Press Release - Triennial Liquid City

Bruges Triennial and the preliminary Pre- Triennials are of utmost importance to this city. The perception of Bruges as a bubble of heritage has changed; our medieval Bruges has become a vibrant, bustling city with a lot of opportunities. During the previous edition of Triennial 2015 we were able to live up to this expectation. Just think of Song Dong’s monumental composition of coloured Chinese windows in the shadow of St. Salvator’s Cathedral, or Tadashi Kawamata’s treehouses in the old beguinage. Let’s not forget the Canal Swimmer’s Club  of  Atelier  Bow- Wow and the local agency Dertien12 at the Carmersbrug. Projects like these in public places surprised visitors, but even locals of Bruges.

Two years later, we are working towards the edition of Bruges Triennial 2018. The new installations that will shape our urban image will leave many amazed. Bruges is a city of opportunities, including permanent contemporary changes.

Meanwhile, two (co)creative processes have been launched in the heart of the city. The Belgian architectural firm of Ruimteveldwerk is again cooperating with the inhabitants of the almshouses of Sint- Trudo at the Garenmarkt. Together with the archaeologists of Raakvlak they even did some research in one of the courtyards! At the DuPont site the German collective of raumlabor creates opportunities for new encounters in their House of Time, a place for living and a place of work that will be continued in the future. Both (co)creative projects work closely with the social partners of the city of Bruges.

In spring 2018 the Argentinian artist and architect Tomás Saraceno will live up to the role of favourite by launching his performance as soon as the weather permits. This contemporary visionary considers the airspace to be the ultimately unused yet widely available public space. Inspired by Italo Calvino’s flying city he builds cities in the air, using ultralight roll-up solar panels as sails. For now only a model, but who knows what the future might bring? This is also how Tomás Saraceno announces the new edition of Bruges Triennial 2018. A video of his performance will be exhibited along with his Bruges Aeroscene Tower.

The arts trail draws on the concept of a Liquid City, introduced by Zygmunt Bauman, a Polish-British sociologist and philosopher who studied social changes and liquid society. Temporary monumental artistic and architectural installations might offer an answer to those issues of liquid society. At the same time, Bruges is a city where people live by and with the water of the canals and the sea. Our city, literally surrounded by water - making it world famous, is turned into a metaphorical Liquid City.

By means of public, accessible and inviting installations Bruges Triennial 2018 creates opportunities for new encounters between a diverse range of city users. Casual synergies, sudden insights and sustainable solutions stimulate the image of the city. These processes lead to a new understanding of liquid urbanity and society. Innovation, creativity and quality are combined in the urban DNA of Bruges Triennial 2018. Artists and architects keep this central principle in mind, resulting in sustainable, human and eco-friendly art installations throughout our lovely city.

Our well-known URB EGG-café is  again part of the Triennial trail. It is the perfect spot for new encounters, dialogue and a relaxing break during your visit to Bruges. The city of Bruges also participates in Beaufort with the collective Rotor from Brussels, which will both be present in a new pavilion at the beach of Zeebrugge and in the exhibition in the Poortersloge in Bruges.

Curators Till-Holger Borchert and Michel Dewilde, who made an international selection of artists and architects for Bruges Triennial 2018, will subsequently provide further information. These artists and architects stated that they consider Bruges, recognized as UNESCO world heritage, to be an unique, well-preserved city and a perfect spot to install their temporary artworks. Let us all count down until the 5th of May 2018.

Save the date!

LIQUID CITY - VLOEIBARE STAD, TILL-HOLGER BORCHERT AND MICHEL  DEWILDE

Curators Bruges Triennial 2018 

Bruges, Liquid City

The world is in transition. Long-established ideas and ways of life are coming under pressure. A state of constant flux, driven by variation, pluralism and ambivalence can lead to uncertainty and even fear. But Bruges Triennial 2018 adopts the opposite stance as a possible beacon, a fluid city, open and involved, the engine of social, cultural and political change. Bruges as a creative melting pot where diversity leads to encounter. A seedbed for innovation in an urban context.

