Aalst, in front of the new administrative building
It is often said that artworks make us view reality differently. Perhaps this is primarily because they have not been created for any specific, useful reason. This uselessness makes them feel inappropriate. Yet perhaps it is here that part of their social role lies: to remind us that alongside the functional, a more intangible world also exists. Equally intangible is its definitive meaning, which it will never wholly reveal. Like life itself. Various approaches are possible. Art feels at home in this ambiguity.
This work seeks out the boundary of ambiguity. It aims to be both an artwork and a bike shed, and even aims to enhance this ambiguity. It has no purpose and yet there are enough elements to continually contradict this.
The place, the square in front of the new administrative centre, is one of the busiest transport hubs in the city of Aalst. The unique thing about it is that trains, boats, buses, cars, bikes and pedestrians all intersect here. The work aims to enhance the exceptional character of this place by mirroring the various movements. The bike mounts have been angled in all different directions. Their arrangement seems rather playful and coincidental but upon closer inspection, you see that they are in line with the movements that cyclists make to find a space here. In a central position above the mounts, there are overlapping planes. Each one tilts towards the middle in its own way, and together they form a single roof. Their various shades of blue reflect the colour variations in the sky. Thus this also serves as a frivolous counterpart to the administrative centre, with its coloured planes in shades of white, yellow, light brown and red.
15 roofs (galvanized steel and PU paint) and 48 bicycle brackets (galvanized steel)
scale model
composition of the bicycle brackets
