This scenario opens up a plethora of possibilities and challenges. Would a small city be capable of coping with the dynamics of a metropolis? And conversely: could a city on a human scale contribute to a new, better form of urbanism?
Eighteen international artists went to work on this idea. They created new works that can be viewed on an art trail through the centre of Bruges. The artists pose questions and reflect on the future and potential of the city, of urbanisation, citizenship, lifestyle, community, economics, energy, space, sound and the values that guide us.Three indoor exhibitions illustrate the concept of ‘city’ – in visions, dreams and real-life images - as a living, growing and evolving organism."
The above is a prolonged quote from the Brugge Triennale 2015 website and explains, rather better than I might, the concept behind the extraordinary city trail of installations exhibiting from this week until the end of the Triennial in October. I set out on Saturday, to locate some of the art works and the fruits of my Ipad photography are recorded below. Perhaps the exhibits are even more startling given the serene and chiefly homogeneous nature of the mediaeval architecture in this beautiful little city. Brugge is provincial and traditional and the exhibits are international and ultra modern. They challenge the eye and the expectation.
Here is a house in the water on the Groene Rei; it is called Cataract Gorge, Brugge stormt and reflects beautifully on Romy Archituv, the creators. It is enchanting, quite magical. I am not sure of the significance of the title but 'storm', the noun, means both tempest and applause.
And, on the theme of houses, one of the indoor concepts was for Vertically Integrated Socialism.
an experimental housing hypothesis that integrates the social class pyramid into one single building. Tenants who live off state support live free of charge on the ground floor of an apartment building. The floors above house increasingly better-off social classes, which each pay the rent of the class below them. This implicitly acknowledges the social and economic inequalities of contemporary society and suggests one possible, possibly idealistic, solution. The idea of Nicolas Grenier.
I had gone out on Sunday afternoon to see if I could catch the promised kayak races and immediately bumped into two friends with the sister of one, on the Carmeerbrug near to where I live. So I had tagged along and the anticipated hour or two, turned into about four, as we wandered with the crowds, along the Langerei to see some of the installations and whatever else there was to see. The weather was sunny to celebrate this day of the opening of the Triennale and along the relaxed meander, we saw the above model. When I asked about it, only then did I discover the delightfully optimistic concept though was assured, 'No it won't be built; it's just an interesting idea'. There was a mock-up near the model of what I think must have been one of the free social housing flats on the ground floor. It was Seriously Tiny but ever-so-chic with the smartest, tiniest loo ever. Designed, I imagine, for a person with few possessions. The idea of the penthouse on the top of the pyramid looked distinctly attractive though the occupant would presumably have been responsible for some serious rental costs of those below as well as for his own domain. One wonders if Socialist Rich tenants, fully in tune with the Vertically Integrated system, exist? Oh,brave new world.
Because I was with the Bruggean friends I discovered a place I would never have seen; we wandered through a buttercup-strewn meadow [normally not open to the public]
to a space beyond with lock-up garages and a large-ish house, all in a spacious area of neglected land. People in yellow T shirts with Stoer Huus were buzzing enthusiastically around to show the plans for an intended development there of social housing. SO much more effort, resources and interest for social housing here; quite warms the heart. The garages, see below:
will be demolished and the large space will have 29 terraced houses with one to three bedrooms , a community centre, library/resources centre and play area with the intention of providing the context for a real sense of community to develop. The accommodation will be Green and Stoer Huus is a Danish organisation which does not surprise me.
Later, we failed to see the advertised raft race though we saw a group of Sea Scouts staggering under the weight of a heavy raft, along the street to the water, ready to go, and when we had walked along the canal a little further, came across three strong young men, two rowing vigorously and one wrestling with a sail which he eventually erected to loyal cheers from onlookers on the bank. When the sail was up, the rowers stopped and so did the raft.
I had, in fact, gone to the Langerei earlier, at around 11.30, in time, it transpired, to miss the mayoral speech but in good time to join the crowd there, dense on the bridge, but sparser below on the specially constructed platform I had admired in construction in the weeks before:
I rather fancied a walk along the platform as the crowds were thin there, unlike the crush above. So I jostled my way through the throng to join the queue to enter through special wooden gates erected for that purpose. But there was no movement at all; I asked the girl in front who didn't know why the queue wasn't moving, but the man in front of her said, 'It's not the space available, it's the capacity, the weight. It might sink'. Strangely this quite deterred me so I said to no one in particular, 'Think I'll go and buy a beer instead'. Everyone it seemed had a glass of Brugse Zot in hand. ' Oh the beer's free to celebrate the opening of the Trienniale', the man said and off I shot to fight through a crowd at one of the three outdoor bars.
This sort of thing, the free beer certainly, but the whole inclusive nature of the celebrations for the Triennale, speak volumes for the civic awareness of fostering good community relations and a pride in Brugge itself and life here. Most of the celebrations for the opening day involved community; Sea Scouts giving free boat rides in the morning; raft race, Brugge Canal Swimmers' Club in the water; lots of volunteer help on outdoor bars and in marshalling crowds during the peak morning attendance; volunteers with explanations of the Stoer Huus project. It is the sort of community hands-on involvement one sees in Britain in villages for street parties, fetes and so on, but less often for events in tourist-destination cities. It is admirable and enables a solid, proud, inclusive civic life to flourish here alongside the five million tourists a year.
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