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You will have to reckon with us
to make the claims register
and your rights in the area progress.
And we count on you!
When he saw the picture yesterday, he told me it was amazing!
I finally see my picture for the first time
because there are many details
you do not often see on a thing like that,
it is like a painting
moreover, it is like an American shot.
And the firefighters...
...just before it collapses.
It is Bruno Devoghel...
You won�t have graffiti.
No, I don�t think so.
And then, well, we�ll see.
Jacques Charlier�s choice
of taking this picture of Bruno Devoghel
is a great citizenship approach
because it shows that a citizen came in tribute,
to stick a rose on this installation
and therefore we are right about the understanding
we want to create between the passer-by and the work.
You know when the media plunge on an event,
we saw it with Haiti,
we saw it with earthquakes here and there,
there is a huge emotional shock
but it lasts a very short time
and people who are mediatized at that time
are left alone because it all disappears
in a kind of depths of despair.
Playing on the memory,
playing on the memory of an event
Charlier is reinventing the concept of monument.
This ambitious event
brings together cities and more particularly their city hall
That is to say what is both the nearest
and most sacred
in a democracy:
that is to say, the home of everybody.
The selection was made
by an artistic commissioner: Jacques Charlier.
He has been proposed because in the field of contemporary art,
Charlier is familiar with actual art,
including contemporary art. So he has criteria,
and he made a selection in agreement with us.
I liked the way Charlier actually chose
this panel of artists as there are artists who are used to
this kind of work.
And others not at all.
This is going to be great!
Each artist really does something
very precise in relationship with the town hall.
It is every time something different.
Carte blanche!
It was the goal of the game.
In a city.
And do you have a link?
It is very strong!
compared to a disaster ...
Here, yes, but things change!
it is based on the identity of the city.
for example, for me, it is the local handicraft, tourism ...
We had to show a chaotic experience,
admittedly, chaotic, with its faults,
lots of faults and very few qualities
but I think the final result
will also show
this chasm that exists
between the broader public
and the microenvironment
of art, called today avant-garde.
Emilio Lopez!
Hello!
He is making something pretty incredible.
A bubble man.
A kind of huge bubble.
He is a man of my size,
a bit like a table football player
and a huge bubble comes out of his mouth
but in 3D.
He stands there without speaking
he leaves space for others
in any case a space of interpretation.
There�ll be something that disrupts the everyday life
and if the work is activated or interactivated,
I think at least there will be a debate
People will be able to say: "Yes, but what is it?"
I don�t know.
There will be some sort of meeting point between people,
That is what I hope for.
The policemen gave their opinion.
They wondered why it had to be put in front of their police station
as we are currently experiencing a wave of taggers
and they were concerned to see this bubble arrive
and be the sign for those who want to give a message.
We immediately chose this space
the city hall.
When people come here, it is the first thing they see.
Well, they will also see the bubble man,
this expression of a civic message oriented towards the place
where the key decisions for the life of a city are made.
I invite you
to speak freely
on this bubble
which is currently empty.
Bravo!
Allowed here, revocation of driving licence
Here!
I don�t have Jacques�
It�s hard�!
It is a very, very beautiful experience.
I worked with the city workers
and they were great.
They brought this bubble man in the pouring rain,
I also had to make some retouching
because the paint was beginning to leak!
It was not dry!
Mind the bubble ...
(My office is in front of it!)
Here, we are not at all in the show,
we are light years away from that,
in places
where one would not expect
to see contemporary art.
There are some cities where there is a habit of it:
in Fl�malle, there is a contemporary art center
and we realize that it is of importance.
In Eupen it is the same.
On the other hand, in Waremme, the mayor said
at the time of the opening of Emilio Lopez Menchero�s work:
"You know, here, there is nothing!"
What is nice is that everyone�s expression
can be put on it without any worries
because three quarters of the people in Waremme
will be able to read what happens,
people are fed up and all the rest,
in some respects it is good.
there are texts that are really interesting
this is not the usual graffiti
But there are some too, fine
In preparation,
before the first opening took place,
it is one year of work
and the idea goes back to one year and a half.
And also the idea of doing a project ...
because it's different again.
A project, it is trying to think about everything.
Do you want to see the pictures of the bubble man?
Everybody can give his opinion.
I like the artists.
It is nice.
It is harder to read: "Blessed are the clear hearts,
they will find love in all things."
Don�t chicken out!
It seems that the police removed some
that they found a little offensive ...
Luc Navet: did you find a seat?
Do you have a good seat?
I am fine.
Come on, it is already one thing done!
"Aux Arts, Etc." might be an artistic approach
not finding a seat and being late!
