bMa Man of Thoughts

Brussels, Belgium

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Arts Pavilion (Kunstenpaviljoen)

bMa Man of Thoughts

Brussels, Belgium

Firm

plusofficearchitects

Type

Commercial › Exhibition Center Pop-Up
Cultural › Gallery

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2014

SIZE

10,000 sqft - 25,000 sqft

BUDGET

$100K - 500K

Photos

Filip Dujardin Photography (11)

“You are a man of thoughts.”
“Je suis un homme de dialogue.”

exhibition concept
At the end of his mandate, the first Brussels Region government architect Olivier Bastin, looks back at his work and achievements in the form of an exhibition, public debate and a publication. Based on his personal style of dialogue and reflection, the curators developed an exhibition as an installation that focuses as much on the actual location and the demolishing of a modernist icon, as on the world of objects, projects and stories harvested from a five year journey of the Brussels Capital Region first government architect. The logbook concept captures his complex and at times intangible role as architect, thinker and opinion maker.

Those thoughts are not offered free of consequence. It is a necessary, free, and inviting thought process that encompasses an entire culture of construction. The government architect thinks and inspires others to think. He comes up with new scenarios for the city and asks questions about building projects in Brussels. Thinking leads to a new conceptual legacy and invites others into a context of dialogue, debate, and reflection. It is a thought process that has an impact.

The exhibition and the corresponding book is conceived as an installation and a journal of his work. Rather than an overview of projects, it reads like the travel logs of a pioneer. It tells the story about his route to give the institution of the Bouwmeester – Maître architecte (bMa) a place of its own in Brussels. The exhibition and the accompanying publication look back on the road thus travelled, but also look to the future and formulate the questions that pop up on the horizon. They continue the discussion about building, architectural quality, and the culture of architecture in Brussels through a series of events hosted in the exhibition (symposium, debate, guided tours, education sessions... ).

The exhibition follows the route taken by the first head architect of the Brussels-Capital Region, developed in six main parts. Those parts are all mounted on a new exhibition landscape built from structural packaging cardboard. Based on the same geometrical grid and composition system this new floor and walls, reveal and highlight the actual design grid inherent in the building, hiding the rich and nobel materials used for cladding the interior spaces. The lightweight, cheap and 100% recyclable cardboard was a strong contrast. The curators wanted to create a framework from which the original design parameters (proportion, material choices, light and rhythm) could be observed in a more precise and intensified way. The central platform and 9by9meter 'wabbes room’ clearly illustrate the interplay between existing building and temporary installations.

Brussels-based photographer Marie-Françoise Plissart was commissioned to take a series of portraits of Brussels through the eyes of selected ‘silent opinion-leaders’. The series of photos stands as a tribute to the city and as a status quaestionis of its spatial policies. The photo series is echoed in ‘witness statements’ by individuals who worked closely with the bMa and his team in recent years. They reflect on the work process and the continuity of the bMa as an institution. They appear in the exhibition as ghost projections on the former counters of the bank, inviting you for a rather personal listening experience, not unlike a private conversation. Additionally the head architect himself then talks about the role and responsibility of his mandate, the Brussels context, and the tangible achievements of the past five years in an audio installation completed with an overview of all projects, mapped out .

A ‘cabinet of novelties’ uses personal items belonging to the bMa and his team to tell the tale of the complex challenges they faced, stories of enthusiasm as well as doubt that accompanied the five years in office. The ordinary objects and their stories are presented in a separate chamber with an almost sacral ambience. A visual account of eighteen key projects is shown as an utopian mountain of a Brussels yet to come. The models explain a variety of projects, some conceptual, some representational, some just about details and others a large scale overviews. The main exhibition closes with a timeline of the design process of the soon to be build BNP Paribas Fortis headquarter, replacing the building where the exhibition was held. Each key document from initial financial studies, preservation studies till the design competition and design development booklets where put on display. Audiences are guided through the complete process, allowing them a look into the complexity of large scale projects and the associated debate on renewal, renovation and new construction; the cultural meaning of important buildings and the signature of architects.

The exhibition also includes a few artists interventions. In the courtyard spare elements of a recently opened artwork are put on display (Philippe Van Snick, TIR building). An original piece from a hotel facade by Victor Horta, which is laying in a warehouse waiting somewhere in Brussels) was brought to the exhibition and is paralleled with the removal of a granite wall panel in the main hall, used as a table to display Jules Wabbes designed building elements and the inventory of the materials that will be salvaged before demolishing the main building. Finally Lotte Van den Audenaeren created an installation and performance 'timekeeper', based on quint circles and the power of composition systems.

Olivier Bastin explains his interventions using the metaphor of acupuncture. Their emergence may initially seem chaotic, and they may well be small in scale. Positioned carefully, they apply precisely the right amount of pressure to have an impact on far more complex, large-scale systems. Because they make people think, their influence extends beyond the time or place of the intervention itself. In that sense, the bMa is a ‘bricoleur’ rather than an ‘ingenieur’, to put it in the terms of Lévi-Strauss. He uses the various items at hand and tinkers with them, configuring existing elements in new combinations. The project’s objective is also defined according to the opportunities that present themselves. This is not so much opportunism as a willingness to reinterpret, find added value, reformulate – in short, to think wild thoughts.

Goals and audiences
The exhibition is presented at a wide audience that is involved and/or interested in the future development of the Brussels Capital Region and it's architectural policy. Amongst the more than 3000 visitors, a variety of audiences was found: regional administrations, local governments, politicians, architects, urbanists, academics, designers and those interested in the spatial development of the Brussels capital region. The exhibition is in the first place an installation that measures the inherent quality of the existing building, the design concepts behind it. The exhibition plays with the notions of structure and cladding, quality of materials and life cycle of buildings, hence engaging with the polemic debate around the future of the exhibition's location. Taking place in the former building of the Generale Bank (the current headquarters of BNP Paribas Fortis) at Monts des Arts in Brussels, the exhibition is also a last tribute to the interiors designed by Jules Wabbes in the late 70ies. A last chance to visit the phenomenal spaces (including the former vault room with original furniture and interior decoration on display) became the main reason for the chosen location. During the exhibition public debates, group tours, educational sessions and a symposium on the role of art in public space were organised, each using the cardboard installation as a background an infrastructure.

Given the short duration (4 weeks) the curators proposed a material strategy that allows for intelligent use of budgets and reuse of the exhibition materials afterwards. The scenography in structural cardboard used in the packaging industry, was donated to several art schools and local cultural initiatives, while the larger panels were used in the material harvesting undertaking coordinated by ROTOR and docomomo. Several interior elements ranging from light fixtures, to complete false ceilings, wood panneling and doorframes, were removed from the original structure and repurposed in other locations. One of the ceilings (mille feuille by Jules Wabbes) is now on view in Woluwe-St-Pierre's public library. The cardboard panels were used for transport and packaging.