Over five million people visit Bruges each year. What would happen if they all suddenly decided to stay? What would be the impact on a protected historical city like Bruges if, overnight, it became a megapolis? This is the premise for the Bruges Contemporary Art and Architecture Triennial 2015, a major event on the arts calendar. Seventeen artists from Europe and Asia are creating new works that will form an art trail through the city centre. These works will reflect on topics such as the future and the creative potential of the city, urbanisation, citizenship, lifestyle, community, finance and economics. Three indoor exhibitions form the opportunity to further explore and contextualise the themes. Bruges will be transformed into URB EGG: the triennial cracks the egg of Bruges in order to rediscover the city from the inside out.

Two narratives

The triennial contrasts two opposing narratives: the static image of Bruges as a protected medieval city that was restored and preserved from the 19th century onwards and a hypothetical 21st century megapolis version of the city. The world’s population continues to grow and the world’s cities are responding in kind. Since 2007, over 60 % of people live in mega cities: urban centres whose dramatic rates of expansion show no sign of ever slowing down.

The triennial takes a proposition as a starting point:What if we were to inject Bruges with the essence of a megapolis? The question becomes a thought experiment, a driver for an artistic investigation into urbanisation and identity. What sort of opportunities and issues would arise from a change of this magnitude? And conversely, how might a small city like Bruges contribute to a new form of urbanity?

Art trail and three indoor exhibitions

Seventeen artists are tackling these hypothetical questions and presenting their responses in the form of artworks in the public space. The interventions form amultifaceted art trail against the backdrop of the preserved historic city centre. The artists use distinguishing features of Bruges, such as the canals and the Belfort (Belfry), and manipulate the city’s sounds and the spaces to create both occasions for reflection and dynamic interfaces between locals and visitors.

Three indoor exhibitions delve deeper into a number of the triennial themes and situate these in a broader context. Visionary town plans of the past and present are on display at the Arentshuis. At De Bond, the focus is on cities under demolition and construction, mainly in the Middle East and Far East. And in the Stadhuis (city hall), five artists share their visions of imaginary cities.

Part of a continuum

The Bruges Contemporary Art and Architecture Triennial is linked both to an earlier tradition of Belgian Contemporary art triennials that took place in the 1960s and 70s and to a more recent series of major cultural events in the city: Bruges 2002, European Capital of Culture, Corpus (2005) and Bruges Central (2010). This is the first edition of a new series of contemporary art triennials.

Participants

Public space
Romy Achituv, Atelier Bow-Wow, Nathan Coley, Daniel Dewaele, Song Dong, Rainer Ganahl, Nicolas Grenier, HeHe, Vibeke Jensen, Tadashi Kawamata, Odland & Auinger, Anne K. Senstad, Studio Mumbai, Vermeir & Heiremans.
List, including biographical data

Artists and architects - indoor exhibitions
Lida Abdul, Ziad Antar, Huib Hoste, Iraida Icaza, Bodys Isek Kingelez, Liu Wie, Ahmed Mater, Alireza Rasoulinejad, Luc Schuiten, Tracey Snelling, Stanza, Sami Al Turki, Oswald Mathias Ungers, Michael Wolf, Xing Danwen, Yang Yongliang
List, including biographical data

Curators
Till-Holger Borchert, Director Musea Brugge
Michel Dewilde, Curator Cultuurcentrum Brugge
See the biographies

Organisation
The City of Bruges commissioned Brugge Plus to organise the Bruges triennial 2015 in collaboration with Musea Brugge and Cultuurcentrum Brugge.

Venues

City Centre of Bruges - works in the public space

Arentshuis
The neoclassical building from the last quarter of the 18th century is a museum. The ground floor is used for temporary exhibition. Address: Dijver 16

De Bond
Old cotton and wool spinning mill (1861) outside the city walls, housing the Bruges Cultural Centre, a creative space for exhibitions. Address: Buiten Smedenvest 1

Stadhuis
Town Hall, its construction began in 1376, being one of the oldest in the region. Address: Burg 12

(From press information)