Art 20 Times Over at the Flemish Parliament

art 20 times over at the Flemish Parliament

Wilfried Van Vinckenroye

www.vlaamsparlement.be art 20 times over at the Flemish Parliament Preface

The Flemish Parliament aspires to serve as the heart of Flemish democracy. Drawing over a million visitors over the past two decades, it has become a permanent magnet for people who take an interest in the business of politics in Flanders.

By the same token, this also makes it into one of the most visited museums for contemporary Flemish art. There is no escaping the art on offer when visit ing the legislative assembly : home to over 300 works of art, from tiny to monumental, art is all around, in every shape and form going.

This booklet presents a selection of 20 works of art by Flemish artists. In a sense, choosing means los ing. But none of the choices we have made are in any way intended to detract from the merits of the works of art that were not included. The selection does provide a good impression of the art that has been gathered over the years. For each work of art, we provide details and put forward The Flemish Parliament is an open house, where visi a few observations to enable you to gain a better under tors are always treated to a warm welcome. Visitors are standing of the artist’s intent. All the more so as none of free to look inside, attend meetings, join guided tours the works collected are here without good reason. and find out more about the workings of the Flemish Parlement as the heart of democracy in Flanders. A number of works were commissioned and inspired by This booklet gives you that little extra : experience this the building and its history. Others are more geared to the house and its role in the world through the eyes of the kind of activities that take place at this Parliament, to a artists. greater or lesser extent: attending meetings, ruminating, developing vision, being creative, seeking out solutions. As the Speaker of the Flemish Parliament, please allow All of which are topics that are seen to pop up in the works me to wish you a fascinating read and tour. of art on display, alongside the big questions surrounding ‘appearance and reality’, ‘view of mankind and philoso phy’, ‘democracy and society’, and ‘today and tomorrow’.

You will be every bit as surprised as I was at the richness and variation with which our Flemish artists depict the kind of things we apply ourselves to in this small piece of the world. This booklet is equally an honorary salute Jan Peumans to them. Speaker of the Flemish Parliament

3 Table of contents

1 A building walks around itself and engages in dialogue with its neighbourhood Jozef Legrand 8 2 Interactive light sculpture Monique Thomaes 10 3 Conduct, Conduit Fred Eerdekens 12 4 Global Satellite Project Joaquim Pereira Eires 14 5 Flying island Panamarenko 16 6 Lift integration Guillaume Bijl 18 7 Die Welt im Griff Denmark 20 8 Untitled Jan Fabre 22 9 Speak Berlinde De Bruyckere 24 10 Rumination on the illusion of power Roger Raveel 26 11 Flanders in the world Hugo Duchateau 28 12 The Planet Paul Van Hoeydonck 30 13 Stargazers Paul Van Hoeydonck 32 14 The Fallen Astronaut Paul Van Hoeydonck 34 15 Man with many qualities – or the poet at Nieuw Westerbork Pjeroo Roobjee 36 16 Joshua Tree – love yourself, so you can love somebody else Liliane Vertessen 38 17 Never the same, always different Liliane Vertessen 40 18 Brandt Sofie Muller 42 19 There are things and then there are things of minor importance Fred Eerdekens 44 20 Untitled Paul Sochacki 46

5 Introduction Boeck, Vic Gentils, Joris Minne and Raoul De Key ser. In 1986, the Flemish Council (the precursor of what is now the Flemish Parliament) adopted a De The Flemish Parliament started out as a ‘cultural cree forcing government institutions to spend a parliament’, further to the 1970 state reform. Since certain amount of the construction cost on art pro then, the powers devolved to Flanders have consist jects in fitting out their buildings. A great opportu ently been expanded, although culture has always nity for the Flemish Parliament to lead by example retained a special place. This is especially reflected came when it relocated to a dedicated building of its in the way the Flemish Parliament has been fitted own in the 1990s. Parliament set itself the ambi out, if only in the names of the committee rooms tious aim of subsuming the money spent on art as which are in reference to our rich artistic tradition : part of a clear vision on how art should be integrat Rubens, Bruegel, Van Dyck and the Flemish Primi ed. The idea was for art and architecture to meld tives, as well as Ensor and Permeke. Obviously the into a harmonious showcase of what Flanders has presence of art inside the Parliament is not con to offer in this regard. fined to the names of rooms. Visual art itself, and contemporary Flemish art in particular, are seen to To deliver on this new vision, a Committee for the fill the premises in abundance. Integration of Works of Art was established. From now on, it was not just the artistic merits of a given In the late 1970s, the first Committee for the Pro work of art that were considered, but also the way in curement of Works of Art saw the light of day. From which it would work in the new building. In consul this time forward, Parliament frequently purchased tation with the architects, artists were enabled to works by leading Flemish artists, including Felix De gear their work to the space it would end up serving in. The result is particularly pleasing : works by art number of practical restrictions prompted them to ists such as Berlinde De Bruyckere, Hugo Ducha come up with inventive solutions. In the years that teau, Jan Fabre or Roger Raveel are shown off to followed, exhibitions were staged in the counter their full potential. room, of which the odd work would be purchased, as was the case with Panamarenko. In doing so, the In some cases, they act to underscore the function Parliament’s collection of Flemish contemporary ality of the space, at other times they add an ironic art gradually burgeoned into what it is today. This note to the parliamentary proceedings or provide booklet allows you to scrutinise art 20 times over. an angle that puts things into perspective. They all But do not close your heart and mind to anything engage in dialogue with the setting in which they you may come across accidently. You may need to are on display do a double take on occasion, when the work of art has been incorporated into its setting as it were. In In 2002, the conversion of the former Postcheques other cases, the work of art will be shouting out to building (the Postal Cheque was a division of the you from afar, or simply sit silently waiting, tucked Belgian Royal Mail) into the ‘Huis van de Vlaamse away in a little corner. Whatever the case, each and Parlementsleden’ (House of the Flemish Members every single work of art on display is an expression of Parliament) was nearing completion. The commit of what contemporary Flemish artists have to tell tee organised a special competition for the integra us and our democracy. Each in their own language tion of (new) works of art in and around this listed and imagery. monument. Projects by Guillaume Bijl, Jozef Legrand, Monique Thomaes and Fred Eerdekens to name but a few were all given the go ahead. The considerable