It is a real performance at the Belgian television (RTBF)!
A really impressive performance.
It's crazy!
Well, earlier we talked about one of the 16 steps
of "Aux Arts,Etc. ": Welkenraedt.
Another work: that of Nicolas Kosakis,
a man who loves the shapes, all the shapes ...
Yes, but here it is a particular shape
since he collected signatures,
so he proposed to the whole staff
to give him their signature.
There are about hundred of them and he will choose
the one that seems to be the most interesting
from the aesthetic point of view. It will be reproduced
under the form of a neon hanging on the front of the city hall.
Awesome! The owner of the signature
will be then allowed to take the neon back home?
That has not been discussed.
It seems simple, but it was early to start talking about success
because some consider that their signature
is very personal and something you don�t easily give.
We will find out who is the author of the signature
only on 10th September at the opening.
... and you will see it at the town hall in Eupen,
installation of the artist Nicolas Kosakis.
It is from 11th September to 19th December?
You are not going to tell me
that you can only see a signature!
One could have thought
that the criteria were aesthetic
and then, there were very calligraphic signatures
frankly as beautiful as tags and more
but I think that being able to give someone�s name
would have been even more effective
therefore, no matter the calligraphic quality,
the recognition of the word and of the name of the person,
its readability, seemed to me much more effective
and brought a supply of identity:
the place was underlined by a name.
We will see.
Don�t you think so?
I think that Mr. Kosakis� idea
was to involve people who work
and who spend a significant part of their lives
in the city hall and that they had the opportunity
to collaborate to his artwork.
We had a lot of signatures of people
who work here.
Someone was chosen,
perhaps a man, perhaps a woman,
I don�t know!
Maybe, it is not the mayor�s.
It is sure that it is not that of the mayor
but he launches a challenge for discussion:
"What is important in our lives?"
Does a worker�s
have the same value as that of a mayor, for example.
At this moment, nobody knows
the winner of the signatures contest
who will be revealed in a small show
during the opening.
Is it going to take place there?
It is going to take place in the big hall, of course!
And we will ask everyone to come in ...
Yes, don�t worry: here at the local authority control,
everything is programmed in details.
Are you alright?
I, born on 28th June 1957 in Eupen,
deceased on 17th January 2012 at 10:35 in Nepeu.
It is one of the cleaning ladies who has been chosen
and she runs the whole thing
It is really a situation
where she is everywhere.
She is really everywhere
and she is sometimes the most anonymous.
I'm happy to stand back from that.
you are the only one who can give this explanation
and I think it is so important
we have here a young woman interested
who is wondering what is happening behind.
This is also why events
such as "Aux Arts, Etc. " are interesting
because they �meet� people
and, perhaps, this will give the desire to go further.
The media were really designed
according to a relationship between anyone
but not for anything.
Let�s be clear,
call the free number
Clac, where is the number?
How am I going to insert the French and German number
0 800...
A sound that has absolutely nothing to do with it!
0 800 11 340
Are we going to try to normalize it according to Mary�s voice?
No, to give it a correct sound,
I have to try again in a room.
This explains a little bit the background
and tries to arouse the spontaneous calls.
this is the call to citizens,
we tell them that they can call this number
and for which purpose.
There are eight of them, is it possible?
We are going to listen to them.
I was scared because I thought
that the loudspeakers were working.
It is the last one.
If it works, otherwise we start over.
I thought it would be easier by phone
but it is less easy.
Yes I think that Sarah has the instructions for use.
I was the culture councillor for six years,
in charge of the creation of the art centre
but it was not easy
because we were just finished with the local association concept
use of premises and moreover an art centre
with its obligations, the decree, the French-speaking community,
the obligation to welcome, to create, and that is fine,
so it was not easy.
Today, everybody has understood and found his/her place
in our art center and all this has enriched the city.
I cannot find the message.
But I recorded eight of them!
I don�t want to enter this kind of debate
but I am utterly convinced that if we need
fewer policemen, that we have less crime,
fewer social problems
it is also a consequence of this policy.
It means enabling everyone to express themselves,
and to find what he/she is looking for in a city.
Little test to see if the phone number is displayed.
Is it the seventh that you have there?
The last one, the eighth.
Jacques Charlier, artistic commissioner of the event,
chose the artist from Li�ge Antoine Van Impe
for Welkenraedt. Antoine focuses his work
on the media and the communication techniques.
In Welkenraedt�
Is it fine?
... Every day, a municipal employee will take down
the new messages and will broadcast them.
That is why we are waiting for your messages
in all the languages
but especially in the three languages
spoken in the area:
French, German and dialect.
