Projects: Vibeke Jensen

Vibeke Jensen
* 1962 Trondheim, Norway.

1:1 Connect: DiamondScope
Location: Markt
20 May - 18 October 2015

You will find 1:1 Connect by the Norwegian artist Vibeke Jensen at the famous Bruges Markt, the spot where millions of tourists' eyes gaze up at the Belfry every year. In the Middle Ages, the tower looked out over the surroundings, to spy approachlng enemies and epitomise the city's independence. It defended the prosperity of which the Markt below was the venue.

1:1 Connect: DiamondScope invites residents and visitors alike to observe the Belfry. Literally together: one visitor and one resident step inside the work, which is actually a large telescope, at the same time. It is a cocoon with an intimate red interior. You really feel that you are inside, away from the public eye, but in a place that you must share with another. Inside both can talk about what they see, in their own way. Talk about the present and the past and about looking at the present and the past.

And while they observe outside, they also observe each other. Who does the public space belong to? Who does the intimate space belong to? They are spectators among spectators in an artwork that observes the Belfry.

The work is octagonal, like the top of the Belfry and like the facets of a diamond, because in its heyday, Bruges was the centre of the diamond cutting industry. And the multifaceted mirror-walled exterior contrasts with the intimate interior. It reflects the Grote Markt under observation and the visitors that are reflected in it. Observing an alien new monument, curious and excited.

The work as a whole constantly plays on the acts of watching and being watched, staring and spying, private and public and thus also questions social control and civil rights and duties in a city where people live close together and share each other's space.

(© Text: Walking Guide, Bruges Triennial 2015)