A building walks typical of Flanders. By doing so, the altar, the holy of the holies, and to around itself and artist is looking to straddle the gap stop at various apse chapels en 1 engages in dialogue between the world inside and out route. This acts to elevate the House side of Parliament. Which is made of the Flemish Members of Parlia with its neighbourhood very concrete on occasion : when ment itself to work of art status. 2002 the weather is nice, casual passers- This is the cathedral of democracy. Monumental installation with out by actually take to the benches, put And everybody choose his or her door greenery design ting them in the artistic surround own little chapel. ings of the House of the Flemish This installation encircles the entire Members of Parliament. Jozef Legrand House of the Flemish Members of ° Niel, 1957 Parliament. Yet, chances are it is not This was a commissioned work. Lives and works in Berlin and Brussels something you may ever have parti The remit was to integrate the build cularly noticed, which you simply ing in the quarter ‘through art’. Which Most of Jozef Legrand’s output tends walked by or just casually sat down is exactly what Legrand did, encir to be monumental in nature, his in on. The heart of the installation is the cling the stately office building with stallations varying from fairly large light orange walkway that has been his artwork as it were. The title puts indoor to immense outdoor pro embedded in the pavement. The path is poetically and breezily : ‘a building jects. His installations can be seen cuts across small footbridges or re walks around itself and engages in in Belgium (his native country) and cently developed public gardens, dialogue with its neighbourhood’. But in Germany (his adopted home whilst en route a flag pole shows a there is an extra layer of significance land), and to a lesser degree in The pictogram of a small house and a that was deliberately added : the ar Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. timber deck with small benches. All tistic walkway is in reference to the With plenty of projects in the pipe of these elements link the house of deambulatory encountered in medie line, the artist is looking at a well- the parliamentarians to the aspira val cathedrals, which enabled church filled order book. House of the Flemish tional ‘small house and garden’ so goers to walk all the way around the Members of Parliament

Interactive two blue light strips that move up Her earliest work is sculptural, al light sculpture and down in unison with the lifts. though from 1988 forward she in 2 Courtesy of the link between the creasingly came to focus on instal 2002 light strips and the lifts, spectators lations. At the same time she took Neon lighting in the double facade have extra information about what an increasing interest in photo is going on indoors. The frequency graphy and video art, art forms she This installation needs to be viewed with which the strips rise and de often integrates as part of her from the street where it offers a hint scend give us an idea of the degree works. Her current videography in of the kind of activities that take of hustle in the world of parliament. cludes some twenty art film pro place inside. Moreover, the work of jects, most of which can be seen at art becomes more visible as the nat A lot of Monique Thomaes’ installa her www.mthomaes.com website. ural outdoor light starts dimming. tions are studies of the interaction between light and the surroundings, In Monique Thomaes, the epithets The light sculpture was applied on leaving a lot up to coincidence. The ‘Flemish’ and ‘international’ coa the north face of the House of the artist often makes the dynamic of lesce in one and the same person. Flemish Members of Parliament. It her works of art contingent on peo Born in the Waasland, she grew up is made up of several rows of neon ple who are not aware their actions in The Netherlands. lights that are carried through all are affecting the work of art. Having completed her studies in the way down into the glass pave The Hague and Rotterdam, she relo ment blocks of the side faces. cated to Berlin in 1988. In recent Whether or not the lights go on is Monique Thomaes years, she has been dividing her decided by two lifts inside the ° Beveren, 1942 time between the German capital building : the light is only ever on on Lives and works in Berlin and Antwerp and Antwerp. the floor where one of the lifts is sit uated. As such, the work in effect Thomaes trained as a sculptor and House of the Flemish consists of a left and a right half, as a spatial artist. Members of Parliament

11 Conduct, Conduit

2002 PVC, plate glass, various lengths and cross-sections

This work of art is everything to do with the former purpose of this building : this is where the counters and offices of the Post cheques were. When the Flem ish Parliament moved into the refurbished building in 2002, this location was singled out as one of the areas where works of art were to be integrated. The work of art is made from parts of the pneumatic tubes system which would connect the coun ter room with the offices. The photos in the atrium show how this pneumatic tube a.k.a. cap sular pipeline system worked. The vestiges can still be seen at the counters. In Eerdekens’ in stallation, part of the pneumatic tubes network was given a new, through the machine, yet what Fred Eerdekens artistic purpose. they get to see is deflected in un ° Hasselt, 1951 3 expected directions by the vari Lives and works in Hasselt A number of tubes were mounted ous mirrors, leaving them mysti onto the compressed air plant fied as to the provenance of the Fred Eerdekens enjoys toying that drove the system and inter image that reaches them. The fate around with light and the crinkly laced with various periscopes. of a lot of information and com twists information follows as it is Eerdekens’ intention for this in munications. being delivered. Time and again, stallation was to emblematise the his works probe the question as to winding track information covers Although the work’s title ‘Con how language relates to the world, before it is delivered to the right duct, Conduit’ may sound a little whilst also exploring the issue of recipient. The copper tubes of the baffling to Flemish speakers, it is which place we occupy in that post distribution system have re a pun. The French (and English) world. If language and the world mained neatly numbered and noun ‘conduit’ (tube) is juxtaposed were a marriage made in heaven, ranked, although they are now in against the English noun ‘con they would be one another’s perfect termeshed by white periscopes in duct’ (behaviour), a clear reference mirror image. They are not. Invari every direction. Back in the day, to the erratic behaviour of light in ably interpretation comes into it, the numbering enabled workers tubes and a nice metaphor for the which is tied in with the positions who loaded a document capsule impossibility of interpreting real adopted by the sender and the re into the tube machine to know ity rectilinearly. A phenomenon ceiver, literally and metaphorical exactly which counter the cap everyone will have encountered ly speaking. In Eerdekens’ work, sule would be delivered to. Look at meetings and debates, includ light, shadow, matter and language ing into any one of the ten peri ing in parliament. combine to make up a unity that scopes today tells you exactly approximates reality. A great case nothing. Visitors intuitively ex in point can be seen in the Jan House of the Flemish pect to be able to look straight Van Eyck Room (number 19). Members of Parliament