In a liquid city, an important role is reserved for the participating citizen. Just like the burghers in medieval Bruges, only without the discriminatory meaning of the citizenship of that time. A responsible citizen today actively participates in the social process and local policy of the city. The citizen and government jointly strive for a community where the sharing of experiences, dreams and wishes of all city users leads to a fusion of the horizons. The temporary, shared and welcoming spaces of Triennale Brugge 2018 stimulate such exchanges and help to lay a new urban foundation.

The fluid city, literally surrounded by water that once accounted for Bruges’ world fame, will become a metaphorical Liquid City. Fluidity, transition, influx, exchange, Bruges Triennial 2018 is an uninterrupted artistic movement that gently ripples its way through the city, making the occasional wave.

Installations in public space

Taking the specific context of Bruges, Bruges Triennial 2018: Liquid City uses the image of today’s liquid city as a symbol for positive social and urban change. Artists, architects and scientists are invited to formulate answers to crises in the liquid society, working closely with inhabitants and visitors.

By means of cooperative creative processes, Bruges Triennial 2018 creates opportunities for new encounters between a diverse range of city users. Chance synergies, sudden insights and sustainable solutions stimulate the image of the city. These processes lead to a new understanding of liquid urbanity and society. The arts trail in the historic heart of Bruges weaves the various aspects of the liquid city into three broad themes: inviting, hospitable spaces; creative cooperation projects, and the city imagined.

Inviting, hospitable public spaces

International artists and architects develop public spaces in the historic heart of the city and turn them into places where diversity leads to encounter.

(Co-)creative partnerships

At the same time artists and architects will set up cooperation projects among unlikely partners who manage to overcome their often conflicting interests. The resulting dynamic changes the urban identity radically and sustainably.

The city imagined

The focus of a third group of artists and architects relates to the symbolic representation of urbanity. The artworks inspire identity, hopes and dreams.

BRUGES TRIENNIAL 2018: THE ARTS TRAIL

1. JAROSŁAW KOZAKIEWICZ (PL), BRUG

Groenerei

Two faces meet, kissing by the water. They create a place for new – often unexpected – encounters.

Jarosław Kozakiewicz studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where he graduated in 1989 and currently teaches. He combined his studies with an education at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York, where he earned a doctorate in arts in 1997. In 2004, his work received the Award of the Critics’ Association Pokaz. Six years later, he represented Poland at the tenth International Architecture Biennale in Venice.

2. WESLEY MEURIS (BE), URBANMODEL

Burg

What better place to welcome and meet new guests or visitors? This pavilion combines aspects of welcoming spaces in an artistic analysis.

Wesley Meuris studied at LUCA School of Arts and HISK in Antwerp. In 2015, he completed a PhD. Recent solo exhibitions include Enter # 3 - Side at Mu.ZEE (Ostend, BE), Museum of the Futures at the Palais de Justice (Poitiers, FR), The Office at Jeudi (Geneva, CH), Expansion at LaBF15 (Lyon, FR) and R-05.Q-IP.0007 Wesley Meuris at Casino Luxembourg, Forum for Contemporary Art (Luxembourg, LU). In 2007, he was already invited to Bruges with his exhibition Artificially Deconstructed in De Bond.

3. RENATO NICOLODI (BE), ACHERON I

Langerei near the Duinenbrug

A monumental sculpture seems to be floating in the middle of the Langerei. Might this be an entrance to the underworld?

Renato Nicolodi graduated in painting at Sint-Lukas in Brussels in 2003 and in 2007 he was a laureate at HISK in Ghent. In the following years, he took a remarkable course, in which his interest quickly shifted to sculptural installations.

Nicolodi is known for his solo exhibitions Genius Loci (Ypres, BE), EI HOUSE (Ghent, BE) and he is represented by the Axel Vervoordt Gallery. His work did not go unnoticed abroad. Already you will find his installations at the Frieze Sculpture Park (London, UK), at the Palazzo Fortuny (Venice, IT) and at the Lieu d’Art Contemporain (Sigean, FR).

