A Temporary Monument for Brussels is a contemporary reflection on the historic concept of a monument. It functions as present-day answer to Jacques Moeschal's beautiful, monumental sculpture Signal from Zellik, which since 1963 has been located at the place where today the E40 and the Brussels ring intersect. The sculpture embodies the blind optimism proper to our Belgian post-war climate, in which cars and concrete were the determining factors for what everybody agreed was to be a brighter future. Because of this optimism, Signal from Zellik eminently symbolizes a specific worldview of urban development from the sixties and seventies of the past century. But over the last decades, our vision of the future has changed. Today, we agree that a city is not defined by concrete and cars, but by the people who live there, who temporarily come together and from their combined characteristics form the heart and soul of a city.
From this perspective, it seems only logical that a contemporary monument for the city also has a temporary character. Just like the changing dynamics of its city, A Temporary Monument for Brussels changes throughout its existence – as the large-scale banners are re-imaged by a different artist based in Brussels.
Curated by Thomas CaronScenography by Pieter De WalscheGraphic Design by Jan Omer FackCopy editing & Press by Sophie Verhulst
A Temporary Monument for Brussels is a project by artlead.net & artlead offline vzw, developed with the support of Brussels-Capital Region,and the VGC.
