Love The Magnificent Art In Bruges

Winding cobbled lanes, languidly beautiful canals and pretty colourful houses, the city feels like a fairytale, its history built deep into the stones streets walked across. Sometimes, referred to as the Venice of the North, this small powerhouse of beauty Bruges is a gemstone in the region of West Flanders, Belgium. Its city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site, yet it was rebuilt in the 20th century. The original medieval city experienced a renaissance. So although its history is lengthy its layers are quite new. One thing is for sure, it is one of the most visited canal-based cities, especially for its voluminous arts offering. And it’s scaling up its art offering right now. A wonderful holiday location for families and culture lovers. Oh, and the food and beer are good too. Find out more in Love The Magnificent Art In Bruges

In 1089, Bruges became the capital of the County of Flanders. During its varied history, it has been both a port site for global business and a strategic location at the crossroads of the northern Hanseatic League, (a medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds). In 1309 it opened what is suspected to be the first stock exchange in the world. But it was not just a business city. Historically it was the European centre for lace-making, wool weaving and its cloth markets. But it has always had interesting creative connections.

.Jan van Eyck was a Flemish painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting. Jan Baptist van Meunincxhove was a Flemish painter of cityscapes, architectural paintings, and marine views and was also active in Bruges.

Alongside other important flemish-based artists like Hans Memling, Gerard David and Petrus Christus alongside more modern creatives like writer Hugo Maurice Julien Claus, and signer-songwriter Wouter André “Wally” De Backer known as Gotye.

The Burg in Bruges by Jan Baptist van Meunincxhove

This city is home to museums and hosts several historical and religious sites. Lots of music and cultural events happen throughout the year. Of course, it is famous for the beers it produces; some are named after it, such as Brugse Straffe Hendrik, and Brugse Zot. Both of these are brewed in the city. There is even a pipeline that runs under the pavements supplying beers straight from the breweries to bars.

In the second half of the 19th century, it became one of the world’s first tourist destinations, attracting wealthy tourists. By 1909, the ‘Bruges Forward: Society to Improve Tourist’ association had come into operation now known as Visit Flanders. This government agency is committed to the sustainable development and promotion of Flanders as a top tourist destination. It encourages Flanders to flourish as an innovative, high-quality travel destination to inspire potential visitors.

Many cultural activities happen in this city during the year, but now it’s worth going for a special trip. With Spaces of Possibility, the Bruges Triennial 2024, take a closer look at the city and its public spaces.

This year the festival asks the question. Which places are currently un(der)used? This fourth edition of TRIBRU challenges artists and architects, viewers and users, to think about the future of Bruges. Bought into focus via Twelve national and international artists and architects, invited to reflect on the city of tomorrow.

If you have already visited Beaufort 24 you may already have seen Zeebrugge, Star of the Sea by Ivan Morison. Conceived for this beach, the giant ‘sandcastle’ attracts attention from afar with its voluminous form and peculiar chimneys. This monumental structure explores entanglements between art, industry, nature and ecology.

Filip Dujardin (staand)

Otherwise, start on the cobbled Speelmansrei Street, with its bridge over the river, and picturesque homes. This season it offers a slightly different view than normal. A pair of historical bronze boots stands on the water. Are they resting? pondering the surroundings or walking leisurely on the surface of the water? Who do they belong to? This piece is Who by Colombian artist Iván Argote. Is this a sculpture missing a body, or is it asking us to fill in what is not there? Is this the footwear of a local, or a taskmaster? The space allows each viewer to answer the question for themselves.

Filip Dujardin (staand)

Make your way by foot, bus, bicycle or cab to The Tower of Balance. By Boonserm Premthada of Thailand’s Bangkok Project Studio, it sits opposite King Albert I-park.

This tower is an ode to Bruges’ 13th-century Belfry. The pine structure is on the same axis as Bruges’ three iconic towers. St. Salvator’s Cathedral, the Church of Our Lady and the Belfry. These symbols of church and state dominated the city’s skyline for centuries. Landmarks and gathering places for meeting, exchange, prayer or protest, this sculpture challenges that.

The giant open pine structure on three levels is a contemporary counterpoint to the surrounding towers. Climbing up the three platforms gives the viewer different vistas to explore. Make it to the top and find a bronze bell, supported by two rough tree trunks. Presented to the public as something all can ring, it captures the familiar sound of the church bells of Bruges’.

Specifically built as a non-religious and non-commercial project; a counterpoint. Sitting on an open slope of grass it pursues harmonious coexistence for humans and animals; all are welcome.