4. NLÉ —  KUNLÉ  ADEYEMI  (NG-NL), MFS III - MINNE FLOATING SCHOOL

Minnewater

In 2016 NLÉ won the Silver Lion for his Floating School in Venice. This time he refined the installation creating a floating classroom looking out over of one of Bruges’ finest parks.

Kunlé Adeyemi studied architecture in Nigeria and emigrated to the Netherlands, where he worked for ten years for the famous Office of Metropolitan Architecture of Rotterdam (OMA). He has led the design, development and execution of various prestigious international projects, such as Rock- Chicago Lakefront Kiosk, Chicago Radio Media Center, Port Harcourt and Black Rhino Academy in Tanzania. Then he founded his own NLÉ studio in Amsterdam, which means house in Nigerian.

Adeyemi sees his work as a social task: according to him, urban development and architecture should contribute to the improvement of society.

5. OBBA (KR), THE FLOATING ISLAND

Langerei near the Snaggaardbrug

OBBA adds a new dimension to architecture and pushes her boundaries. In Bruges the agency makes room for a new walk, right on the water! Nest in the environment and experience the city from a whole new perspective while the water of the canals is rippling under your feet.

Sojung Lee studied at Ewha Womans University and the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation, she participated in a wide range of projects such as OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture) in the Netherlands and Mass Studies in Seoul. She has taught at Seoul National University and Hongik University and currently teaches at Yonsei University.

Sangjoon Kwak is a graduate of Yonsei University of Architectural Engineering. He built his career at YEON Architects and Mass Studies. He is a lecturer in the Department of Architecture at Hongik University.

6. ROXY PAINE (USA), GROUND FAULT

Langerei near the Spiegelrei

Nature and technology: two extremes, brought together in a matt metal sculpture, find each other in the roots of their existence and remind us of the fact that precisely these connections enable communication.

The work of Roxy Paine (1966, New York) often depicts the shock of contradictory impulses, such as industry and nature, control and chaos, form and theory. Over the years, his work has developed into a combination of these contradictions: realistic sculptures of botanical forms, installations that produce sculptures and paintings in a fully automatic way, dioramas and structures with steel dendrites.

Some his work is now in renowned institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art), New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, the Hirshhorn Museum, the Seattle Olympic Sculpture Park and the Wanas Foundation, Sweden.

7. JOHN POWERS (USA), LANCHALS

Minneboplein

Lanchals will guide you to the city centre. This fifteen-metre tall structure of rigorously stacked modules will mark a hidden place of peace and serenity in the city.

The New York-based artist John Powers (1970, Chicago) studied with Tom Jay, at Pacific Northwest, the Pratt Institute and Hunter College. He usually builds his images from modules that he repeats to infinity. His constructions have already been exhibited at the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art), the Kohler Arts Center, the Black & White Gallery and the Brooklyn Museum.

In addition, he writes contributions for various online art sites such as Star Wars Modern, Hyperallergic and Triple Canopy.

8. RAUMLABOR (DE), HOUSE OF TIME

i.c.w. Bolwerk and Brugge(n) voor Jongeren, Site DuPont, Wulpenstraat

House of Time equals peace, encounter and co-creation. For one year, youngsters come together and jointly transform the site to a place where everything is possible. This project is developed in cooperation with Bolwerk and Brugge(n) voor Jongeren.

The collective raumlabor, founded in Berlin in 1999, is not an architectural firm but a group of nine architects with the same interest: developing small-scale projects that are deeply rooted in existing local structures. Their work varies from conservation to recycling, urbanism, scenography and often has ANARCHectural impact. The current members of the group are Francesco Apuzzo, Markus Bader, Benjamin Foerster-Baldenius, Frauke Gerstenberg, Andrea Hofmann, Jan Liesgang, Christof Mayer and Axel Timm.

Raumlabor works all over the world, from Argentina to Switzerland. In 2011 and 2012, they landed in Brussels with Parc Grisar during the TodaysArt Festival and the Curo garden for Parckdesign.

9. ROTOR (BE), THE CASE OF THE MITTEN CRAB

Poortersloge, Academiestraat Brugge i.c.w. Beaufort: Zeebrugge-strand

The Chinese mitten crab, an introduced species in the canals of Bruges. Follow its tracks until Zeebrugge!

