LE MUTSAERT — DE MUTSAARD
Several plaques on Rue de Laeken have been struck by an epidemic of poetry.
The symptoms? Fragments of poems grafted onto the street names.
The antidote? To scour the neighbourhood to discover them.
By “poetically contaminating” about fifty street name-boards
Christian Israel allows Miriam Van hee’s poem to infiltrate the
streetscape. He replaced the signs with slightly larger ones on
which Van hee’s poems were printed in French and Dutch. As a
metaphor for Brussels the two versions of the poem intertwine but
do not touch.
" uit brussel weggelopen als een vlek
heeft deze plek van alles meegenomen:
haar warme en haar kille stijlen, haar asfalt
en haar kasseien, haar tweetaligheid
en haar reliëf, maar in bescheiden mate "
on display
This residential Brussels area on the border with the Flemish Region and in the shadow of the Heizel was subject to major urban development for the world exhibitions of 1910 and 1958. The Chinese Pavilion and the Japanese Tower are very close. There is high-rise building from the 1960s, but also a garden district with working-class houses typical of the 1920s. Wandstraat is a lively shopping street and a main thoroughfare through the Mutsaard area. The canal and the Royal Domain in Laken separate the Mutsaard from the rest of the city. Its inhabitants are mainly of Belgian origin.
In Mutsaardlaan, Wandstraat, Gustave Demanetstraat and Jean de Bolognelaan in the Mutsaard district since April 2008.
partners
In this instance, Passa Porta collaborated with the ERG, GC Heembeek-Mutsaard, Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis / Chinees Pavilion, LACA, Bibliothèque communale, Bibliothèque publique du Christ Roi, Wijkcomité De Wand-Dikke Linde, Handelaarsvereniging, Jeugdhuis 't Mutske, Jan Ruusbroeckcollege, Maria Assumptalyceum and Koningin Astridschool.
MBOGO OÙ ES-TU, WAAR BEN JE?
In Jette, the stainless-steel sculpture makes light of perspectives.
Children play around the poles supporting words that can be read from above.