Belgium - Ghent public art

Ghent is dotted with odd sculptures, installations, and art interventions. Some were created for art festivals and some are simply baffling. A festival called Track, which runs in September, aims to use the entire city as a gallery.

The early 17th century Drongenhof Chapel looks to be a sad and abandoned place. It is sometimes used for concerts and exhibitions but it normally stays locked for most of the year. However if you can manage to peer through the gap between the green doors you will get a glimpse of the modern stained glass window at the far end which was installed in 2003 by Ghent artist Wim Delvoye.

A narrow alley called Boeksteeg which translates to ‘Book lane’ runs down from the Veldstraat shopping street to the river Leie. A second unofficial sign attached to the wall gives the street name as Facebooksteeg, which I guess you can work out for yourself. It was put up by the artists Har Hollands and Kees Bos during the Ghent light festival of 2012.

One mural is not easy to find unless you know where to look. It was created in 2011 by the artist Anouk De Clerq on the side wall of a staircase leading down to the car park beneath Pietersplein. It is intended to serve as a monument to student life. Therefore the work represents shelves of books in Ghent University library along with the faint sounds of students whispering.

Do not worry about the street lighting if you observe the lamp posts on Sint-Veerleplein. They have been programmed to flicker every time a child is born in a Ghent maternity ward. The Italian artist Alberto Garutti created this installation during the Track art festival in 2012. He called it “Ai Natti Oggi”

For the same festival, Ghent artist Leo Copers created a mock cemetery. Dotted among old trees in Citadelpark are 111 gravestones carved with the names of famous art museums. This meant as a warning that visual culture as we know it is dying. The fake memorials were left standing in the park after Track ended, but they might not stay here much longer.

An enormous green vase stands in the inner courtyard of the city’s design museum. The nine metre high vase was designed in 1999 by Italian architect Andrea Branzi.

You can also find an avenging angel wearing a gas mask, this stands on top of a globe in the courtyard of the Augustine monastery. This work was made by the Brussels sculptor Tom Frantzen for a 2013 exhibition held in the former monastery.