A young student, probably in Welkenraedt,
who calls to say that he was kept in after school,
that it is unfair and that he needs help.
I am kept in after school, help me...
I think he calls from his classroom
because he whispers in order not to be noticed!
We laughed a lot during the report,
the messages in the street are very funny.
If, for example, we don�t live in the province
and we want to see these works,
What can we turn to?
That was my question! Who is it for?
Because art lovers will maybe drive many kilometers
but will those who live in the city necessarily
go to the neighbouring city to do the tour,
Can we go on the Internet?
You can go to the neighbouring cities,
if you want to hear other messages,
It is true that it is probably intended
for the people in Welkenraedt, Eupen,
Vielsalm, Spa, etc.
You just go on the Internet
see where it takes place
and take your bike or your horse ...
This made us laugh, I think we will go ...
All these people move very little.
There is nobody from the area of Li�ge.
we realize that taking the car
to go to an opening, it�s a real expedition!
This project comes in the city
and in what is the most representative of a city:
the town hall.
A place where people sometimes meet
because they live in different places of the city,
they lose sight of each other, they see each other again and then above all,
I feel that it becomes a reference point,
a kind of stability point.
The basis of the common ideal is to be able to
support each other,
it is actually the town hall.
I think that the citizen should remember
that this town hall belongs to him.
It is a way to reduce the distance between the administration
which can seem inhuman
and the fact of belonging to a place
can define itself through many
administrative procedures.
So the "Rue de l'Amazone"
is a street that doesn�t exist in Ans
but which can exist, and in any other city,
which is a very poetic evocation of somewhere else.
We are preparing the show
that will be performed
by Marion and Ismael.
Marion will be on the roof of the building.
there will be some evocations in relationship with the theme.
it is accompanied by an original music
created from pre-recorded and live sounds.
I think it will be very beautiful!
But it is not rendered literally.
Here you have a perspective thanks to the decline
of the size of the trees and then thanks to the global movement
with which we worked on the front.
That gives you an impression of depth.
When the background changes, the tree appears ...
You can put it in relationship with the others.
The town hall is the most symbolic place
and the most symbolic place
both of the power at the local level
as well as, as the word suggests,
this �town hall�,
is the place where normally each citizen
each inhabitant of the city, can feel at home
and go to make some
administrative steps and meet his elected representatives.
You are stealing my view!
Sorry ...
to put 200 pairs of eyes for the neighbours!
That�s it!
I am sorry�
Yes?...
Are you fine, not too claustrophobic?
Yes, a little
But you can open the window in winter, it is fun!
Yes, I am full of energy...
Are you?
So it is going to be difficult.
What I am doing to you is horrible.
I wondered if it would not be
possible to put removable panels,
a small bar below which makes weight.
No, because the light
will just pass through!
It doesn�t make the desired effect.
We wondered on what it was going to stop
but we didn�t know it was going to be projected
from here towards the windows. We wondered
if it was going to be projected from the street.
No!
I am really sorry!
Well, I am going to ...
No, you can stay there because it does not bother.
Each floor is a part of a body.
The image was filmed in vertical
and I cut it into three parts.
Like this? ...
like that and then more down like that.
So, to your left.
Again.
To MY right!
It is fine.
Again.
There, it gets better ....
See you later!
Do you have a piece of cardboard?
Can I tear a piece of that?
But I'll seriously consider your curtains.
So the initial idea,
since we had to intervene
on a city with a civic intervention,
I told myself it would be interesting to have a sociological panel
of all the citizens of a place.
I made a Photomaton video
which filmed all the people
who went to the town hall
to give the image of a citizen
who observes the town hall.
As citizens,
they have the right to see
what their elected representatives do.
Yes, I see. -200 persons have been filmed!
Really!
People played the game
but, like myself and like everyone,
you are a little awkward.
Are you making a speech?
I'll say a few words
about the event
then Ronald will say a few words.
Jacque Louis Nyst... � He is so great!
Exactly three Jacques!
I have my sources, my culture anyway!
I see, I see, I hear ...
Well, ladies and gentlemen,
it is with great pleasure
and pride that the town of Soumagne
today welcomes
the work
made
created by
Ronald Dagonnier
The three floors are not systematic? You vary.
Some people played the game,
and bent down to see.
How do you fix the frame?
This, it is during the shooting.
I put a small monitor control
and when they see themselves,
they see where they are in the hall.
Afterwards, during the editing, I began to move them
so they are more or less right.
With a mechanism that is connected to a harness.
Every time you climb on it,
it starts to record
and once you go down, it is cut.