Rotor, founded in 2005, is a Brussels architecture collective focused on the cycle of industrial and construction materials. Critic of existing regulatory and cultural standards, Rotor has worked in recent years with architects and decision makers to stress the ecological and economic importance of recycling in construction, disseminate their research in publications (including their Vademecum) and through conferences. Rotor DC - Deconstruction and the commercial site that accompanies it give economic value to recycled building materials.

The team is made up of architects, designers and other professionals in the engineering and materials sciences, including Lionel Billiet, Tristan Boniver, Gabrielle Leyden, Maarten Gielen, Michael Ghyoot, Benjamin Lasserre, Melanie Tamm and Renaud Haerlingen. In 2010, they represented Belgium at the 12th International Architecture Biennale of Venice with “Usus / Usures”, in 2013 they were the curatorial team for Oslo Triennale of Architecture “Behind the Green Door”. In 2016, they were nominated for OVAM Ecodesign PRO Award.

10. RUIMTEVELDWERK (BE), G.O.D. 

Garenmarkt

The area where the Almshouses such as Sint-Trudo are situated is to be a place of silence. But what does silence mean? Prepare yourself to experience absolute silence, where you can meet others in all serenity.

Pieter Brosens (1976, Antwerp), Pieter Cloeckaert (Leuven, 1984), Brecht Van Duppen and Sander Van Duppen (Leuven, 1987) make up the team of Ruimteveldwerk (RVW). They regard the urban environment and its users as essentially interdisciplinary, paying particular attention to the place of vulnerable subgroups in the public environment.

Ruimteveldwerk aims to expand the boundaries of architecture and connect it to urban planning, sociology, history, art and activism. Their architectural interventions are scenarios and layered strategies in the urban context, aiming to making the social network more intense and the socio-spatial frameworks negotiable. For example, in 2016, they developed the “After Belonging” card game with asylum seekers for the Oslo Triennial of Architecture.

11. TOMÁS SARACENO (AR), BRUGES AEROCENE TOWER

Poortersloge, Academiestraat

Saraceno dreams about a future of flying cities that float on solar and wind energy. He sends prototypes up in the sky and has them film what they register.

Tomás Saraceno (1973, Tucuman, AR) lives and works in Berlin (DE). He was first trained as an architect and is now considered one of the most visionary artists of his generation. His work is experimental in nature, fueled by the worlds of art, architecture, natural sciences and engineering. Floating sculptures, community projects and interactive installations explore new ways of life, living and working.

Saraceno’s projects are closely linked to the unbridled utopianism of radical architects of the fifties and sixties of the last century.

12. SELGASCANO: JOSE SELGAS & LUCIA CANO (ES), PAVILLION

Coupure

Meet, enjoy and get enchanted by the colourful pavilion of the Spanish architects selgascano, a new sunny meeting place on the water.

The Spanish architects José Selgas (1965, Madrid) and Lucía Cano (1965, Madrid) studied architecture at Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura. Before the creation of selgascano Studio in 1998, Selgas worked with Francesco Venecia in Naples. Cano worked with Julio Cano Lasso in Madrid until 2001. selgascano uses synthetic materials and innovative technologies to design buildings and pavilions: Silicon House, Madrid (2007), Office in the woods, Madrid (2009), El ‘B’. Cartagena Auditorium & Congress Center, Cartagena (2011) and Mérida Factory, Mérida (2011) and more recently Second Home, London (2015) and Plasencia Auditorium Congress Center, Cáceres; the renovation of Texas Square in Oranjestad, Aruba and the house “La Canaria”, Mount Washington, Los Angeles. Their work has already been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, GA Gallery and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, the Design Museum in London, the Akademie der Künste in Berlin and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of technology), Boston.

The architects were chosen for the Venice Architecture Biennial in 2010. In 2013, they won the “Kunstpreis” awarded by the Akademie der Künste Berlin and became “Architects of the Year” for the German Council of the design. In 2015, they designed the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London.