Global Satellite Project look up to see what this satellite Here, the satellite is turned into high up in the sky shot far below some sort of contemporary god, 4 2002 on planet Earth. Visitors intuitively watching the world with his all- 50°50’53.7485”N - 4°22’03.5643”E expect to be able to see the sky seeing eye, and gifting people a par Brussels through a stained glass window. ticular world view (or foisting it What they get to see here is Earth upon them). This work of art turns the world topsy the way it looks seen from the sky. turvy, in every sense. The remit was Joaquim Pereira Eires to integrate the building of the Fle The artist combines the ease with ° Figueira da Foz (Portugal), 1968 mish Parliament in its local setting. which he toys around with all of Lives and works in Antwerp The artist turned this instruction on these paradoxes with the distinct its head and integrated the setting decorative and sacral character of a In many of his installations, Joa in the building. He does so by stick stained glass window, an associa quim Pereira Eires manifests him ing a satellite photo of the quarter on tion only enhanced by the regi self as a unique conceptual thinker. a stained glass window (1/500 scale). mented division into sections. Once Eires has had his work included in Smack dab in the middle of that upon a time, a stained glass win numerous exhibitions. photo sits the Flemish Parliament. dow in a cathedral was the symbol ic representation of God (the light) In 2001, the Flemish Parliament or Not only did he turn around the no delivering his Biblical message (the ganised an international competi tion of integration, the aerial photo scenes depicted) through the tion with the remit of ‘integrating graph underwent the same fate. Church (the building) to the faithful. the parliament building in its set The stained glass window sits six The cathedral’s ceiling epitomised ting through art’. Joaquim Pereira metres up, in the ceiling of the cen heaven, which explains the numer Eires turned that remit on its head tral atrium, requiring people on the ous heavenly scenes on display in and won the competition. House of the Flemish ground floor to strain their necks to side the house of worship. Members of Parliament Atrium

Flying island simply by shifting your body weight. Panamarenko Passengers are welcome too as this (Henri van Herreweghe) 5 2004 – 185 x 185 x 35 cm is an ‘all-terrain vehicle’ with three ° Antwerp, 1940 Wood, solar cells, rubber, plexiglas, seats ! Moreover, the vehicle is envi Lives and works in Brakel aluminium, foam rubber, electrical wire ronmentally friendly as it is pow ered by solar energy. A true encoun The name Panamarenko is the abbre The Flying Island is not a scale ter of reality and imagination. viation of ‘Pan American Airlines model but an original piece of work, Company’, which shows how much made by Panamarenko himself. The thing that drives Panamarenko the artist first and foremost saw Later on, Panamarenko instructed is imagination. Yet, his contraptions, himself as an airplane designer, even his workshop to build a life-size ver that is to say the ones built to full though he also went on to design sion based on this work of art. It scale, are always technically plausi cars, boats, submarines, and even turned out to be an impressive be ble. We should also remember that spacecraft. In his art, Panamarenko hemoth with a 17-metre span. As the the first cars, trains and airplanes is looking to build a poetics of me phantasy grew bigger, so did reality. were anything but perfect designs chanical motion. In doing so, he de and a lot of inventors were viewed liberately ignores the imperative of As ever in Panamarenko’s work, with pity by their contemporaries. practical feasibility, giving free rein reality and imagination are seen to Economic imperatives and political to his fantasy instead. This often be intertwined in his art. This ‘Fly choices subsequently determined results in contraptions one would ing Island’ is neither an island nor the direction into which the indus only expect to see in comic strips or an airplane. It is a kind of hovercraft try was pushed. Panamarenko is science fiction. that moves on air cushions, two me continuing to show that other tres in height, delivering a very light choices can be made, guided by im and breezy feeling when ‘driving’ agination if nothing else. An apt House of the Flemish and also greatly simplifying the metaphor for the proceedings that Members of Parliament controls : changing direction is done take place in this house. Atrium

17 Lift integration 2006 20 polyester mannequins, clothing, various attributes

Time and again, visitors are scared out of their wits when they notice ‘people’ in the hall’s old lifts. Guil laume Bijl enjoys wrong-footing casual passers-by. In twenty out of the forty lift cages, he set up hyper realis tic mannequins, which are easily (however briefly) mistaken for real people by dint of their clothing and natural posture. The charac ters are moving from one floor to the next in a permanent loop. These paternoster lifts have taken countless generations of Post cheques workers up and down between ten floors, above and below-ground. The lifts no long er comply with modern safety standards and are not allowed to be used. However, the Brussels authori Guillaume Bijl apt example. Other favourite Bijl ties have graded them as listed ° Antwerp, 1946 themes include the ‘pseudo at 6 industrial heritage. When the Lives and works in Antwerp tractions’, in which he creates Flemish Parliament moved into highly authentic cultural or the building, it decided to turn In his work, Guillaume Bijl shows tourist places of interests, as a these lifts into an art project the decors of his time with a light-hearted way of pausing to and had the old lift mechanism tongue-in-cheek wink. His in consider the way in we which restored. stallations are wholly believ seem to regard just about eve able, but presented at locations rything going as an event or an The figures in the lift are a one would not expect them. As attraction in this day and age. cross-section of the kind of such, he decked out an art gal In doing so, Bijl has previously people that would use the lifts lery like a fish shop, and anoth created a polling booth muse on any given day in the House er gallery like a driving school. um and a caveman museum. of the Flemish Members of Par Bijl calls them his ‘transfor liament : fictitious politicians, mation installations’. When pre civil servants, members of staff, senting his work in real life set a manual worker, even a child tings instead of galleries, art and with a football. In Guillaume reality are brought even closer. Bijl’s universe, this child may Contriving a fictitious inter well be picking up his parents vention in a realistic space pro from work. Perhaps an allusion duces a sense of alienation, to the fraught work-life balance with the lift integration project for those that work here. in the Flemish Parliament an