I'm sorry, but we work a little
with technicians who ...
... it is difficult.
No, this is not simple at all.
Right, well,
it is very nice, see you later, thank you.
Today, we will remove
the upper part of the �perron�.
therefore, the stem here.
This is what we call the �perron�.
it was not easy to make people accept
the fact that we were going to remove the �perron�,
especially for a symbolical reason.
But when I explained that there would be a miniature �perron�
in the snow globe,
then there, they agreed.
This �perron� is originally
the place where court decisions were made public
and it has been used for a long time as pillory
where convicted persons were exposed
but it is also the expression of these municipal freedoms.
Leave it as it was.
It was high time! - It was high time to remove it!
Be careful: the rose remained there.
We will sell them for 1 euro.
My children are going to sell them tonight.
they will participate,
they were so patient.
I have been in Spa for a week
almost non-stop every evenings.
I found more interesting to add cards
with the snow globe
What do you think, Mister Houssa?
Good. That's very good, really good.
Don�t you find the postcard with the price a bit ugly?
We are perhaps not obliged to put it ...
Big aesthetic problem at the last minute.
No, I think it's ugly!
Yes, it's better like that, honestly!
This is how we worked,
by climbing
Don�t fall!
So we removed it and I copied it in miniature
inside, such as the globes for tourists ...
We often see a small monument in miniature.
But here it is the same monument,
which is in miniature.
Here, the �perron� is missing.
We removed it.
And was it easily removed?
I don�t know, but I think it's really cheeky
to remove such a symbol!
Who wants some cards, only one euro!
Marion: shout!
Very loud!
Who wants some cards for only one euro?
You can come in.
If you want, we give you 50 of them then?
No please!
I would like a card, don�t you have any more?
It is one euro.
Did your mum take the pictures, Marion?
It is 8 euros.
Who wants one-euro cards?
The work done by Sophie
is really interesting,
appropriating the �perron�
which is an important symbol
for all the citizens from Spa.
The project "Aux Arts, Etc. " was for me an invitation
to think as an artist about the concept of civic action
and I revisited the �Jolit�s� in a special way
by transforming the �perron�,
into a lovely snow globe and a tourist souvenir.
For me, these are pastiches which no longer convince many people
and eventually give a corny
and obsolete image to any civic action.
Say what you would like to say ...
I'm glad that Mum has finished this work
because she was busy with her computer
or anything else and I'm glad she finished
so,I can ask her to do things with me!
Darling!
Straight ahead!
As I wanted to work on the long nose,
I used this mask to put
an invitation for the meeting in the mask itself.
As Carnival was approaching,
I felt it was necessary to participate.
Very quickly, the idea of a meeting
with the people from Malm�dy imposed itself.
In the traditional long nose masks like any other traditional masks,
they don�t know their origin, they don�t know where they come from.
Somehow my mask is an addition to
the question of meaning: "Who are you?"
"Who are you?" the long nose,
the mask,
and the person behind it.
In Malm�dy, it was painted chrome,
to remind the mirror.
Whereas here it is the opposite:
as if you had printed the long nose mask upside down.
they will have to put on another personality when they enter their head in the mask.
It is a very big job, I realize it,
I see that it is impossible to finalize the whole thing
even with the help of Luc who was there.
So, the exhibition is not completely finished ...
It is in progress ...
But no, you will finish tomorrow!
Come and see!
There's a small movie.
This is not a joke: you can go!
I think we need a vision of an artist who is outside this.
A person from Malm�dy will not dare to make comments,
artistically extrapolate regarding a person
whereas from the outside, with an artist like Mister Pereira,
it was interesting to know
his interpretation of the mask.
It was very rich.
Because the long nose puts himself behind to imitate,
but being face to face
it was the role reversal.
Seeing oneself live was disturbing and amazing
and, it was really successful.
Visually there are 14 panels
where I mixed up the pictures I made in Duisburg
with the pictures I took here in Seraing.
I tried to create a confusion:
I recorded everything in a notebook.
There are lots of notes
and pictures I took during the locations,
there are archives
which serve as reserve fund.
I read a few books to learn more
about the history of social movements.
Here I have postcards of 1903.
I took pictures of the same views in 2010.
I asked myself the question: "Where is the progress?"
This is it!
There is a lot of noise
and too little room left for transport.
This is the project I proposed to "Aux Arts Etc."
So there are 14 panels, among which three with text
where I ask some questions:
"What is the plan for the future?�
"What do we want to do?"
There are some for which I hesitated a long time.
These ones, for example.
But this was not representative enough
They were whisked away.
