Gilles Dedecker

The sixth-year pupils from the local primary school De Kaproenen went out into the neighbourhood with artist Gilles Dedecker, Flor Vandevelde from Uitwijken and teacher Veenerick Vanhee. What does the area around the school look like? Who are the neighbours? And how do we experience the neighbourhood? These questions formed the starting point for the creation of an installation for the neighbourhood. Elements from the environment and portraits of local residents were drawn, neighbourhood stories were collected, and street names were reinvented. The images that this research yielded were transformed into surrealistic compositions. A colourful parade of wooden shapes with which, image by image, a colourful installation was constructed. The result is a playful representation of the neighbourhood, a colourful backdrop through which visitors move and become part of.

Gilles on the Stokvelde neighbourhood, his creative process, and the tour he presented around his work.

My first impression of the neighbourhood was that it is a kind of self-contained mini-community. The classic ribbon development, the blocks of flats with striking modernist balconies, immediately caught my attention. The street names, Veeweide, Rietlaan, etc., also appealed to me immediately. The teacher I work with lives in this neighbourhood herself and told me that it sometimes feels like a bungalow park, a kind of Centerparcs, but in a cheerful, positive way. I found that a fascinating comparison. 

In my work, I present the personal impressions that the children gained in the neighbourhood. They transformed these into a visual language. They used many elements, cut them up and then threw them back together into new abstract forms. It actually becomes a literal translation in an absurd way.

In my guided tour, I want to actively involve the audience. The most important thing is enjoyment. And recognition. That the audience can unravel elements into things they recognise.