House of the Flemish Members of Parliament Reception Hall

Die Welt im Griff Stacks of newspapers, maga Denmark zines and books produce infor (Marc Robbroeckx) 7 1986 mation overkill, which Denmark ° Antwerp, 1950 Newspapers, wood, 200 X 270 cm believes causes disinformation. Lives and works in Prouvy and 200 X 536 cm To get to the foundations of the truth, we therefore need to de Denmark has a thing for news Up on the wall are 294 different stroy this surfeit of information, papers, which are seen to pop up newspapers, all published on the by rendering it illegible and trans in much of his work, in which he same date : 18 March 1986. The forming it into dead archives for often takes issue with the mass newspapers are from seventy- instance. In ‘Die Welt im Griff’’, produced information flows, adopt odd countries from across the the destruction is not too bad. ing various artisanal techniques : globe. Because of the wide num The newspapers are even pre he crushes, cuts up or incinerates ber of languages involved, these sented hanging from traditional printed paper, stores it in glass papers present a fascinating mo newspaper sticks. And yet. As jars or sealed bags, compresses saic of the world in all its cultural all of these sticks are behind a or freezes it. He describes these diversity. This is the right work of glass pane, they are anything activities as ‘the ultimate filing or art in the right place, as this room but an easy reference compen vertical preservation of newspa is largely used for press confer dium. As a reader, you will be pers that are no longer relevant’. ences. hard pushed to get anywhere beyond a few patchy snippets of Denmark’s installation also con text on the front pages. tains an element of social criti cism. In this age of mass infor mation, the printed media alone produce such huge amounts of Flemish Parliament Building news, that the essence is lost. Frans Masereel Room

Untitled calling in the hereafter. The ancient mension. The literal meaning of the Egyptians too considered beetles to word ‘inspire’ happens to be ‘to blow 8 1996 be a symbol of life after death. They a soul into’. Perhaps this is exactly 3 sculptures measuring worshipped the scarabs, dung bee what the artist is looking to achieve 140 cm x 50 cm x 50 cm tles which roll dung into round balls with this artwork : to infuse this Beetles and iron wire which they push out in front of Flemish Parliament with life and them. The Egyptians believed this soul, and inspire its members. This work of art is made up of three spherical shape to represent the female body shapes, each consist sun, the source of life, with scarabs Jan Fabre ing of the freeze-dried cadavers of as the keepers. ° Antwerp, 1958 gleaming jewel beetles. The body Lives and works in Antwerp shapes peacefully hang down from During the Baroque age, beetles the ceiling in the Hall of Columns, were seen to crop up in the genre of Jan Fabre is an artistic all-rounder. the setting for many a confidential vanitas paintings. Seventeenth In his highly multi-facetted body of conversation or TV interview. century painters such as Frans work, the jewel beetle (scientific Hals, Rembrandt van Rijn and Jo name : Sternocera To Fabre, the beetle symbolises life hannes Vermeer pointed to the Acquisignata) is an often seen pro and death. The jewel beetle in par transience of earthly beauty and tagonist. For one thing, Fabre previ ticular epitomises the immortal warned against the vice of vanity. ously decked the entire ceiling of soul, starting life as slimy larva be They would paint still lifes with ele one of the great halls of the Royal fore transforming into an attractive ments of decay and putrefaction Palace with beetles. And Ladeuze animal with an iridescent and strik such as skulls and vermin. And bee plein in Leuven is home to a huge ingly colourful shield. As per the tles. Fabre was inspired by the jewel beetle skewered onto a propor traditional religious world view, life Egyptian and the Baroque tradition tionally large entomologist’s pin. on earth is merely a stage that pre alike, so it is safe to assume that his Flemish Parliament Building cedes the fulfilment of man’s true beetles too come with a spiritual di Hall of Columns

Speak ence to cultures where clothing Berlinde De Bruyckere does not serve to protect the fe ° Ghent, 1964 9 1998 male body, but to cloak its puta Lives and works in Ghent photo-cibachrome, tive uncleanliness. 230 cm x 430 cm In Berlinde De Bruyckere, Flan In this respect, the title ‘Speak’ is ders has a woman that ranks This work of art was purchased by not only a reference to women’s among the world’s leading artists the Flemish Parliament on the oc right to vote in Belgium, it is also a and who emphatically deals with casion of the fiftieth anniversary reflection on the sometimes im the topic of the ‘position of women of women’s suffrage in Belgium posed inability of women to make in the world’. The so-called blan (1948). Two women are protected their voices heard. Then as now. ket women have been a recurrent by blankets, but the blankets offer This work of art covered a rather motif in her work since 1993, but paltry protection. The bare peculiar track. Berlinde De Bruy when a news video of a female legs underscore the figures’ vul ckere originally came up with the Rwandan refugee whose entire nerability, symbolising the often idea of a sculpture of two wom worldly possessions had been re delicate position of women in so en’s effigies bent forward towards duced to one shabby blanket had ciety. The blankets not only offer one another, with bare legs and a profound emotional impact on very little protection, they are also largely cloaked under a stack of De Bruyckere. The ‘Spreken’ complicit in a kind of oppression. blankets. But she soon found that sculpture after which the photo The women are caught and im this room was better suited to a was modelled is on display at the prisoned inside their blankets, monumental photo. The fact that Museum of Contemporary Art in unable to see the beautiful land this artwork was positioned high Antwerp (MUHKA). scape around them. Their breath up on the wall also visually ties in is cut off along with their visual with the mountain landscape in perception, the sun unable to the shot. Flemish Parliament Building reach them. This may be a refer Anna Bijns Room

25 Rumination on the illusion of power

1996 oil on canvas and wood, mirrors, stainless steel, 400 x 250 cm and 220 x 120 cm

‘Rumination on the illusion of power’ comprises a wall-wide painted canvas, a timber installa tion, and two central pillars clad in reflecting stainless steel.