Here is the selection
on the basis of which I worked on my panels.
Photography will be highlighted today
thanks to the talent of a young photographer
who offers us a mix
of what he saw in Duisburg, Germany
and here in Seraing.
The journey begins with the first panel.
Then, the journey continues freely
here in the street Brialmont
and the site of the future administrative city,
Place Kuborn.
Automatically, it gets more beautiful.
People stop by, look, talk, comment.
So we gain in citizenship, conviviality
and we are very happy.
On 14th July, we had a storm here.
There were strong winds which tore off all the panels.
I don�t know if this is just the wind.
I don�t know if there was damage.
In any case, there is not a single poster anymore!
There are no graffiti anywhere.
So the assumption that people from Seraing
don�t respect the public space
or certain initiatives is not confirmed!
They didn�t hold, so it took some force to remove them.
I think it's a nice metaphor:
a billboard on a proposal from Seraing
behind a wasteland ...
Nothing on nothing ...
Maybe we have not followed it enough.
It is perhaps our role.
If he really needed
to be closer.
That is perhaps part of our job.
What happened is what we have seen
that the selected artists
and who agreed to play the game,
most of the time,
are used to work
in the art microcosm
with the small things
that can satisfy a micro-environment.
If there are things
which were weaker than others,
it is for these reasons.
I think it was positive too.
there was a call to all craftsmen
making sweets in Vis�
Four stood out.
The aim of the project is to highlight
chocolate-makers, pastry cooks
and bakers
It will be quite a show.
This is what we need!
Is it really cake inside?
It is a real surprise!
The base is not.
Doesn�t it keep?
Yes, the base keeps
Yes, but you don�t eat this?
Do you eat this?
Yes, you eat all the rest.
Tonight we will decorate it with blown sugar
to put on the top, and pulled sugar
in order to beautify and dress it.
The horns of plenty are in nougatine
with macaroons coming out.
The artist tries to create something by himself.
The craftsman too, but the artist will
maybe have a more original note
If the craftsman wants to earn his living with his works,
he must take into account profitability.
As far as the artist is concerned,
he creates something
and it is unique.
What I prefer is to create.
the least attractive side
is the production and it is daily grind
and d�j�-vu
because this is a series of chocolates that we must produce
so that everyone can taste them
and have some for oneself.
We are flirting with philosophy and sociology,
there is an integration of different disciplines
and the artist begins to ask himself/herself questions
and to return them to the society.
So it is a function that is actually
other than that of having as goal
an object.
The goal is to maintain it at a certain temperature
and put a satin finish on it.
By giving a satin finish to it, it will get shiny
and that's when we'll be able to work on it.
Here, Mr. Streibel is the ice-cream man Hugo,
Let�s talk about his work:
the basic ingredient is meringue,
drawn in dark chocolate with fresh fruit coulis:
strawberry, kiwi...
It's great, it's very beautiful,
really.
Here, it is Mr. Jean-Pierre
who makes blown sugar.
It is a very beautiful technique
which looks like porcelain.
He is doing it, I�m discovering it.
A goose!
We will try to move on
Here is the chocolate-maker Mr. Bernard Schonmacker
who is setting up his work.
He is creating a tiered cake.
Once again, I don�t know the theme.
It is also a surprise!
It is a project that we initiated
at the culture department
of the Province of Li�ge
the aim is to try
to meet publics
at the level of visual�
arts
I wondered how to create
the link between the Town Hall
and the citizens,
to respond to the concept of "Aux Arts Etc.".
The link, I saw it very quickly in my head,
because I saw a subliminal image:
I saw a City Hall upside down on a plate
with a small dessert spoon.
In summary, the link between the City Hall and its citizens
is just a matter of digestion for me.
It is the only project where the artist did nothing!
where the artist did nothing, indeed!
Exactly�
I asked the question to Mr. Navet,
because everyone asks me
what the artist did.
She gave the impulse and the desire to create.
He explained to me that all great artists
such as Victor Hugo
and others too,
did not always create themselves their work:
someone worked for them.
Sylvie gives the ideas
and we realize what she asks
while having the experience
of assembling the structure
and make it stand up
and that the weldings do not hide the work.
It is true that you sometimes propose things
that we could do.
It is true that it would be totally possible.
It would be wise or logical.
Aesthetically, it's not always ...
But even plastically
it does not correspond to what I really want�
So, it is not OK.
They are welded.
They were given
a shape.
We heated the branch with a blowlamp
and then folded it on an anvil.
I discovered among this clutter,
a basis of an old park bench
which had a vegetal shape
and so we used this part
to get the stock of the rosebush.
