The Triennial of Contemporary Art and Architecture is being held in Bruges for the second time. If in 2015 the theme was urbanization and the metropolis, then this year the exhibition is held under the motto "Liquid City". Curators, a specialist in the Flemish artists of the XIV-XV centuries, Til-Holgert Bochert and often referring to the latest art, Michel Devilde, regard “liquid” as the key word of our time. The boundaries of the familiar are blurring - both in reality and in the minds of people, and Bruges with its canals is a suitable place for reflection on this topic.
The source of inspiration for curators is the notion of “liquid modernity” by sociologist Zygmunt Baumann, synonymous with “late modernity” (late modernity) - as opposed to the idea of “postmodernity”. However, change is inseparable from resistance to them, from longing for the past, which many seem preferable to the present. Bauman described the modern incarnation of this phenomenon in his book Retrotopia (2017): trust in familiar social institutions, from the church to insurance companies, is eroding, making people especially susceptible to alarmist claims. The curators of the triennial, developing Bauman's thought, emphasize that such attractive "good old days" were not much more stable than the present. Bruges experienced a golden age under the Dukes of Burgundy, but the end of their dynasty in the last third of the 15th century brought a sudden end to prosperity. Now that "fluid" era is remembered primarily thanks to the brothers van Eyck and Hans Memling, who made Bruges an important artistic center. Within the framework of a rather daring parallel, our contemporaries are invited to play a similar role, creating works - "lighthouses opposing an unpredictable future, home harbor in turbulent times."
We publish selected installations of the triennial.
Pavilion
SelgasCano
Spanish architects SelgasCano have created a striking structure reminiscent of their
Serpentine Gallery London Pavilion 2015. This floating structure serves as a recreation site and will also become a city pool in July and August - however, this part of the project depends on the quality of the water in the canals.
MFS III - Minne Floating School
NLÉ and Kunle Adeyemi
This project is the apotheosis of unsinkability, but not because of the properties of its structure. After the inglorious end of MFS I, a floating school in the Makoko slum, in the coastal zone of the Nigerian city of Lagos, and immediately after the Adeyemi was awarded for this project at the last Architecture Biennale in Venice (a copy of the school was presented there, MFS II), it seemed that we are no longer let's hear about this idea. The essence of the scandal is that the photogenic building in Makoko was not used as a school for a day, was not thought out constructively, gradually deteriorated and was eventually destroyed by a storm. But the PR campaign, which presented the project as an extremely successful PR campaign, brought Adeyemi worldwide fame and the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale, and the director of a non-working school in Makoko earned money by arranging excursions there for Western tourists.
This unattractive story, an excellent example of the superficiality of many "humanitarian" projects, oddly enough, did not scare away the curators of the Bruges triennial. At Lake Minnewater, they show an updated version of the school with the function of an exhibition hall, workshop and educational space; the program for her was prepared by the Belgian educational institutions in the field of design and architecture.
For those who do not know the sad background of the project, the emphasis on the technical security of MFS III, which the organizers of the triennial are making, may seem strange. The new school was redesigned by AECOM engineers - turned into a fully prefabricated structure with a service life of 25 years. Now it complies with the Eurocodes, assembled by the triennial team and checked by local engineers, that is, it should not collapse.
"Acheron I"
Renato Nikolodi
My architect was inspired by truth:
I am the highest power, the fullness of omniscience
And created by the first love.
Ancient me only eternal creatures, And I will be on a par with eternity.
The installation by the Belgian artist Renato Nicolodi is accompanied by this quote from The Divine Comedy, and you need to remember the context in order to understand that we are talking about Ada. Named after one of the rivers of the underworld in the representations of the ancient Greeks (Dante also described it), the installation embodies the connection between modern society and the mythological afterlife, life and death. In this case, water serves as the border, and the object itself is a harbor, a gateway between the present, past and future.
"Lanhals"
John Powers
The design of block-modules by New York sculptor John Powers received the silhouette of a swan neck. This is a reference to an episode from the history of Bruges: in 1488, the revolted townspeople beheaded the official Peter Lanhals, who supported the future German emperor Maximilian, who inherited the city after the death of his wife Maria, the last Duchess of Burgundy.
According to legend, the German prince himself, who was forced to be present at the execution of his supporter, after suppressing the riot, ordered the inhabitants to permanently settle on the canals of swans, whose long necks were supposed to remind them of Lanchalse (his surname can be translated from Flemish as "long neck"). However, Powers' design can also be interpreted as a spine or a tornado.
Infiniti²³
Peter van Driesche
Architect Peter van Driesche of Atelier4 has created a "residential tower" in the spirit of Japanese metabolism. Its construction received rectangular capsules designed for work and life. According to van Driesche, such a compact house on the water could be the answer to both the rising level of the world's oceans and the lack of housing.
This "temporary anchor in the fabric of the city" will allow people to settle closer to each other.
"House of Time"
raumlabor
The raumlabor Berlin bureau has developed a long-term project for the triennial. In one of the industrial zones near the canal, with the help of local youth organizations, a house was built - a space for meetings and "micro-production". Over time, it will become a center of discovery, learning and experimentation, involving adolescents in working together as a community - in search of solutions to local social problems through art and architecture.
"Floating Island"
OBBA
South Korean bureau OBBA, with the help of local architects Dertien12, has created a new public space in the center of Bruges. The platform of over 100 m² is surrounded by elastic nets that serve as a fence; there are also hammocks and sofas for relaxing over the water.
