When Art Takes the Metro
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WHEN ART TAKES THE METRO... Get ready to take a unique journey into the heart of the largest underground art gallery in Brussels. This artistic route will take you on a journey of discovery of more than 90 works of art that have been adding the personal touch to the Brussels metro for more than 40 years. The fruit of the imagination and work of artists from various backgrounds, these works are unique thanks to their style, materials, volumes, the images they evoke and the atmosphere they create, like springboards for wandering spirits. In the early 1960s, when a metro project Its recommendations are submitted became a reality in Brussels, the designers to the Regional Minister for Mobility imagined this new underground and Public Works, who also proposes network as an open, lively and original artworks to be incorporated in the metro. environment where Art also needed a More than 90 works of art currently place. All the stations had to be different, decorate the platforms, mezzanines either by their design or by the nature of and corridors, and they breathe life into their finishing, while ensuring uniformity the 69 metro and pre-metro stations. in their decoration. As such, passengers All genres are represented: paintings, see a series of stations pass by, each with sculptures, photographs, stained glass, its own atmosphere and identity, in which etc., as well as all materials: from canvas they nonetheless find constant elements to bronze and from wood to glass, not that help them find their bearings. forgetting steel. Shortly before the first pre-metro stations Consciously or otherwise, tens of were commissioned at the end of 1969, thousands of passengers rub shoulders an Artistic Committee was set up. Its with contemporary art every day, without mission was to advise the Minister any effort. The works help give the of Communications in the choice of stations something that makes them artists who could receive commissions more than just a place to pass through: a for artistic works intended to decorate place which comes alive. the stations. It was also responsible for monitoring the projects and their We wish you a pleasant journey implementation. discovering the gems that are dotted around what has become, over time, a Since 2015, the Art & Architecture veritable underground art gallery. Unit, created within the Regional Administration Brussels Mobility and STIB, has been responsible for promoting, selecting, installing and maintaining works of art in metro stations. Art in the metro | Introduction | 3 © STIB-MIVB - 12/2017 - STIB-MIVB © WHERE TO START? Setting off to discover the metro’s works In addition to permanent works, the of art? An enticing proposition for sure, Brussels metro also hosts thematic but where to start? STIB proposes various scenographies, creations which are the artistic routes along its metro and pre- result of local collaborative projects metro lines that criss-cross the Brussels whose aim is to create connections. underground. Several are illustrated here under the name “Cultural dynamics”. Some lines have common sections that pass through the same stations. Some The guide also presents the new stations are located at the intersections exhibition area “Qartier”, which has been of several lines. That is why we have installed within the Bourse station. followed a rationale of axes rather than lines. (East-West, “Petite Ceinture”, North- South, “Grande Ceinture”). The detailed explanations of the works that decorate the stations passed by the metro are only included once. You are free to come up with your own route by taking advantage of the metro network and the various connections provided by stations including Brussels Midi, Arts-Loi, De Brouckère, Gare de l’Ouest, Beekkant., etc. At the end of the book, you will find the complete list of stations in alphabetical order, with the title of the work and the name of the artist who created it, as well as the number of the corresponding page. 4 | Introduction | Art in the metro Art in the metro | Introduction | 5 METRO EAST-WEST AXIS LINE 1 (Gare de l’Ouest – Stockel) Gare de l’Ouest ......................... Page 09 Merode ...................................... Page 41 Beekkant ................................... Page 13 Montgomery ............................. Page 45 Etangs Noirs .............................. Page 15 Josephine-Charlotte ................. Page 51 Comte de Flandre ..................... Page 17 Gribaumont .............................. Page 53 Sainte-Catherine ....................... Page 19 Tomberg .................................... Page 55 De Brouckère ............................ Page 21 Roodebeek ................................ Page 57 Parc ............................................ Page 23 Vandervelde .............................. Page 59 Arts-Loi ..................................... Page 27 Alma .......................................... Page 60 Maelbeek .................................. Page 33 Stockel ...................................... Page 63 Schuman ................................... Page 37 LINE 5 (Erasme – Herrmann-Debroux) Erasme ........................................Page 65 Thieffry .......................................Page 83 Eddy Merckx ..............................Page 67 Pétillon .......................................Page 87 CERIA .........................................Page 69 Hankar ........................................Page 89 La Roue ......................................Page 71 Delta ...........................................Page 91 Bizet ............................................Page 73 Beaulieu .....................................Page 95 Veeweyde ...................................Page 75 Demey ........................................Page 97 Saint-Guidon ..............................Page 77 Herrmann-Debroux .................Page 101 Aumale .......................................Page 79 Jacques Brel ...............................Page 81 >> From Gare de l’Ouest to Merode, see line 1 6 | East-West Axis | Art in the metro Art in the metro | East-West Axis | 7 GARE DE L’OUEST | Platform “MODE IN DE METRO” STEPHAN VANFLETEREN (FASHION IN METRO) | 2009 (Kortrijk, 1969) Stephan Vanfleteren studied The artist highlights Brussels fashion at the Gare at the Hogeschool Sint- de l’Ouest. His models are not professional fashion Lukas Brussel. As a freelance models, but ordinary people living and working in photographer his clients include Brussels, who one might easily meet every day in the weekend supplement of the metro. They were selected for their charisma, the newspaper De Morgen their beauty or their individual character. Men and and he is known for his sober, women, young and old, black and white, rich and highly recognisable portraits of poor, “Bruxellois” by birth or by adoption… in their celebrities in black and white. diversity, they illustrate the cosmopolitism that However, the work of this artist makes Brussels both unique and exceptional as is not limited to portraits alone. a city. His documentary photographs capture moments of social life These models-for-a-day wear the creations of which speak volumes. Each photo Belgium’s leading couturiers such as Olivier is an entire story in itself. Strelli, Christophe Coppens, Marina Yee, Annemie Verbeke, Jean-Paul Knott, Sofie d’Hoore, Sandrina The work of Stephan Vanfleteren Fasoli, Cathy Pill, Erik Verdonck and Delvaux. The has been exhibited frequently in photo shoots resulted in a varied collection of 13 Belgium and abroad. He has also photographs in black-and-white measuring 3 by received diverse national and 2.5 meters. These photographs are mounted along international prizes. the entire length of the platform in the direction Beekkant. Photographic wall composition on thermosetting resin panels. 8 | East-West Axis | Art in the metro Art in the metro | East-West Axis | 9 GARE DE L’OUEST | Platform “A BEAUTIFUL DAY” | 2009 YVES ZURSTRASSEN (Verviers, 1956) With this colourful collage that measures 95 meters Yves Zurstrassen lives and works in length and 4 meters in height, Yves Zurstrassen in a former cotton factory in offers a riot of colour in a sombre environment. Brussels that he has gradually Zurstrassen decorated the wall facing the platform and painstakingly restored in the direction Delacroix with bright motifs from and enlarged. There, he creates his former paintings. In order to do this, he began canvasses on a monumental by photographing 130 details from his own work, scale in bright colours and blowing them up, in order to reproduce their combines collage, décollage and texture in the work. In this way, the photos take on contemporary techniques. a sensual character that makes one want to touch The work of this artist has them. In the following phase, Yves Zurstrassen undergone a significant evolution positioned enlarged details on patterns that he since his beginnings in the 1970s. created himself. These patterns are glued to panels His works in a painterly style of synthetic, heat tempered resin that have been leaning towards expressionism are covered with a protective layer against graffiti. created in series according to his Finally, the 130 shapes were carefully cut out explorations. They may lead him and affixed to a support mesh made of stainless to create an explosion of 1001 steel tape. colours, or take a melancholy turn into virtually monochromatic For the shapes of these coloured elements, the colour fields. artist drew inspiration from artistic motifs around the world. Arabic Mashrabiya are used repeatedly