The painting shows a number of familiar characters of Raveel’s : the man wearing a workman’s cap, a man with a cubist face and a woman’s silhouette. The wood panel consists of a window with a same-size mirror underneath.

Raveel is seen to toy with the symmetric space and creating a number of startling visual illu Roger Raveel accomplishments of the world sions on the pillars and in his ° Machelen-aan-de-Leie, of art – in order to assign new 10 timber construction, where the 1921 – 2013 meaning or to repurpose them. spectator sees his own legs un In his work, people and objects derneath the body of his neigh In his visual work, Roger Raveel are often simple in their figura bour from across the street for has systematically elevated his tive rendering, but they are part instance. The upshot of this in personal world into art. This of an abstract game of colour genious game is the rendering has produced images of house ful planes and lines which are of the abstract concept of “illu cats, baker’s bikes and wall ta reminiscent of Mondrian. This sion”, and the simultaneous in bles, and often the ‘man with sees the man with the cap, with tegration of the room and the the cap’ (a Flemish expression or without cubist face, take on persons in attendance (that is meaning ‘the man in the an almost universal character you) into the work of art. street’). He also went one fur in an encounter with the clas The artwork has been set up ther and integrated concrete sical characters of Van Eyck or just outside the Speaker’s of items in his paintings, of which Da Vinci. fice, a symbolic location where his installation with a ‘live pi it challenges the relationship geon in a cage’ is a nice exam between power, parliament, ple. Raveel is also often seen to politics and democracy. Raveel include mirrors in his paint is not so much interested in ings, by which he is admitting the expression of high-flown reality into the artwork. Once ideas but rather in letting the reality is ushered in, Raveel mundane, everyday reality likes to tap into tradition and into his art. the great body of expertise and Flemish Parliament Building First floor

27 Flanders in the world

1995 Brass, cross-section 480 cm

Above the conference table a cir cular sculpture is suspended, consisting of a large and a small horn with two large flared bells at either end. The title ‘Flanders in the world’ sees the artist unam biguously stating the signifi cance he attributes to this par ticular work of art : the small horn represents Flanders, the large horn is the world that surrounds us. By directing the musical in struments at each other, he is de livering a plea in favour of com munication between our region and the rest of the world. Only when the two engage in dialogue or start making music together will these worlds live together in harmony. This harmony is aptly epitomised by the circular and – as in nature – large and as a stained glass artist, before shape, which has the exact cir small can work together to mu going on to work as a teacher 11 cumference of the conference tual advantage. A political mes and lecturer in graphic arts. In table, with the length of the sage worth trumpeting in every the late 1960s, along with a small horn equal to the radius direction. This distinguished number of colleagues he formed of the circle. room is where the Parliament’s the Research Group, a group of Bureau convenes to meet, as artists pursuing innovation, Hugo Duchateau appears to the day-to-day management creativity and critical faculty. greatly overestimate the rela body which includes the Speak In 1983, he represented the tive size of Flanders, although er, the Deputy-Speakers and the Flemish Community at the São this is a deliberate stratagem. Secretaries. The artwork is a Paulo Art Biennial. He was sin The animals are out of propor constant reminder for the ad gled out for praise with the Vis tion too : the little Flemish birds ministrators gathered around ual Art Award handed out by are just as big as the giraffes the table of the potentially glob the Flemish Government and and the rhinoceroses. Less con al dimensions of what they are the Award of the Province of spicuous is the fact that these doing. Limburg for Plastic Arts. The animals have a mutual rela artist’s work can be seen in the tionship. Often it is little birds Hugo Duchateau collections of the Municipal like these that pick out the par ° Tienen, 1938 Museum of Contemporary Art asites from the thick skins of Lives and works in Sint-Truiden (SMAK) in Ghent, the Museum giraffes and rhinoceroses. Hugo of Contemporary Art (MUHKA) Duchateau’s message is clear : Hugo Duchateau graduated as in Antwerp and the Provincial Flanders should not consider a glass artist from the Provin Museum for Modern Art (PMMK) itself as too small or insignifi cial Higher Institute Of Archi in Ostend. cant. The role we play in the tecture and Applied Arts in Flemish Parliament Building world at large is a useful one, Hasselt. For a while he worked Bureau Room

The Planet art by Paul Van Hoeydonck. Along painter, but gradually mastered with Hugo Duchateau’s work in the most varied assembly and 12 1993 the Bureau Room next door, they sculpting techniques. He used ma Bronze, diameter 60 cm may be considered as different terials which people associate with renderings of ‘Flanders in the uni the modernity of space travel : A massive 350-kilo bronze globe verse’. An apt theme in a space polyester, aluminium and plexi hangs down from the ceiling. The that serves as a reception room glas. In the late 1970s, he was en smooth and glossy surface is for prominent visitors from home thralled by the classical beauty of punctured by bits of rail track, lit and abroad. On special occasions bronze, a metal that weathers the erally ‘traces’ of human activity. the middle wall is opened up, with ravages of time, and consequent This artwork appears to be in ref both rooms turned into one. Flan ly eminently lends itself to depict erence to the exploration of space ders, its sons and its daughters, the infinity of the universe. in a distinctly retro character. The looks beyond its borders. (see also numbers 13 and 14) planet in bronze vaguely reminds us of the mechanical representa Paul Van Hoeydonck tion of our solar system in astro ° Antwerp, 1925 nomical clocks and conjures up Lives and works in Wijnegem the nineteenth century atmos phere of science fiction pioneer Paul Van Hoeydonck is an artist Jules Verne. who, seemingly unaffected by Van Hoeydonck believes space any of the art movements, has travel to be the biggest story of consistently gone his own way. the twentieth century, which he On more than a few occasions, cannot imagine not making its this meant he had run-ins with mark in the world of art. This the established art scene. Paul Flemish Parliament Building room is home to three works of Van Hoeydonck started out as a Rik Wouters Room