It is especially the visibility that must be correct,
it shouldn�t weigh a ton,
it must be aesthetically beautiful.
It is another goal.
I draw them
then I cut them out of a copper sheet
which is quite thick and difficult to cut
and then, with the hammer,
I crush the metal and I hammer it
so that it reflects the light differently.
The steel structure is masculine.
Adding flowers and curves is a feminine contribution.
It is a combination of both.
That structure,
it is the part that builds us
and I think we need it.
But we also need what is more sensitive.
The roses are there, compared
with this notion of marriage
and especially the question of secrecy
as the work refers to all the hidden loves.
For me, politically, it also raises the question of the PACS,
the issue of gay marriage and therefore, society issues
which are very important
while we're in front of a work
which would rather be romantic, sentimental ...
So the readings can lead us very far.
I am not the bride!
Working in Huy on this project
which obviously focuses on the rose,
synonymous with love and we said
marriage was
really important
You can be a bit surprised
that there is only one rosebush
when it comes to love and marriage
but two rosebushes were originally planned.
I realized that there was a union,
and one was left out of the two
that's why there's only one.
I think that when the union
is interior and deep,
the traces of disagreements
are almost no longer evident.
Beautiful message!
Let's say it was very beautiful,
very aesthetic. Like Sylvie�s rosebush.
And it's also symbolical.
It is not only aesthetic, it is also symbolical.
But this is not the time
to express feedback on the works.
because it requires that we have seen everything
and we have taken a distance.
Our job is to collect the feeling
of the local people regarding a particular work
because that is also the project:
coming up with contemporary art in places
where it is not used to be.
But to show
the way that is left to mess up
the artistic world, which through its localism,
gets accustomed to satisfy itself with small things
inside a micro-environment
that we can always defend with flannel
to ensure that we go into raptures.
I paint on quilts.
I paint snow.
This is a portrait.
Two portraits.
This is within the framework of 16 cities and 16 artists
that the city of Engis welcomes Captain Longchamps.
This is an attack on the city
which will be an interaction between the residents and the city
the symbol of the attack is the bomb that is set
on the front of the town hall,
and a vehicle that is armed
which simulates an attack.
Let�s put it like that.
There? Don�t you want us to cover the windscreen?
No, that's just fine.
It is snow!
There!
Snowflakes.
The bomb normally explodes in 100 days.
It is filled with �snow explosive�
which is a terrible explosive.
Every time someone
sends a message saying:
"I don�t agree", "I agree",
or any other message,
there is a one-day delay
only 99 days, 98, 97 ...
If there are 100 messages,
the bomb will not explode.
We'll see what happens,
it is the interaction that will make
the work evolve.
Of course, this is a bit more problematic
because we never know.
These are little public notices
placed around the work of Captain
to encourage people
to come and say
"for" or "against" the town.
I think there are two goals.
The first one, regardless of the artwork
or of the event, is to summon the people
regarding their local council
and the local public life and see how they react.
Most important, make them react.
It touched me greatly that people reinvent
their local government.
That's why I want to blow it up.
We blow it up and people reinvent it.
They make a new town hall
and it is much better like that!
Make a beautiful picture with the mayor.
A beautiful picture. Here it is!
What are you going to do?
It was part of the terms and conditions,
We had to work in relationship with the door of town hall,
so the gun is directed toward the door,
and it is part of the human rights
to be allowed to blow up the town hall ...
If the citizens don�t express themselves!
I think we should change things
and I want to ask citizens:
"What should we change?��
Better access,
faster services,
more interesting things ...
The more messages, the less likely it is
that the bomb explodes, otherwise everything is finished,
we blow everything up. It is finished!
Let's finish!
We tend to focus
and to try to explain everything
while the artist does things
because he finds it beautiful, because he wants to.
It is an expression of a feeling or something else.
People�s attention is difficult to grab
because they are always trying to find a meaning,
a message in what is done.
I think that it is what makes any cultural result difficult.
Today, with our globalization
we can be everywhere at the same time.
Artists travel a lot,
One moment, they are on another continent,
they have assistants,
they do not do everything themselves.
Today, we need a big production,
you must be a manager at the same time,
you must have many qualities
to succeed in doing something.
The context "Belgium" does not play there.
Everyone has the opportunity in Belgium
to make a trip to the USA
or elsewhere to work there.
At the beginning, it will be difficult.
They are confronted to the World
in every possible and imaginable ways.
They are overloaded with information.
At that level, nothing will be forgiven:
"You know, there's a guy in New York
who does the same as you!
Didn�t you know?"
