Sculpture Project – Art for the City
Atelier Van Lieshout, The Monument Group, 2015 | Galerie Ron Mandos
Art for the City
Curated by Carine Fol
As part of the fortieth edition of Art Brussels, the art fair is renewing its partnership with the Town of Brussels with Art for the City, a new version of a project that first ran from 2009 to 2012.
Art in the City has now become Art for the City, a new title that embodies a paradigm shift and underlines the fact that the winning artist will be invited to design a work for Brussels as part of a future urban development project.
This new project reflects the desire of the Town of Brussels to promote contemporary art in public space in all its diversity. Since 2024, a curator (Carine Fol) and a coordinator (Mathieu Menten) have formed the new unit, whose mission is to define a vision for the integration of art in urban space for the city. The unit will work with the Comité d’Art Urbain (Urban Art Committee), founded in 1996 by the artist Tapta, a group of experts who have initiated projects with artists such as Daniel Buren, Wim Delvoye, Peter Downsbrough, Emilio Lopez Menchero, Françoise Schein, Lucile Soufflet, and others.
For Art for the City, the galleries participating in Art Brussels were invited to submit a monumental work, 14 of which were selected by a jury and exhibited in front of the Palais 5 at Heysel during the fair. These are the works of Gert Verhoeven / Annie Gentils Gallery – Renato Nicolodi / Axel Vervoordt Gallery – Nadia Naveau / Base- Alpha Gallery – Leyla Aydoslu / FRED&FERRY – Sandra Baia / Galeria Filomena Soares – Anita Molinero / Galerie Christophe Gaillard – Marion Verboom / Galerie Lelong & Co – Atelier Van Lieshout / Galerie Ron Mandos – Matt Mullican / Mai 36 Galerie – Franck Scurty / Michel Rein – Kasper De Vos / PLUS ONE – Paola Siri Renard / Spiaggia Libera – Meta Drcar / RAVNIKAR – Stefan Rinck / Sorry We’re Closed.
An international jury consisting of Joop Van Caldenborgh, Jennifer Beauloye, Samuel Saelemakers, Els Wuyts and Carine Fol will select the winner.
Alongside this new initiative, the work (Casse-toi alors) pauvre canard by Sven ‘t Jolle (Plus One Gallery), acquired at Art in the City in 2011, will be inaugurated on 27 April at 14.00 on Place Sainte-Catherine, near the CENTRALE for contemporary art.
Art for the city 2024 winner
The Art for the City Jury unanimously appointed Marion Verboom (1983, living and working in Paris) represented by Galerie Lelong & Co. as the recipient of the Art for the City Prize 2024. With this prize, Verboom is invited to make a proposal for a site-specific public art project for Brussels, part of a future urban development project. The jury praises her use of different materials, textures and colours, her insightful references to various periods in art history and cultural traditions, and the rich visual and conceptual layers present in her body of work. Verboom’s art is both playful and approachable, but also holds an element of surprise and excitement, rendering it exceptionally suited for a public installation. Citing her experience in creating art for public spaces and her profound interest in its historical context, the jury is confident that Verboom will deliver a meaningful and impactful sculpture for the town of Brussels.
Atelier Van Lieshout, The Monument Group, 2015 | Galerie Ron Mandos
The Art for the City Jury unanimously appointed Marion Verboom (1983, living and working in Paris) as the recipient of the Art for the City Prize 2024. With this prize, Verboom is invited to make a proposal for a site-specific public art project for Brussels, part of a future urban development project. The jury praises her use of different materials, textures and colours, her insightful references to various periods in art history and cultural traditions, and the rich visual and conceptual layers present in her body of work. Verboom’s art is both playful and approachable, but also holds an element of surprise and excitement, rendering it exceptionally suited for a public installation. Citing her experience in creating art for public spaces and her profound interest in its historical context, the jury is confident that Verboom will deliver a meaningful and impactful sculpture for the town of Brussels.
1. Franck Scurti, I rent this place X, 2011 | Michel Rein
2. Kasper De Vos, De loop der dingen, 2024 | PLUS-ONE Gallery
3. Renato Nicolodi, Deambulatorium IV, 2023 | Axel Vervoordt Gallery
4. Meta Drcar, Frame Series, Work No. 2 (II), 2019 | RAVNIKAR
5. Atelier Van Lieshout, The Monument Group, 2015 | Galerie Ron Mandos
6. Sandra Baia, Osso Ilíaco, 2023/24 | Galeria Filomena Soares
7. Anita Molinero, Untitled, 2021 | Galerie Christophe Gaillard
8. Leyla Aydoslu, 2023 IV, 2023 | FRED&FERRY
9. Gert Verhoeven, LALALALALA LALA – Jaga & Kalia & Elina, 2023 | Annie Gentils Gallery
10. Matt Mullican, UNTITLED (5 Worlds 12 Benches), 2013 | Mai 36 Galerie
11. Paola Siri Renard, (dazzling) garderobe, 2023 | Spiaggia Libera
12. Marion Verboom, Tectonie, 2019 | Galerie Lelong & Co
13. Nadia Naveau, Athena 2.0, 2024 | Base-Alpha Gallery
14. Stefan Rinck, Ankylocroc, 2023. Sandstone, 50 x 220 x 50 cm. | Courtesy of the artist & Sorry We’re Closed, Brussels.