Stargazers galaxies. And of cosmic man. Van artists have been known to strictly Hoeydonck is particularly alive to confine themselves to just doing the 13 1995 the beneficial effects of man’s explo brainwork. bronze, painted white, ration of space. It broadens our hori 120 cm x 50 cm x 40 cm, zon, it is the ultimate solution for the Paul Van Hoeydonck 25cm x 60 cm x 25 cm overpopulation of planet Earth. More ° Antwerp, 1925 over, out in space worldly conflicts Lives and works in Wijnegem Stargazers are beings that gaze at are made to look futile by compari the stars. Seen here, sporting a bi son and are certain to cease to exist Over the past half a century, Paul zarre physique and mechanical altogether. But there is a downside : Van Hoeydonck has built a particu body parts, they look like mutant hu this could well ring in the end of larly extensive body of work around manoids. They have adapted to life mankind as we know it today. Peo one central theme : man’s adventure on a faraway planet, a world where ple will change as a result of the ex in space. In his humanistic Space the atmosphere and the laws of treme living conditions on other Art, man is emphatically assigned a gravity are very different from those planets, and the integration between key role. No technological pyrotech known on Earth. Perhaps these be organic and artificial intelligence. nics or encounters with aliens for ings are gazing at the place they hail Van Hoeydonck picks up the bronze Van Hoeydonck, who is especially from. The two sculptures are made he uses from scrap yards. Collecting keen to ascertain what kind of effects from bronze and partly swathed in and tooling the metal is heavy work, the colonisation of space will have bandaging. The whole thing over involving a fair degree of risk : weld on the lives of the future colonists. painted in white, Van Hoeydonck’s ing, cutting chromium, and fixing (see also numbers 12 and 14) fetish colour. To Van Hoeydonck, shock absorbers… Yet the artist white is the colour of the cosmos : chooses to perform all manual la not the pitch black darkness of bour involved in his creations him empty space is the defining ele self, thereby implicitly making a Flemish Parliament Building ment, but the radiant white of the stand against conceptual art, where Rik Wouters Room

33 The Fallen Astronaut

1971 Aluminium, 9 x 2 x 2 cm

This statuette is of particular his torical and iconic value. Thirteen have been made, one of which is the only work of art to ever have left our planet.

‘The Fallen Astronaut’ is univer sal man in all his simplicity and essence. The artist purposively did not lend the figure a gender identity or any racial features. After all, the first work of art in space had to be a tribute to all dwellers of planet Earth. The statuette was deposited by astro naut David Scott in the Hadley Rille on the Moon, some 380,000 km from here, on 2 August 1971, during the final spacewalk of the Apollo 15 mission. This unique art happening was the inspiring example and transcend direct result of an encounter be ed the earthly contrarieties. These 14 tween Scott and Van Hoeydonck at are the names, in descending order a dinner party. Together they de of their date of death : Theodore cided to take a work of art to the Freeman, Charles Bassett, Elliott moon. The only requirements were See, Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee, that the statuette needed to be very Edward White, Vladimir Komarov, light and highly durable, which ex Edward Givens, Clifton Williams, plains the small size and the use of Yuri Gagarin, Pavel Belyayev, Geor aluminium. By way of homage, gi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsayev David Scott put up a small plaque and Vladislav Volkov. next to the statuette, carrying the names of all the astronauts who Paul Van Hoeydonck The value and importance of the had died since manned space trav ° Antwerp, 1925 replicas, like those seen at the Fle el had got under way. Which also Lives and works in Wijnegem mish Parliament, chiefly depend explains the name of the artwork. on the total number of specimen The remarkable thing is that the Paul Van Hoeydonck is our Flem put out, and on the recognition American Scott also included his ish artist in space. The historical put forward by the artist himself. Russian fellow astronauts in the value of his statuette on the moon In a handwritten letter, Van Hoey tribute. Not the most obvious thing can barely be overestimated, and donck has stated that no more to get away with at the height of above all : it is entirely in keeping than thirteen signed specimen the Cold War, especially not in the with his body of work as a whole, were ever made and disseminat realm of space travel – the stand- which revolves around the ad ed. One of which is the specimen out symbolic battleground of this venture of man in space as its owned by the Flemish Parliament. conflict. In doing so, Scott set an central topic. (see also numbers 12 and 13) Flemish Parliament Building Rik Wouters Room

35 Man with many qualities – or the poet at Nieuw Westerbork

1993 Oil on canvas, 200 x 180 cm

The ‘Man with many qualities’ is the antithesis of ‘Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften’ by Austrian author Robert Musil. Ulrich, the novel’s protagonist, fails to adopt a politi cal stance or to adopt or repudiate any particular ideology. Things are different for Pjeroo Roobjee : his painting leaves no doubt as to the ideology that needs to be fought : fascism.

