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De Unie Hasselt-Genk Mies van der Rohe Award Art on the Meuse nuclear

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Maarten Inghels

Once again the artist militia meets in an unruly group portrait

The Belgian artist Rinus Van de Velde is creating a Night Watch 2.0. This monumental charcoal drawing was inspired by the genre of group portraits from the 16^th and 17^th century. He is bringing this tradition to Hasselt’s legendary local café Cambrinus. He depicts a fictional community of artists featuring both people from his own personal circle and the café’s regulars.

Ele Carpenter

In Lieu of What Was Off site

29.06 to 31.10.23

27.04.22 Magazine

Winner of Mies van der Rohe Award 2022 announced

Save Our Souls

SOS or SAVE OUR SOULS is a common emergency signal used by castaways on desert islands in films and books. In the summer of 2021, that call for help came very close. The Meuse river threatened to over flow the dykewall in Heppeneert. In the riverbed, writer Maarten Inghels presents a word sculpture made of sand of the river Meuse. For him, SAVE OUR SOULS is a pointless cry for help in these times of increasing floods and summer droughts. The fact that the artwork can flood or wash away is essential for Inghels. With it, he emphasises the vulnerability of people and society in the face of the immense power of water.

Picturesque Sketches: after Léon Becker

The concrete bridge at the Hoogzij connects the Heem Park with the nature reserve Kattevennen, but also brusquely interrupts this green area. British artist Nils Norman has painted the concrete walls with a collage of pictures that are inspired by the illustrations of the landscape painter and arachnologist Léon Becker (1826-1909). In the 19^th century, Becker visited Genk and published a standard work on spiders. Norman’s painting refers to the surrounding nature and the importance of ecological balance. In it likewise a critique of the closing of the Ford factory and its social impact.

Tree of Life

09.10 to 01.09.00

Canal Pavilion

The Swiss Atelier Amont designed Canal Pavilion, a pleasant meeting spot where you can relax or have a picnic. The expressive roof-shaped wooden structure, surrounded by curtains, was built in the Quartier Canal in Hasselt in 2014. You can now find it in the green environment of the Bethany Campus Hasselt.

The Green House

The Green House in the middle of the Arboretum at Bokrijk was once ready to be demolished. Krijn de Koning decided to save it. He stripped the building from the inside out and added an extra layer to it, making it part of the Arboretum as a ruined pavilion. The design focuses on the beautiful enclosed garden that boasts a profusion of vegetation. He plays with the visitor’s gaze, sense of direction and perception. The work invites you to experience the place in a new way.

Vulva Island

29.02 to 30.09.24

In Lieu of What Was

“In Lieu of What Was” (2019) is a series of giant fiberglass sculptures based on the public drinking fountains in Kuwait. It is a work by the Kuwaiti-Puerto Rican artist Alia Farid (1985).Water, or the lack of, is a constant theme in Farid’s work.

The Rock Show

In 2014, Erik Odijk expanded the Emile Van Doren Museum with an outdoor exhibition space. Along with an ensemble of artists, he transformed the villa of landscape painter Emile Van Doren back into a place of encounter. The museum garden features the permanently exhibited works ‘Meeting Place of Memorial Stones for Lost Loved Ones’ (Erik Odijk), the ‘Prediction Module’ (Vaast Colson), ‘A meteorite named Erika’ (Erik Odijk) and ‘A Landscape for the Painter’ by Rudy J. Luijters.

Vulva Island

Vulva Island, a sculpture by Michèle Matyn in Bichterweerd, Dilsen-Stokkem

Smeermaas-Kessenich

Benjamin Verdonck explores the Meuse Valley on foot. Along the way he collects objects that tell us something about the area, from stones and seeds to plastic packaging and lost jewelry. He treats these everyday objects as relics which he presents in various chapels throughout the Meuse Valley. The carefully arranged collections show his journeys through the area where water and people each leave their own traces.

Gravitational Waves

Gravitational Waves is a subtle installation by artist Tomás Saraceno (°1973, Argentina/lives and works in Berlin). His projects are inspired by, among other things, spheres, cloud formations and… spiderwebs. In his work, he observes patters that occur both in the macrostructures of our universe and in the microsystems of nature. To Saraceno, the web is the best metaphor to connect everything that lives and survives. The installation seamlessly matches the surroundings of the Kattevennen and the Cosmodrome, where microcosms and macrocosms meet.

Tree of Life

American artist Mark Dion breathes new life into a symbolic place: Herbricht. His ‘Tree of Life’ is like a journey through the past, present and future of the Meuse Valley. The power of nature is at the heart of his artwork.