Make your way over to a park called The Garden of the Grauwzusters. Here is another open structure, Firesong for the bees, a tree of clay by Mexico-stad born Mariana Castillo Deball.  

In the middle sits a large wood and ceramic structure. A platform seems to have strange fruits attached to its legs. Look closer and see a collection of ceramic beehives. Honey is global, and this piece echoes and is informed by the archaeology of beekeeping. The history of humans and bees and how people developed methods and structures over time, for harvesting honey.

Each culture would have had its decorations and materials used for this purpose. So here the artists explore shapes and textures that are globally significant. Apiculture (beekeeping) traditions that preceded the introduction of wooden hives and standardising them were a double-edged sword. They brought an ending of 4,000 years of individuality but made harvesting the honey easier. The new hives allowed for increased production and greater profitability.

As we see the decrease in Bee populations the world over, this artwork allows us to reconnect and reflect. Why do certain objects become obsolete? The extractive human-centric processes that lead to the extinction of certain species? Right at the top of the structure find a new home to a colony of bees. They have already moved in and are ‘working’ away in this green site; a ‘repository’ that ‘re-pollinates’ the city

Another park offers up Full Swing by Beirut-born artist Mona Hatoum. She invites visitors to swing in a narrow underground passage excavated from the garden of the Onzelievevrouw Psychiatric Hospital.

Filip Dujardin (liggend)

In the middle of this park, visitors will be struck by an open-top structure of stone and wire. Peer closer, and see steps for one visitor at a time take you down into a hollowed walled space. Once there find a swing in the middle. Does the swing hint at escape from these, locally sourced stones entrapped in wire mesh? A physical or mental escape? Private or public? Does its setting give options? After all, it is set in the gardens of a Psychiatric Hospital.

Filip Dujardin (staand)

The piece is a continuation of the themes in much of Hatoum’s work. Reflecting on subjects that arise from our current global condition, systems of confinement and control. it also explores themes of conflict and displacement.

The next spot on this artistic trail takes visitors to a man-made park one made for a city community. This area once a small piece of wasteland has been given back to the locals as a place to meet rest and enjoy.

Raamland by Norell/Rodhe is a square in Sint-Obrechtsstraat situated between Oostmeers and Westmeers, turned into a new community garden. The Swedish architecture firm has transformed it into an exciting and inspirational meeting place for residents.

Filip Dujardin (liggend)

Mixed in the site are standard components and unique finds many of which are second-hand materials. These pieces, chosen by the architects, come from container parks, construction sites and local pass-it-on shops. Visitors will spot fragments of demolished villas in the installation, not to mention parts of the old city archive and even a discotheque.

It hints, smilingly, at the history of De Meers. A marshy urban area that remained uninhabitable until the 17th century. As a result, it was mainly used as a ground for wooden frames, or Raamen, on which Flemish cloth was hung to dry.

Then move over to St John’s Hospital Park. Here architects Shingo Masuda and Katsuhisa Otsubo, from Japan, respond to the density of the city of Bruges. This walkable central city is filled with much eye candy, there are green areas, yet parts are densely packed. Hence the name of the artwork ‘Empty Drop‘.

A geometric circular brick-built sculpture sitting proudly in a historical orchard catches the breath. The architects play with the concept of ‘free’, undefined spaces, in the city’s geography, where every corner is well-defined. Is it an abode? A place to sit? Breath? Or even feel free? They ask the question, is it even necessary to have spaces like this in a city?

Filip Dujardin (liggend)

Three circular sculptures were constructed from locally sourced fired and stacked clay bricks. Its modernity is a contrast to the history surrounding it. Closed off yet intertwined, open to the elements, the circles invite visitors the centre of each circle.

Like an ancient monolith, explore its boundaries inside each circle, think about how materials are explored in historical cities whilst also asking the question: Do we have enough clear spaces for living well?

Loving the Magnificent Art In Bruges? After so much contemplating and interaction maybe a space for lunch? An interesting space to visit is the Degrotepost Culktuur cafe. A former post office turned into a cultural centre by the sea. A site for artists and audiences to meet, makers and thinkers to inspire each other. There is a great restaurant on the top floor, that allows for magnificent views of the city.  The dishes are selected based on seasonal products, the short chain concept, and supply from local suppliers with as many organic products as possible.