The second title of the work ‘The poet at Nieuw Westerbork’ makes matters even clearer, referencing as it does the best known concen tration camp in The Netherlands. The emaciated figure with his in make for a better world. The con testines exposed appears to be a trary is true : tyranny or fascism 15 victim of sadistic doctor Menge bring out the worst in man. An in le’s experiments. The cigarette he sight which this painting is keen is smoking carries the word ‘Sig to call spectators’ attention to, at nal’, the title of the Nazi propa the house of democracy, however ganda newspaper. The table top at imperfect it may be. the bottom has the names of con centration camps, in reference to Pjeroo Roobjee a horrific time in European histo (Dirk De Vilder) ry. The Parliament building of the ° Ghent, 1945 German federated state of Rhein Lives and works in Ellezelles land-Pfalz has a plaque : Wer in der Demokratie einschläft, wacht Pjeroo Roobjee is a versatile man, ours he chiefly uses are in keep in der Tyrannei auf. He who falls who practices as good as all forms ing with the Cobra Movement, to asleep in a democracy will wake of art. He is a painter, drawer and which Roobjee adds darkness : the up under tyranny, as a constant graphic artist, a poet, a playwright deep brown of the expressionists, reminder for members of parlia and author of novels, even an en the near black of the background. ment and visitors that democracy tertainer and singer. For his top is anything but straightforward ics, he voraciously draws on re as a social model. At the Flemish cent cultural history, out of which Parliament, this caution is epito he creates a world that is best typ mised in Pjeroo Roobjee’s paint ified as baroque : inflated, verging ing. His message is that doing close to lairy, and jam-packed with away with democracy does not strong emotions. The vibrant col Flemish Parliament Building 2nd floor

37 Joshua Tree – love photos 2x (120 cm x 180 cm), yourself, so you can neon 400 cm x 25 cm love somebody else This artwork envelops the com 1995 mittee room. mixed media : It is made up of two photos of the 2 photos, neon on mirror artist next to a Joshua Tree, and a mirror wall with the words ‘love person for a reason : the artist pro show herself in all manner of yourself, so you can love some vides the spectator with food for stage-directed settings, in which 16 body else’ writ large in green neon thought and self-reflection, deliv she often creates a glamourous lettering.. ering a subtle response to the no erotic context, wearing high tion that her work is conceited in heels and skimpy clothing, using Vertessen took these photos in the process. Perhaps the words feathers, plush and a whip as at the American state of Arizona, but are even a deeper message to the tributes, with the whole scene these are not random snapshots. members of parliament who meet bathing in brightly coloured neon The artist likes to more or less and consult in this building on an light, all of which adds to the at stage-manage reality. This has ongoing basis. The committee mosphere. The whole thing is her meticulously building a new room next door also holds a very much a recurrent theme, all and alienating tension between Vertessen installation. The rooms the way down to the Flemish Par her studied pose and clothing and are a close duo, not just through liament. This has acted to pro the relaxed atmosphere of a holi their architecture and purpose, duce a kind of film that perme day snapshot. This work of art ap but equally through their art. ates her entire body of work, with pears to be about the artist. It may Much like Quinten Metsys and his the artist herself as the fil rouge. even look a tad vainglorious but it pupil Hans Memling once. The self-portraits are the centre is not. All the more so as the spec point, the work is autobiographi tator, the person listening or Liliane Vertessen cal, but spectators only get to see speaking in this room, is also in ° Leopoldsburg, 1953 the role played by Vertessen. She volved in the artwork. Everybody Lives and works in Leopoldsburg decides what spectators get to sees themselves reflected in the see. She does not reveal her true mirror with the lit words ‘love Vertessen first attended the local self. (see also number 17) yourself, so you can love some art academy before going on to body else’ speaking directly to study as a director’s assistant. Flemish Parliament Building them. This slogan is in the second Since then, she has preferred to Quinten Metsys Room

Never the same, are seeing the same person in Liliane Vertessen always different each of them. Or not, as the artist ° Leopoldsburg, 1952 17 will not expose herself, hiding her Lives and works in Leopoldsburg 1995 true face/colours behind pilot mixed media : glasses with matching cap. The The one constant in all photos of 2 photos on metal and in neon tension between different and the her oeuvre is that we never get to photos 7 x (75 cm x 125 cm), same also resides in the neon let see the real Liliane Vertessen. neon 60 cm x 112 cm ters opposite the portraits. In the Every time she is seen to take on normal direction of reading, you a different role. As the artist only Again a work of art which envelops would read ‘NOOIT hetzelfde, AL reveals her changing outward ap an entire committee room. At the TIJD anders’. Allow yourself to be pearance and not her inner self, one end, we are seeing self-portraits guided by the font or colour and the emphasis always rests with on enamel, presented in different you will uncover a very different : who and what she is acting or colour tones : red, black, white and ‘NOOIT ANDERS, altijd hetzelfde’ stage-managing. The stage-set blue. At the other end is a reflect (never different, always the same). ting is always different, the ac ing mirror wall, carrying the words tress remains the same. ‘NOOIT hetzelfde, altijd ANDERS’, An existential question for those (see also number 16) in white and red neon lettering. who walk into this room or con vene to meet around the confer Liliane Vertessen loves self-por ence table. A philosophical reflec traits. Though time and again she tion on life in general and the puts herself in different stage set parliamentary proceedings in tings. Never the same, always dif particular. Just what here is never ferent. At first glance the situa different, and just what always re tions do seem different, but we mains the same ? Flemish Parliament Building Hans Memling Room

Brandt ubiquitous substitute. However, Sofie Muller one of the firemen, Guy Montag, ° Sint-Niklaas, 1974 18 2011 joins a group of dissidents who Lives and works in Ghent patinated bronze and charcoal, want to safeguard the books and 133 cm the stories they tell in the great Sofie Muller studied graphic de est secrecy. They are known as sign, painting and sculpture at The Brandt character is rubbing the book people. the Royal Academy in Antwerp his head along the wall, leaving and Sint Lucas in Ghent. She had a trace of charcoal, his head The Brandt character created here numerous solo and group exhibi slowly becoming one with the by Sofie Muller is a kind of alter ego tions at home and abroad. Muller wall. Brandt’s bid to erase his of fireman Montag, but there is a creates sculptures, installations past, whilst unintentionally leav distinction : Brandts’ rebellion is and drawings, and is clearly fas ing traces. clearly self-destructive. Which cinated with physicality, gender sees this character seamlessly fit and transformation. In doing so, The artist found inspiration for in which the mesmerising but dis she tends to draw on a classical this work in ‘Fahrenheit 451’, the concerting world created by the pictorial language ; much of her Ray Bradbury science fiction artist in her body of work, a world work exudes a painful but aes novel, adapted for the screen by filled with characters in reference thetic beauty. Recurrent motifs François Truffaut in 1966. The to the contradictions and conflict include blood, butterflies and the novel is set in the twenty-fourth ing feelings in one and the same child. There is a constant sub century, at a time when books personality. Her view of mankind dued tension, which forces spec have been banned and are is ambivalent, which is what tators to ask themselves ques systematically being burned by makes it so fascinating. Brandt is tions. Which is also the whole the firemen, television now the an apt expression thereof. idea, Muller comments. Flemish Parliament Building 2nd floor

