and how rules can both enable and interrupt an encounter.