Refreshed now, and ready for a few more installations. Hidden in the Garden Capuchin Monastery find a fabric-styled structure pictured on left. Named Common Thread by architects SO–IL in collaboration with Dr Mariana Popescu (TU Delft) and Summum Engineering. A structure made up of rounded soft tunnels. The site was owned by the religious order of the Friars Minor Capuchin until 2020. It is being opened up to the public for the first time through this work.

Inspired by Bruges’ history as a lacemaking centre, the US architecture firm used weaving as a social, economic and formal binding agent. Curved tunnels gently meander through the enclosed green space, accentuating it at every unexpected turn.

The high-tech membrane consists of 3D-printed, metal elements, tubes and textile segments made from recycled PET bottles. This fabric skin, machine-woven at Delft University of Technology, plays with black-and-white plain weave patterns. It creates a play of light and shadow, open and closed.

Not all the tunnels take visitors outside of the structure, sometimes leading back into its centre. Viewers need to find a different exit, which in the end, becomes unexpected. It also throws up a question, do buildings always need to be made of brick, stone and concrete?

Another place to stop and contemplate our interiors and exterior in Hof Bladelin is Earthsea Pavilion by Studio Ossidiana, a Rotterdam-based firm with Italian roots.

Filip Dujardin

Exploring the earth’s substrata as seen in archaeological surveys, here view the earth’s surface layer via a six-metre filled metal grid. Layered with earth, peat, shells and leaves in visible layers. Standing inside does that make the viewer the centre of the earth’s core? The tonal range almost gives a camouflage effect.

Mixed into the construction are plants and flowers in seed form that will transform over time. As a result, the work will change during the coming months as plants come alive and fill the grid. This provides new nutrients and becomes a natural pole of attraction for anyone seeking a sanctuary.  A space for discovery, for walkers, birds, flowers and insects. It also highlights that going to the same place more than once will always give a new view.

The site-specific piece also throws up an important question. The space of the artwork dates to the year 1435, when it was a residence commissioned by Pieter Bladelin, advisor to the Duke of Burgundy, and was subsequently owned by the House of Medici.

This site not only symbolises the growth and prosperity of Bruges in the Golden Age. It also questions the topical issues that arise in a UNESCO World Heritage context. How do we ensure that historic properties do not become ghosts of the past? Will they continue to be dynamic and resonant buildings, for now, and in the future?

Then on the trail comes a space that also echoes back to an older version of the city. Under the Carpet by Belgium-born artist Adrien Tirtiaux is a three-part artwork that invites views and information on a disused link road. Sitting between St John’s Hospital and the Minnewater Clinic, through Zonnekemeers and Professor Dr. J. Sebrechtsstraat streets.

Filip Dujardin (staand)

Bruges did have a time when the central city was not preserved. The reconstruction of parts in the 20th century also meant some were forgotten. Left to their own devices with raw nature taking over, this is one such place.

A professor called Dr. J. Sebrechts realised that the journey between two key medical establishments was too long. So he conceived a road to cut through for staff to move between the two directly, quickly and efficiently. A spectacular viaduct above the little houses of Wevershof and a tunnel under the entrance of the Minnewaterkliniek were created and utilised until 1976. It became obsolete once the hospitals were moved and nature took control again.

Walking now between the three sculptural interventions in what is now an underused ‘Wanderspace’ that includes a car park, garages, back alleys leading to private homes and duckweed-covered canals, passers-by are invited to reconstruct this unearthed new infrastructure

The artist Tirtiaux, like a modern-day archaeologist, took up the mantle to reveal and redefine this lost pathway. Parts were revealed highlighting the cobblestones by removing thick moss. The moss was utilised for other areas that were ‘carpeted’ over with their own green ‘blanket’. This carpet becomes a recurring sculptural motive that marks both the beginning and end of the former road.

On the pavement of Prof. Dr. J. Sebrechtsstraat, an undulating viewing platform enables visitors and passers-by to look down on the revealed road fragment. Along the Wevershof side, another part of the original road can be seen in an ingenious mirrored ceiling.

Filip Dujardin (staand)

When a city is built over hundreds of years, there are bound to be passages not viewed with much love or even rarely noticed.

Visit one such space  The Joyful Apocalypse, by Brussels architecture firm Traumnovelle. They have redefined the 13th-century courtyard of the Stadshallen, the City Halls, once the epicentre of trade. A crossing between central parts of the city is only used sporadically but not many would stop within it; well, up until now that is.

The 9-metre-high structure elevates the square into a temporary stage and turns the casual passer-by into a dynamic extra as if on a Shakespearian stage. A liminal space that weaves fiction and non-fiction for a delicious stopping space.

