Temporary Information Centre, The Verge section
In order to put the ideas of the Temporary Information Centre into practice and bring them to the Zwankendamme area, the De Berm department was established. This department conducted extensive research into Zwankendamme, its present, past and perhaps even its future. All this information was collected on individual A4 sheets and compiled into a publication that every Zwankendamme resident received in the post (you can view it here). They also worked on a video and an installation made from scrap wood. As the highlight of the project, the Berm department will gather the entire village on Saturday 1 October on the berm, from where they will view the village together in silence.
Temporary Information Centre, De Berm department about the neighbourhood, their creative process, and the tour they will give around their work.
When we arrived in Zwankendamme, we were immediately impressed by the enclosed location of the village. The small residential area surrounded by the canal, the polders, the berm, the railway track, the expressway and the port industry. Zwankendamme as an enclosed locality that is physically connected to global production chains.
Our work focuses on the roadside at Wulfsberge to channel our curiosity. This mega-infrastructure is the result of a landscape design project aimed at creating a green buffer that ensures the liveability of Zwankendamme by reducing noise and visual pollution. We wondered what it would be like to be there, to spend time there, to sleep there and to open our senses to the perspectives available.
During the closing weekend, we are organising the action 'Allemaal op de berm' (Everyone on the verge) on Saturday. We invite everyone who is present in Zwankendamme at that moment to stand together on the verge. There, we look out over the surroundings and consider them as a sculpture, as a landscape that we as humans shape and inhabit, a landscape that is constantly in transformation, a force field of power relations that shape a place.
In our view, the work is about contemplation, precariousness and perspectives. Contemplation is often seen as a passive activity. We believe that it is an active form of thinking, constantly evolving, dynamic, conscious and connected. All on the verge is not only contemplative but also a precarious work because it depends on the choices and possibilities of many people, with the consequence of being there or not. The result is uncertain. Finally, a multitude of perspectives are visible from the roadside. We suggest not only looking ahead, but also looking around us.
BIO
The Temporary Information Centre (TIC) is an open artistic working method that Jakob Van den Broucke and Kasper Demeulemeester have been developing since 2020, sharing the results in the form of exhibitions and publications. The TIC can be described as a dynamic and interactive thinking space in which collaboration, the accumulation of knowledge and aesthetic production can coincide. Previous departments were established in Sint-Goriks, where, at the invitation of the Sint-Gorikshallen, they addressed issues relating to digital photography and the visualisation of contemporary heritage, and in Mol, where they organised a temporary disclosure of information about Mol soil.
Credits
Thanks to Lucy, Danny, Lisa, Niels, Various Artists and Dirk.