Retrospective: Saint Michael's Art Route

During an autumnal October, Uitwijken had the pleasure of visiting the Stokvelde neighbourhood in Sint-Michiels. A small triangular patch of grass in the Veeweide proved sufficient to set up the bar, office and book van. In the middle of the three Uitwijken vehicles, a stately stone pillar formed the centrepiece of a sparkling autumn filled with visual art. While the tree leaves turned increasingly red, there were all kinds of adventures to be had.

Uitwijken organised a veritable art route in the Stokvelde neighbourhood. To this end, we collaborated with the ever-approachable, rather funny and brilliant staff of the PLAN B arts platform. These three wonderful people, in turn, invited six skilled, critical and talkative artists to create a work of art in the Stokvelde neighbourhood.

For a month, six young creators turned their attention to a seemingly quiet residential neighbourhood in Bruges. Each in their own way, they set to work and created a wide variety of artworks. There was plenty to do: Sebastian organised a petanque tournament, Julie a dog photo shoot, Elien had the residents record her voice-over, Nina showed a beautiful film in the cinema van, Betül brought a selection from her collection of absurd teapots and organised 'tea and drawing', and Gilles led a wonderful collective process in the school. 

But that was all just the prelude, because during the last weekend of October, our art route opened. We were very proud to be able to present the artworks of Betül Sefika, Nina de Vroome, Julie Van Kerckhoven, Sebastian Dingens, Gilles Dedecker and Elien Ronse to our audience, to you. On the opening night of the final weekend (29, 30, 31 October 2021), the mayor of Bruges addressed us, the Gitsy Streetband brass band gave a rousing performance and the local band 'De Veeweiders' played a cinematic concert. There was chatting and commenting, compliments were given and everyone was satisfied. A fire pit and drinks completed this magical evening. 

Throughout the closing weekend, the six artists guided visitors through the Stokvelde neighbourhood. They showed them how they viewed the neighbourhood, how their work came about, what they had thought and felt. Six artists looked at the same neighbourhood but saw completely different things. Visitors were therefore able to enjoy not only the artworks, but also the different perspectives.

Visitors walked through the neighbourhood in small groups, braving the rain. Because the weather was terrible that weekend. But no matter how bad the weather was, visitors and artists continued to enjoy meeting each other and experiencing the wonderful world of visual art. 

And so the indescribably enjoyable summer of Uitwijken came to an end.

A year in which we embarked on a new path, where we stayed a little longer everywhere, a year in which we learned a great deal, but above all, a year to look back on forever with a wonderful feeling!

A big thank you to everyone who was there!!!

See you next year.  

Written by Team-Uitwijken. You can also find the review here on the Uitwijken website.