There are things and constantly different, possibly super Fred Eerdekens then there are things of fluous, manifestly hidden, visibly ° Hasselt, 1951 19 minor importance veiled, temporarily present, decid Lives and works in Hasselt edly random, apparently acciden tal, possibly unreal, remarkably Fred Eerdekens enjoys toying around 1995 subtle and emphatically absent. On with light and language, and is often Brass wire, light and shadow, the face of it, the first word in each seen to combine these two funda 10 x (20 cm x 90 cm) pair is positive and strikes us as re mental aspects of communication. inforcing the adjective that follows By toying with all manner of para In this artwork, Eerdekens uses a it. But reading the words alongside doxes, he explores the highly am rather peculiar material : shadow. each other, they are stark contra biguous relationship between these He took to folding stretches of dictions : visibly versus veiled, pos two aspects and reality. But Eerdek brass wire into ostensibly mean sibly versus unreal, decidedly ver ens has a knack for presenting all ingless shapes, but switch on the sus random. Although this appears philosophical and practical ideas on light and the shadows they throw to be an innocent game around an the essence and functioning of on the wall appear as legible words. tonyms, Eerdekens hits home the meaning in visually very appealing This makes this subtle work of art message how difficult it is to cap works of art. Made from light, shad wholly dependent on its context, ture ideas or perceptions in words. ow, material and language, they are i.e. the room lighting. Now the work He believes that the notion that lan a wonderful framework to try and is there, then it is partially absent guage offers a foothold and helps us make sense of the elusive world and illegible again. In most sculp to control the world is a fallacy. Well that surrounds us. tures, shadow is a side effect at worth pondering on occasion in (see also number 3) best. Here, shadow is the essence. parliamentary conference rooms, Reading the shadows uncovers a where ideas are confronted with number of startling combinations : spoken words. Flemish Parliament Building Jan Van Eyck Room

45 Untitled the oval conference table. The panels show permutations of 1995 Hermann Rorschach’s famous enamel on steel plate psychological ink blot test. The 5 x (100 x 100 cm), 10 x (50 x 50 cm) test is to enable psychologists to analyse patients by way of the Fifteen works of art by Paul associations they make with the Sochacki grace the walls around ink blots. The ink blots themselves have no porary movements in art and phi Paul Sochacki univocal meaning. Sochacki opted losophy are trying to tell us. There is ° Maasmechelen, 1956 20 for enamelled glass plates, a fairly a good reason why this art project Lives and works in Maasmechelen unusual technique in art, albeit one was left untitled : any title bestowed that delivers a very bright gloss. In upon it would only narrow down the Paul Sochacki studied photography addition, the material is extremely interpretation. and graphic design in Genk and durable and will weather the ages. now lectures in graphic design. His At the start of the twentieth century, In the correspondence that preced CV also includes a brief spell as a this was the common technique ed the fitting of the work of art, mine worker. He paints, draws, cre adopted for the attention-grabbing Sochacki referred to the link be ates installations and shoots pho advertising panels put out by the tween his work and the space for tos. Often, his work is larded with likes of Coca Cola, Michelin, Dinky which it was intended. In this com subtle, ambivalent significance and Toys or Spa Monopole. Contrary to mittee room, parliamentary bills or wit. He has recently also been ex the durable enamel of the work of decrees are discussed in all their ploring the boundaries of digital art, the Rorschach test itself is now facets and from every possible photography. Sochacki has been ex as good as defunct, especially as a angle, vision and political interpre hibiting his work at home and medical diagnostic tool. But it tation. And, same as in his artwork, abroad since 1978. The artist’s work stands firm as a unique manifesta the artist is of the opinion that can be seen at the Antwerp Photog tion of the relationship between an there is a great deal of subjectivity raphy Museum and the Provincial object and the perception thereof. involved in the body politic. He op House in Hasselt. Especially as, courtesy of the sub erates on the assumption that the jective experience of the beholder, juxtaposition with the artistic ink Rorschach ink blots produce an infi blots will prompt the committee nite range of interpretations. Which members to reflect and possibly is exactly the element in which this even inspire them to arrive at crea Flemish Parliament Building test of yore matches what contem tive thoughts and associations. Constant Permeke Room

47 Credits

Author : Wilfried Van Vinckenroye Photography : Tom Van Elst and Stefan De Wilde Graphic design : Karakters, Ghent Printing house : Artoos, Kampenhout Co-ordination : Kris Van den Bremt Publisher : Julie Clément, director of Communications, Information and External Relations of the Flemish Parliament

The publisher has endeavoured to compensate the copyrights in respect of the illustrations in compliance with applicable statutory provisions. However, anyone who believes he/she may lawfully assert copyright claims over the illustrations included in this brochure is invited to contact the publisher.

A closer look at the Flemish Parliament’s art collection is available in the book entitled ‘Hedendaagse kunst in het Vlaams Parlement : een selectie’ (Contemporary art at the Flemish Parliament. A selection’). Wilfried Van Vinckenroye, April 2016. ISBN 978-90-74302-36-4. Legal deposit number D/2016/3933/007.

Legal deposit : D/2016/3933/9

art 20 times over at the Flemish Parliament

Wilfried Van Vinckenroye