Visitors will recognise the materials, scaffolding and aluminium panels with silver curtains, making for a temporary theatre. Climb the three-storey, industrial structure, and become a viewer of the stage below or be a player on the ground. The materials create an impression of perpetual change. Look up from the ground and notice the clocktower a remnant of the city’s trading past.

Filip Dujardin (staand)

When climbing the work the surrounding walls, complete with gargoyles, allow for a close inspection of the area’s historical and significant past.

After this much interactive and diverse work, a walk to the river may just be called for. At Minnewater Bridge meet the final piece of work on this festival. One that echoes the city’s trading past. Grains of Paradise by South African artist Sumayya Vally is an installation comprising a series of blackened pirogues (dugouts and native canoes), laden with herbs and spices.

Trading played an important role in, not just the history, but the area’s wealth with the import and export of goods. This central city based on the water, meant international trade was viable.

Remnants from this past can still be found in the streetscape today, ranging from hoisting beams on the waterfront, to the rich collection of objects in the recently restored Gruuthuse Palace. Mustard pots, tapestries, and dyes are tangible reminders of the exotic spices, precious stones, and pigments that once traversed vast distances to reach Bruges.

This artist chose to research the connections and relationships between one European city and an African continent. From the goods exchanged to the ramifications of this trade ‘relationship’

Grains of Paradise sits as a striking assembly of fifteen pirogues, positioned in unison near the Minnewater Bridge. Together, they form a collective platform for exchange and commerce, referencing the past and the present.

The boats that reference the floating markets made from hollowed-out tree trunks found in Ganvie, Lagos and along the Congo River. Here, they are filled with bright plants and herbs, including the lesser-known Melegueta Pepper of Afromomum Legueta. A spice imported en masse from the Gulf of Guinea. Its nickname was “grains of paradise” hence the name of the work.

Grains of Paradise becomes a talking point away from the usual Western narrative, encouraging critical reflection and enriching our experience of history and heritage. It also serves as a reminder of many waterways used for ‘trading’ in the past and still now.

Each of the creators in this year’s show has taken on the mantle of what will our future cities look like. How can we engage and still live fully within them? Each visual is unique, each a personal reflection of their take on Bruges as an important historical site. With the installations comes the space and time to consider many questions and thoughts.

This city is full of beauty and the very interactive nature of many installations during the Bruges Triennial 2024, makes for a perfect holiday destination for art lovers, culture lovers, as well as, family holiday time.

Now was that not enough? Also live during this period is the partner programme of the Bruges Triennial 2024, Musea Bruges presents the most pressing art exhibition of the moment: Rebel Garden. It also deals with man versus nature. What is man’s impact on nature? How does it affect our environment? 

The ambitious show breaks out of traditional museum walls and occupies no fewer than three museum sites: Groeninge Museum, Gruuthuse Museum and the completely renovated Old Saint John’s Hospital Museum. Old and contemporary art takes a close look at the tumultuous relationship between man and nature and highlights the painful wound that is our climate crisis.

Whilst out and about it’s good to know that food options are plentiful, such as the best waffles, and of course, the area has several great beer brewers open for meals alongside tastings of their drinks offering. For example, located in the heart of Bruges is Brouwerij De Halve Maan, home to Brugse Zot, Straffe Hendrik and Blanche de Bruges, eat lunch or dinner here and find that dishes are perfectly matched with the beers.

One of the great things to know about Bruges is that it is easy to travel around whether on foot, on public transport, on bikes or even with taxi bikes. The medieval centre is crossable in half an hour, but there is plenty to see especially until 1st September when this festival ends, yet it is worth spending time with it. The city also offers tours. Its natural beauty is interspersed with historic castles and gardens, paved streets beautiful architecture and plenty of canals to cross, giving stunning views to the homes of the city dwellers, and the everyday life of this historical centre.

 Uwe Aranas

In the second half of the 19th century, Bruges became one of the world’s first tourist destinations, attracting wealthy British and French tourists. This year 2024, it is still just as important with a wealth of things to do, on top of its beauty, and culture the Bruges Triennial offers even more reason to visit. Flanders will welcome with open arms.

.Cent visit was arranged by Visit Flanders and we stayed in Bruge at Bois De Bruges Hote. For more information on the Bruges Triennale visit here triennalebrugge.be/en

If you enjoyed reading Love The Magnificent Art In Bruges then why not read Under Present Conditions here

.Cent magazine London, Be Inspired; Get Involved