13. MONIR SHAHROUDY FARMANFARMAIAN (IR), FOUNTAIN OF LIFE

Grootseminarie, Potterierei

The Iranian artist imagines the perfect city. The tower, built from repetitive geometrical crystal structures inspired by patterns from the mystical Sufism, reflects our ideas and dreams about a new society.

Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian (1924, Qazvin) is described as “one of Iran’s most inspiring and innovative artists”. Although she has lived longer in New York than in her homeland, her work is deeply rooted in Iranian culture, architecture and traditions, both formal and spiritual. His work is characterized by geometric figures and their variations, the visual play of illusion and appearance, local traditions and the simplicity and complexity of nature.

After a 20-year exile following the Islamic Revolution, Farmanfarmaian returned to Iran in 1992, where she lives and works today. With her work, she received the gold medal for the Iran Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1958. Her work is represented in the Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Tate Modern, London, Tehran Museum Contemporary Art, Teheran, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah. In Wiels in Brussels her work was paired with tthat of Belgian artist Jef Geys in 2013. Further exhibitions in Belgium include the ones at “De 11 lijnen” Foundation Oudenburg in 2014 and Villa Empain Foundation Boghossian in 2015.

14. STUDIOKCA (USA), SKYSCRAPER (THE BRUGES WHALE)

Spiegelrei near the Jan Van Eyckplein

The statue of Jan Van Eyck is confronted with a blue whale, a gigantic sculpture built from waste material, recovered from plastic soup threatening our life on earth.

StudioKCA is an innovative architecture and design agency led by Jason Klimoski and Lesley Chang, based in Brooklyn, New York. Their projects range in size and complexity from lighting and interiors to public facilities, sculptures and buildings in New York, Vermont, Nevada, Wisconsin, Brazil, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea. Local dynamics are always the starting point for the conceptualization of objects and spaces paying attention to (recycled) materials.

Their pavilions and public facilities have been installed, among others, at Governors Island and Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York and the Jockey Club in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Studio KCA has already received several prizes and awards, including an American National Architects Small Project Award, AIA New York City or Dreams Pavilion Winner, AIA Brooklyn + Queens Design Award Merit, SARA New York Chapter Design Award of Excellence, two Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Awards, three Best Interior Design Magazine Design Awards, two finalists for the Architizer A + Award and an honorable mention in the Best of Young Architects from the Architect’s Newspaper.

15. PETER VAN DRIESSCHE — ATELIER4 (BE), INFINITI²³

Bakkersrei near the Congrescentrum Oud Sint-Jan

How are we going to be able to live and work if the sea level continues to rise and whole areas will be flooded? Experience a new form of urbanity on the water.

The architectural agency Atelier4 has been working in Ghent since 1989 with two partners and three employees, including Bruges resident Peter Van Driessche (1964, Ghent). Their primary know-how has been built locally over the years in medium-sized projects in the public and private sectors, constructing both new buildings and renovations.

With his installation for the Bruges Triennial, Peter Van Driessche participates for the first time in an international artistic context.

EXHIBITIONS

PRESENTATION OF THE COLLECTION FRAC-CENTRE, CURATOR ABDELKADER DAMANI

Grootseminarie, Potterierei Brugge

At the invitation of Triennial Bruges, Abdelkader Damani, the director of the FRAC Centre (Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain), has selected architectural drawings, plans and scale models that historically relate to the Liquid City theme and that combine architecture, sociology and biology. The designs, dating back to the fifties until the eighties of the previous century, were then considered radical. They sketch out a utopian image of future urbanity, temporariness, mobility and cohabitation. This has never been a hotter topic!

Ideas of Archizoom, amongst others, Ettore Sottsass Jr., Ionel Schein, David Georges Emmerich, Claude Parent make us dream about a new urbanity: a vision for the present and the future.

LIQUID CITY

Poortersloge, Academiestraat Brugge

In the Poortersloge (Burghers’ Lodge) Triennial Bruges focuses on the installations of the historical city centre, and elaborates on the transience and fluidity of Liquid City. Moreover, the art and architectural objects of the art walk are contextualized within the oeuvre of the participating artists and architects. For example, visitors can enjoy the new video of Tomás Saraceno next to existing work about flying cities, the Chinese mitten crab museum of Rotor and a selection of the renowned mirror works of Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian.