Meta Drcar, Frame Series, Work No. 2 (II), 2019 | RAVNIKAR
Learn more about our Art for the City Prize Jury 2024
CARINE FOL
Carine Fol (BE) is Doctor in Art History (VUB/ULB), curator and author of several essays and books on outsider art and contemporary art. In 2015, she published From Art Brut to Art without Boundaries, Skira, Milan and L’art brut en question, CFC, Brussels.
She worked in several Brussels Art Institutions (Goethe Institut – Botanique – Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium) and was director of art & marges museum (2000-2011) and of the CENTRALE for contemporary art (2012-2022). Since late 2023, she is curator for art in public spaces for the City of Brussels.
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Her practice as a curator has developed in parallel with her scientific and empirical research on the “margins” of art. For more than 20 years, she has been building bridges between outsider and insider art in exhibitions and projects in Belgium and abroad.
She has curated monographic exhibitions: Regine Verougstraete (Chapelle des Brigitinnes, 1992), Bernard Garbert (Chapelle des Brigitinnes, 1993), Doris Halfmann (Chapelle des Brigittines, 1995), Henri Michaux (Botanique, 1995), Jean Dubuffet (Botanique, 1996), , Antoine Mortier (Botanique, 2000), Martha Grunenwaldt (art & marges museum, 2002), Carlo Zinelli (art & marges museum, 2003), Paul Duhem (art & marges museum, 2004), Bispo do Rosario (art & marges, 2011), Emilio Lopez-Menchero/Esther Ferrer ( CENTRALE, 2013) , Johan Muylle (CENTRALE, 2013), Sophie Whettnall/Etel Adnan (CENTRALE, 2017), Xavier Noiret-Thomé/Henk Visch (CENTRALE, 2021), …
and group exhibitions : Les voies de la culture européenne (BXL, Lodz, Bratislava, Berlin, 1991), Dialog (Dresden/BXL, organisation Goethe Institut, 1994), Kanttekening (Bruges, 2002) Visions singulières (BOZAR 2005 in dialogue with expo Visionary Belgium curated by Harald Szeemann), 20+20 (in 20 Belgian museums, 2006), Identities I & II (Geel, 2007&2009), Loss of control (MARTA, Herford, 2008, co-curator Jan Hoet), Esprit Mine (Centre historique minier, Lewarde, 2009), Mindscapes (CENTRALE, 2012), Distant proximity (CENTRALE, 2014), MONSens (BAM, Mons, 2015, co-curator Yolande De Bontridder), Connection (CENTRALE, 2016), BXL UNIVERSEL I & II (CENTRALE, 2016, in 2021 with co-curator Tania Nasielski) , Traces de l’invisible (CWB, 2022)…
She is member of IKT (International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art) and AICA (International Association of Art Critics), of several boards and committees and is external consultant for the contemporary art collection of the National Bank of Belgium.
Photography : Gaël Turine
ELS WUYTS
Els Wuyts (°1976, Oudenaarde) works as curator for Beaufort 2024, was part of the curatorial
team for the Bruges Triennial of 2021 and connected with HISK, Higher Institute for Fine Arts in 2022 and 2023. In addition, she works as a freelance exhibition maker on various projects concerning
contemporary visual arts and is co-initiator of off-space Salon blanc in her homebase Ostend.
Photography : AS Deldycke
JOOP VAN CALDENBORGH
Joop van Caldenborgh, born 8 November 1940, Chairman of the board of Stichting Voorlinden. Joop van Caldenborgh founded in 1970 his company Caldic an international distribution company. During his career he was chairman of the Rotterdam Chamber of Commerce, chairman of Museum Boijmans van Beuning and chairman of Gemeentemuseum The Hague, now called Kunstmuseum. In 2016 Museum Voorlinden has been opened.
JENNIFER BEAULOYE
Doctor in Art History (PhD), Post-doc in Museology and Technologies, Jennifer Beauloye has been working at KANAL-Centre Pompidou since 2018 as Head of Collections, Archives and Library. At the same time, she is a co-founder of BeMUSEUM, the Belgian network for innovation in museums (2015). Previously, she was a member of the board of ICOM Belgium (2016-2023) and researcher and project manager at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (2007-2015).
SAMUEL SAELEMAKERS
Since 2019 Samuel Saelemakers is curator of the Antwerp Public Art Collection (Kunst in de Stad – Middelheim Museum) and has initiated permanent and temporary public art projects with artists such as Sammy Baloji, Lili Dujourie, Mekhitar Garabedian, Tramaine de Senna, Ken Lum, Goshka Macuga, and Sharon Van Overmeiren. In 2023, the city of Antwerp and Kunst in de Stad received the Wivina Demeester Prize for Excellence in Public Art Commissioning. Prior to this, from 2012 to 2019, Saelemakers was curator at Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam (renamed Kunstinstituut Melly in 2021). There he curated exhibition projects with, a.o., Kasper Bosmans, Daniel Dewar & Grégory Gicquel, Camille Henrot, and Judy Radul.
Photography : Kirsten de Graaf