The Bruges Triennial 2024 has announced its theme, “Space of Possibility,” along with a list of participating artists and architects and the locations of the 12 installations. Running from Saturday 13 April to Sunday 1 September 2024, the event will take over the streets and historic center of Bruges. Belgium, showcasing contemporary art and architectural interventions. The curators of this edition, Shendy Gardin and Sevie Tsampalla, have selected a list of 12 artists and architects who will challenge the existing locations within the city’s quarters in response to the theme which asks them to seek to reveal the hidden potential of the city.
The list of invited artists includes Belgian names, along with international invitees. Among them, Boonserm Premthada’s Thailand office Bangkok Project Studio, chiefly known in Belgium for the Kantana Institute in Nakhon Pathom, Mona Hatoum, who was awarded the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize in 2022, and Sumayya Vally, who founded the studio Counterspace, curated the first Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and recently also exhibited at the Venice Biennale, are just some of the prominent names invited to participate with temporary artistic interventions and large-scale installations.
The theme of the 4th edition of the Bruges Triennial aims to explore the possibilities of the city’s center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the ways in which change and sustainability can coexist with preservation. The last three years have proven the importance of well-designed public spaces, as hubs of movement, creativity flexibility, and freedom. With a history dating back to the 9th century, Bruges continues to evolve, exemplifying the importance of adaptable urban spaces in our changing world.
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"Awareness Makes us Human": In Conversation with Boonserm Premthada, Founder of Bangkok Project StudioThe artists and architects have been invited to search and uncover hidden or little-known sites in the city center, West Bruges and Zeebrugge, and to temporarily reinvent them. Brussels-based office Traumnovelle has chosen the courtyard of the 13th-century City Halls, Lebanese-British artist Mona Hatoum is working in the garden of a Psychiatric Hospital, while Bangkok Project Studio is building a contemporary clock tower near the King Albert I Park to draw attention to this neglected part of the garden. American architecture practice SO–IL is collaborating with Dr. Mariana Popescu and Summum Engineering to transform the site of a former monastery by using a high-tech fabric to guide visitors to discover the walled gardens of the Capuchin Friars Minor. Similarly, Belgian artist Adrien Tirtiaux highlights a forgotten connection within the city via a green marker.
With TRIBRU24 we are focusing on a subject close to all our hearts: space. Space to live, to work, to meet, and to relax. In a city where conservation takes center stage, how can we consider concepts such as sustainability and transformation? With Spaces of Possibility, we want to work with artists and architects to create fresh opportunities and bring beauty into what is often overlooked. A collective exercise in thinking about the (historic) city of today and tomorrow. – Shendy Gardin, Curator
Since 2015, Bruges Triennial has strived to bring contemporary art and architecture to the historical city, inviting national and international artists and architects to contribute with new site-specific installations to activate the city. During the five months of the event, their contemporary creations highlighted the potential of the city in response to the specific theme defined by the curators. During past editions, architects such as Selgas Cano added a splash of color to the city’s water channels, while Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY installed a coral-like pavilion in a 17th-century Seminary building.
Participating artists and architects, along with their chosen locations:
- Iván Argote - Speelmansrei
- Bangkok Project Studio - opposite King Albert I Park by St. Godelieve’s Abbey
- Mariana Castillo Deball - Sebrechts Park
- Sumayya Vally, Counterspace - Minnewater
- Mona Hatoum - the garden of the Onzelievevrouw psychiatric hospital, entrance via Stationslaan
- Ivan Morison - Zeebrugge beach opposite Zeedijk 34
- Norell/Rodhe - square in Sint-Obrechtsstraat
- Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects - St. John’s Hospital Park
- SO–IL - the garden of the Capuchin Monastery, Hauwerstraat 3c-5
- Studio Ossidiana together with Adrien Tirtiaux - gatehouse, Zonnekemeers and Professor Dokter J. Sebrechtsstraat (together with– Adrien Tirtiaux)
- Traumnovelle - courtyard of the City Halls