It is terrible for an artist
to find him/herself confronted
to open-minded issues of that kind.
We are going to sew them progressively
and put them on the pallet.
We split into teams.
Some put the plastic bags
into jute bags,
others sew.
When we get ahead
and the wooden structure is ready,
we will begin the installation.
It is a door
which highlights this place
of transition and intermediary
between the citizens and the town hall.
Mind your feet!
People ask
whether there will be an air attack
but there are also people who think about the flooding.
It is fine because sandbags
don�t only evoke the war
but the flooding and the front.
Some wonder if we had not already entered
a phase of war or retrenchment
compared to one of the neighbouring areas.
Therefore, it also requires an explanation
which is not always easy
since we don�t necessarily have to explain
a work or say what it represents
or why it was made but the aim
is rather that we feel it
in one way or another.
That's the approach, I think, which is interesting
in this type of project taking place in the street.
Because today
people no longer understand Art.
It is always ahead of the general understanding.
Are the soldiers going to arrive?
It is a quiet strength,
Nothing really happens.
You see, that's the symbol of a front. - What does that mean?
Then, we must think and ask oneself:
"Why bags, why a barricade
near a town hall?",
and it must generate some thoughts ...
There, there really is a questioning
that I had raised when I had made the trick:
to know who is protecting who, how a town hall ...
To what extend it protects itself
or it protects the citizen?
How is it perceived by the citizen?
Alain!
A journalist!
Only one journalist and everything is repopulated!
Yes.
Hello.
We feel at once bigger and stronger!
Moreover, a cultural journalist!
What an honour!
It exactly matches up to his project.
And there, above?
Above, it is the straw.
You don�t see the difference!
No, even us ...
It is just like on your project.
It is a great idea ...
still a challenge ...
because I think it's never easy to combine
public art, politics and citizenship,
some too often limit
the artistic expression to a scale of aesthetic value
which reduces itself to their own vision of beauty.
The same thus forget
the most important thing of the artist�s work:
giving a view of the world that questions
ours,
referring us to our representations
and to the meaning that we give to what we see
beyond the beauty or the politically correct.
From the moment a work
creates a kind of questioning
at the same time aesthetic, political and psychological
well, that's not bad!
Because it becomes a thinking theme
and at that point,
maybe
one might say that art can be useful
and that it is not only architectural decoration.
I copy what he drew.
There are no explanations.
We put what we want. We take what we want.
There is simply a variation of the verb "to be"
three times,
with a set of letters,
which shows other words.
I think that's encouraging people
to think, regardless of their conclusions.
It is a culture of reflection,
It is important not to give any explanation
because there is no explanation.
Pol Pierart, the artist, has an explanation,
I, as a mayor, I have another one,
and no doubt that everyone has a different one.
That is what makes the richness of an artwork:
It is that there are no instructions or explanation.
What have you written? I have not seen.
A variation of the verb "to be"
the word "to be"
and a set of letters
which shows,
first, the word "to come in"
then, the word "to spread"
finally, the word "to hear"
and the meeting of both.
I exactly traced the text,
as good as possible
so that we see the work through
the work of the engraving.
We immediately wanted
something that would be perennial,
"forever" some will say
I will not get into the explanation
because as Pierre Mossoux often explained to me,
you shouldn�t
you have to live them, to feel them.
But there are actually many messages
which are induced in the artwork
with respect to what should be a city
with respect to its relationship with the citizens
to everyday life, to the registry office, etc.
We also talked about �to hear�
so we are also in concepts of democracy
of citizenship, so it absolutely suited us
and really, thank you very much!
Be careful, don�t walk on it!
It wears out!
You have to take the trouble
to understand art.
Like a good novel:
the writer, in his present state, now
writes in a certain way
and it is not always easy to understand him,
it is sometimes even boring to read him
but there are things in which you need patience,
you need the strength to continue
to understand or to follow.
You must be involved there.
We are going to lift it.
But you should lift it higher than that.
We lift it higher and Pascale removes the pallet.
OK for you, Guy?
Don�t force.
Slide it,
I pull.
Didier, go there, we will shift on the car.
And then afterwards you put this.
I only got the permission on Tuesday!
With this you can put ties.
Woodscrews for above, here they are!
And the screwing machine, where is it?
Mr. De Clerck,
The councillor tells you that
he doesn�t want
to speak on the podium.
The speeches will therefore take place as originally planned
that is to say on the first floor of the library.
Yes, right, right. I have heard.
Listen.
Can you phone back in 5 minutes?
I am going to phone to see if the podium is insured
and for the rest, we'll discuss it later.
Phone me back in five minutes.