Once again the Poortersloge is proud to host the 2018 Triennial Bruges hub space.

LECTURES AND GUIDES TOURS PROGRAMME

LECTURES (IN DUTCH OR ENGLISH)

Lecture by raumlabor

Date: 17 April 2018, 20.00

Venue: Bozar – Salle M, Bruxelles

Partners: A+ Architecture in Belgium / BOZAR (www.a-plus.be | www.bozar.be)

 

Expo - Wesley Meuris: UrbanModeL_index

Date: 26 April - 24 May 2018

Vernissage: 26 April 2018, 19.00 art talk by Wesley Meuris

Venue: Recyclart – Galerij 21, Bruxelles Partner: Recyclart (www.recyclart.be)

 

Official opening - Liquid Society: debate on the work of Zygmunt Bauman

Marc Van Den Bossche (Philosopher, Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Tom Trevor (Curator, Plymouth University), Leo Van Broeck (Vlaams Bouwmeester), Dirk Geldhof (Sociologist, Universiteit Antwerpen)

Moderator: Isolde Vanhee (recto: verso, LUCA School of Arts)

Date: 3 May 2018, 19.00

Venue: Stadsschouwburg, Brugge

Partner: Archipel (www.archipelvzw.be)

 

General opening (programme t.b.d.)

Datum: 6 May 2018

Locatie: Coupure, Brugge

 

Curatorial talk with Abdelkader Damani (FRAC-Centre, Orleans), Till-Holger Borchert and Michel Dewilde (Triënnale Brugge)

Moderator: Caroline Voet (KU Leuven)

Date: 31 May 2018, 20.00

Venue: Grootseminarie, Brugge

 

Greetings from Bruges: guided visit and lecture by WORKac

Date: 14 June 2018, 18.00

Venue: Grootseminarie > Minne Floating School III, Brugge

Partner: Recyclart (www.recyclart.be)

 

Lecture by selgascano

Date: 5 July 2018, 20.00

Venue: selgascano Pavillion, Coupure, Brugge Partner:  Archipel (www.archipelvzw.be)

 

Lecture by raumlabor

Date: 30 augustus 2018, 20.00

Venue: House of Time, Brugge

Partner: Archipel (www.archipelvzw.be)

 

Lecture by Kunlé Adeyemi

Date: 16 september 2018, time t.b.c.

Venue: Concertgebouw, Brugge

Partner: Archipel (www.archipelvzw.be)

CHILDREN’S PROGRAMME

Triennial Bruges wants to connect with children and young people through specially designed activities. There are educational tours for school and youth groups, guides walks for families with children, a Kids Exploration Book and a downloadable leaflet. The family walks (in Dutch) are organised every sunday afternoon.

GUIDES TOURS

Reservations: [email protected] | +32 (0)50 44 46 46

Educational visits for school and youth groups, birthday parties (according to availability)):

Reservations: [email protected] | +32 (0)50 44 87 43

BRUGES TRIENNIAL

Contemporary art and architecture in the historic city centre of Bruges. Bruges Triennial 2018 offers a selection of inspiring renowned international artists and architects who are  designing installations, videos, sculptures for the arts trail through the city.

CONTACT

General: [email protected] | +32 (0)50 45 50 02

Press & communication: Eva Tahon | [email protected] | +32 (0)476 76 25 44

Curatorial team: Els Wuyts | [email protected] | +32 (0)50 45 50 06

Public programme: Shendy Gardin | [email protected] | +32 (0)50 45 51 11

Educational programme: Flor Vandevelde | [email protected] | +32 (0)50 45 50 05

Mayor: Renaat Landuyt | +32 (0)475 70 33 79

Director Brugge Plus: Lieve Moeremans | +32 (0)50 44 30 02

 

Triennial Bruges is a coproduction of Brugge Plus, Musea Brugge, Kenniscentrum vzw and Cultuurcentrum Brugge, commissioned by the city of Bruges

       
       
 
 
   

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