KUNSTENPLATFORM PLAN B

Swerve - Stokvelde district

In October 2021, Uitwijken and arts platform PLAN B joined forces and invited six artists: Gilles Dedecker, Nina de Vroome, Sebastian Dingens, Elien Ronse, Betül Sefika and Julie Van Kerckhoven. 

Surrounding Stokveldepad is a charming and little-known residential area of Bruges. Peppered with hidden footpaths, unusual house and garden architecture and absurdist urban planning, the Stokvelde neighbourhood (Sint-Michiels, Bruges) is the ideal setting for an art trail. 

These six artists set out to discover and unravel the neighbourhood, each in their own unique way. For three weeks, the neighbourhood became their home, but also that of Kunstenplatform PLAN B and Uitwijken. In Veeweidestraat, they found an imaginative little square and installed a bar wagon and an autumn terrace. Every week, a weekly programme was dropped through the letterbox. A petanque tournament, a film screening, a dog photo shoot, a tea and drawing session, a radio broadcast: all kinds of activities were on the agenda.

Amidst this cosy autumn optimism, the six artists set to work. They spoke with residents or made observations. They walked and mused. They made notes in sketchbooks and lost themselves in the network of streets and squares, gardens and hidden boundaries, histories and stories. The works they created during their stay were presented over a weekend in the form of an atypical art route. Each artist made their own connections in the neighbourhood based on their personal experience and the work that resulted from it. During the closing weekend, each of them took you on a guided tour along new paths, surprising side tracks and imaginative places in the neighbourhood. A playful exploration of forms of proximity and the role that art and artists can play in this. Let yourself be guided through the Stokvelde neighbourhood, see things through their eyes, and who knows what will surface.

This project was realised in collaboration with Uitwijken.
Uitwijken is a mobile cultural centre that travels to the neighbourhoods of Bruges, initiated by Brugge+. They bring a diverse and completely free cultural offering close to the residents. The public space is the playing field and the target group is as broad as possible: everyone is at home in the Uitwijken cultural centre. More information: www.uitwijken.be

Image: © Isaac Ponsele

ARTISTS

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