Kortrijk Art Weekend

About the exhibition (NL)

A vast area unfolds on Pot­tel­berg, con­tai­ning a mul­ti­tu­de of for­mer fac­to­ry and offi­ce buil­dings built through the cour­se of many deca­des in dif­fe­rent buil­ding sty­les. Seve­r­al of the­se struc­tu­res are ador­ned with the sty­li­zed ima­ge of a sea­hor­se. This blue and whi­te logo was desig­ned in 1950 by Fle­mish artist Octa­ve Lan­duyt for Van Mar­c­ke, Belgium’s lea­ding sani­ta­ry and hea­ting dis­tri­bu­tor that recent­ly moved their acti­vi­ties from this ter­rain to their cur­rent sta­te of the art faci­li­ties out­si­de the city. This chap­ter of the site pro­ves to have been pre­ce­ded by a long his­to­ry of con­se­cu­ti­ve acti­vi­ties, as arche­o­lo­gi­cal finds have docu­men­ted occu­pa­ti­on sin­ce the Meso­li­thic peri­od. The name, mea­ning pot’s hill, must refer to the clay depo­sits in the soil, as the famous Pot­tel­berg roo­fing tiles were pro­du­ced on a mas­si­ve fac­to­ry site fur­ther down the road. Star­ting in the ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ry, Kunst­werkst­e­de De Coe­ne had their head­quar­ters at this very loca­ti­on. Ini­ti­al­ly a fur­ni­tu­re and inte­ri­or work­shop inspi­red by the Arts and Crafts move­ment, the com­pa­ny later intro­du­ced lami­na­ted wood and pro­du­ced for the likes of Hen­ry Van De Vel­de, Mar­cel Breu­er, Char­lot­te Per­ri­and, Jean Prou­vé, Renaat Braem, Léon Sty­nen, Eero Saar­i­nen and Har­ry Ber­toia. After the Second World War, the com­pa­ny expand­ed into pre­fa­bri­ca­ted lami­na­ted trus­ses for the con­struc­ti­on indu­stry, beco­ming a com­pa­ny ope­ra­ting world­wi­de and buil­ding many of the pavi­li­ons for the Expo ​’58 World Exhi­bi­ti­on in Brus­sels. One of the­se can still be found on the pre­mi­ses. The emer­gen­ce of the Biën­na­le Inte­ri­eur in 1968 would be hard to ima­gi­ne wit­hout the dyna­mic pre­sen­ce of De Coe­ne in Kort­rijk. When De Coe­ne was dis­sol­ved in the 1970s, Van Mar­c­ke took over the ter­rain and the exis­ting buil­dings, from whe­re they kept expan­ding until their recent relo­ca­ti­on. Today the area is being rede­vel­o­ped into a hot­bed for inno­va­ti­ve pro­jects through Landmarck

Whilst we navi­ga­te past dif­fe­rent buil­ding lay­ers of the aban­do­ned site, the pas­sa­ge of time beco­mes tan­gi­ble and memo­ries of recent and dis­tant pasts seem to flo­at in the air. Recur­rin­g­ly appe­a­ring as a déjà vu, the swir­ling sha­pe of the sea­hor­se beco­mes a spi­rit gui­de through the deso­la­te alleys and cor­ri­dors, reve­a­ling hid­den cor­ners and for­got­ten tra­ces of pre­vious lives. The Latin name for the sea­hor­se is Hip­po­cam­pus, which hap­pens to be the same name given to a mys­te­rious part of the human brain that is cal­l­ed after the mari­ne cre­a­tu­re becau­se of their phy­si­cal resem­blan­ce. Simi­lar to the earth that is divi­ded into two hemis­p­he­res in car­to­grap­hy to com­mu­ni­ca­te spa­ti­al infor­ma­ti­on for navi­ga­ti­on, the brain is divi­ded into two cere­bral hemis­p­he­res, each of the­se con­tai­ning their own hip­po­cam­pus. Though the exact wor­kings of the human cere­brum remain elu­si­ve to neu­ro­s­cien­ce, the­se hip­po­cam­pi seem to be instru­men­tal in the cre­a­ti­on and retrie­val of memo­ries, and sub­se­quent­ly in spa­ti­al orien­ta­ti­on which ena­bles navi­ga­ti­on. For the occa­si­on we invi­te you to allow the sea­hor­se in our minds to draw the cha­ri­ot, escor­ting us on this laby­rin­thi­ne jour­ney through the cur­rents of spa­ce and time.

About the location (NL)

ELDERS is een noma­disch col­lec­tief voor de pre­sen­ta­tie van heden­daag­se artis­tie­ke prak­tij­ken in Kort­rijk en regio. ELDERS orga­ni­seert ten­toon­stel­lin­gen in de Kort­rijk­se bin­nen­stad. Door het noma­di­sche aspect ver­hui­zen de pro­jec­ten tel­kens naar aan­ge­pas­te loca­ties. ELDERS wil niet enkel geves­tig­de kun­ste­naars maar ook jon­ge talen­ten in het begin van hun car­ri­è­re een plat­form geven. ELDERS werd opge­richt in 2021. De hui­di­ge leden zijn Pet­rus Pak­lons, Hélè­ne Depondt, Koen Tite­ca, Joa­chim Cou­c­ke, Die­ter Van Cane­ghem, Joke Anckaert, Gil­les Dedec­ker en Eli­sa­beth Sey­nae­ve. ELDERS heeft geen vas­te ope­nings­uren maar is gebon­den aan ten­toon­stel­lin­gen door­heen het jaar. Hou dus zeker deze en onze web­si­te in de gaten voor opko­men­de tentoonstellingen.