I will ask it immediately.
We'll go over there, next to the thing,
we will put the engines above,
and try to stabilize them a bit
then we'll put the big vertical claddings
so this, this will be a little trickier
and afterwards it must hold in the air.
A gust of wind shouldn�t
A bit.
A little bit.
A little bit.
With the logo of the Arab League in it, you see.
I�m wondering.
I hesitate between two Palestinian flags:
if I put a new flag or not.
We will put the standard.
We will put the other one afterwards.
This is the wrong canvas sheet!
Move it! I was wrong.
Cut that, that's not the good one! We made a mistake.
***.
These are the 1967 borders.
East Jerusalem, capital city of Palestine.
International law.
Peace.
Not the absolute fascism on both sides.
The Zionist fascists
who take the map of their country
in a 5OOO-year-old book.
Which gives the radicalism on the Muslim side,
or even Islamism.
Islamism against the Zionist fascism:
this is good, this is the future of the world!
Then, the UN has invented the Alliance of Civilizations
but these political *** don�t do anything.
No one to save the whole thing!
It will be ok.
No one won�t
You have chosen a global theme,
a theme of international politics
which, if not managed at a local level,
is a problem
on which all citizens have their attention drawn
and which deserves to be reminded.
The theme chosen by you Mr. De Clerck
is that of the need for a fair and lasting peace
in the Middle East
and we're right in the news.
Later, we'll go on the podium
we will shake hands
and the micro-current that flows through us
will create a mechanical relay
will raise the two flags.
It is really the handshake
which makes the current flow
between the two persons,
the two brothers who are on the same planet,
raise the flags.
Do we go up?
Shake hands.
What about you, don�t
What I had proposed to them,
is that they formulate a request,
that I understand it
and then all I can do,
is forwarding the request to the authorities
who are capable of doing it.
But the story they are talking about
will really be the big problem.
The youth centre!
Yes, because the police are surprised that we are
hanging about in the street late at night.
That we are doing stupid things,
but we don�t have anything else to do.
Here, there is nothing at all.
Old people say
we do not need the local young people
they are useless!
We are the youth,
so if they say that, we will be full of rage,
so we will do stupid things,
we'll hang about, we'll break windows,
destroy cars, we will steal!
They too were young!
That was the same for them.
We want to do everything possible to change
but they don�t understand.
They put us all the time into a mess
and they keep criticizing young people.
What I would like
is to produce works that astonish.
So we have to work.
With some kind of discipline.
In fact, discipline ... That means in the proper way.
It was complete, it had beautiful windows,
then, it was destroyed several times.
I thought: well, they tear off the material,
I'll see into what it turns.
My idea was to accept
that the material removed from the horse-drawn caravan
it was as if it became
this mechanism of the sculpture
where you remove material
to make a face appear or I don�t know what
but every time I replace it with emptiness
This worthless thing,
ruined, stabbed with a brutality,
a cruelty that affected me.
Five minutes later, exhausted,
I made artist plans
to get rid of fascism,
this man who, for a moment,
could have supported Frontist theories,
Vlaams Blok, etc.
I'm here with a threadbare caravan,
drawn by six donkeys
to turn it into a school,
a school for a second chance,
in the mouth of the first one.
A school where we all learn to live with a second chance,
a school in which we all have
a central place
the center of the square, old people, young people,
these ones, those ones.
This is a school where we are all teachers
and students each for another.
A school drawn by six donkeys on the benches of which
we somehow study
the highly sensitive matter,
highly secret of the Other,
that is to say the Future.
I got invited in two stages:
first, the persons of the town council
came to my office, it was the caravan
and we went to the town council
to take pictures of them
"at the meeting of culture and nature�.
I had told you,
at the previous council,
that during this session
of late September,
there would be a particular event.
Indeed, the presence of an artist
who for some days now
has occupied our town square
and put his caravan.
I asked them to open a bit the collars,
to open a bit the sleeves
so that we can see under the suit.
Ideally, a town council
must also be a reflection of the population.
Therefore, that the local councilors individually
don�t all have a priority
on the cultural sector, in itself,
this is not illogical.
Police: police budget.
Another ten minutes and then I leave you alone.
No, no worries: the more they are absent-minded, the better!
Go on!
Who is for?
Have you counted, Madam the Chief Executive? - 29.
Who is against?
That's perfect!
I think that many people
don�t need art.
These are only the curious people who need art,
those who want to progress, researchers,
creators, scientists,
people who want more
than what they have for the time being.
For them, art is good.
The others, they also live like that.
I see around me,
there are people who make a fortune:
they don�t need art, they are happy!