PASSING BY

peter weidenbaum

The collaboration between the poetess Agniezka Kuciak and the artist Peter Weidenbaumaround Montgomery resulted in a monumental lifeguard's chair on Montgomery Square. They also made a journal full of interviews, paintings and poetry, and mapped out an original walking route through the neighbourhood.

At the foot of this chair by Peter Weidenbaum you can read one of Agniezka Kuciak's poems. Weidenbaum based his work on the hustle and bustle that characterises Montgomery. He designed an extremely high lifeguard's chair in stainless steel. In the concrete surface to which the chair is attached there is a poem by Kuciak. In this way Weidenbaum invites the passer-by to imagine a bird's-eye view of the city, to reflect on surroundings that are always in motion and to allow himself a moment of tranquillity in his daily activities.

activities

Montgomery 1 © Maurine Toussaint

In autumn 2005 the Polish poet Agnieszka Kuciak and the Belgian artist Peter Weidenbaumvisited the area together. Weidenbaum had Kuciak's poem 'Montgomery' published in a leaflet that was put in every letterbox. He did numerous paintings inspired by the neighbourhood and exhibited them in shop windows. The students at the Ecole de Recherche Graphique also played their part in distributing more poetry in the area. Since June 2008 a larger-than-life lifesaver's chair has adorned Montgomeryplein. This sculpture by Peter Weidenbaum, entitled Passing By, is an invitation to the passer-by to reflect for a moment on the surroundings and to read the poem.

the artist

Weiden

Peter Weidenbaum (Antwerp, 1968) feels obliged to use his works of art in confrontation with individualisation, isolation and lack of communication. His intention, in his socially-oriented creative process, is to reflect on everyday things. He tries to bridge such contemporary feelings as alienation on the basis of shared images: a common reality where the object itself lowers the threshold. Weidenbaum was born in Antwerp in 1968 and now lives in Tienen. After studying at the Higher Institute of Fine Art (HISK) he soon made a name for himself with his participation in a whole series of exhibitions in Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand and China.

See also http://www.weidenbaum.be/

Capture D’Écran 2019 04 04 À 09 35 24