Star of the Sea echoes various architectural structures that one encounters when walking along a Belgian beach and the North Sea coastline: a bunker, a fort, a pavilion, a sandcastle or a playground on the sand. Yet Star of the Sea resists rigid classifications, just as its hexagonal shape resists a straightforward reading as a star. Neither one, nor the other, and at the same time many forms at once.
This monumental concrete structure oscillates between a sculpture and a building. It is composed of interconnected cylindrical tubes and triangular inspection chambers that form a central inner courtyard. The material resonates with the industrial activities in the area. The modular pieces bring the city’s hidden infrastructure onto the beach: these pipes are typically used in sewage systems to carry wastewater. Various textures and marks are visible on the walls.
Enter the work through one of the circular openings and you will find yourself in a tunnel. The interior spaces are filled with interplays of light and shadow, sounds and smells. Visitors and passers-by are invited to explore the space: to sit, lie, play and interact with each other and the surroundings. The openings offer ‘periscopic’ views of radically different locations, including the industrial port, the dunes, the sea and the villas on the promenade. Together, they form the landscape of Zeebrugge, which is atypical for the Belgian coast.
Star of the Sea continues the artist’s long-standing interest in exploring how art in the public space can respond to situations and how porosity and uncertainty can be integrated into the creative process. The work can thus be viewed as a temple dedicated to ‘the unpredictable present’. Adjacent to a section of the beach that is being reclaimed by nature, where a dune is slowly forming, this temple is in constant interaction with the elements: wind, sand and the cycle of tides. For the six months that it resides in Zeebrugge, the work will not only register the changing conditions on the beach but also be transformed by them: sand will amass around it, burying certain sections, and water will seep into and pool within the interior. Star of the Sea: a ‘barometer’ that records change.
Star of the Sea is a coproduction between Bruges Triennial 2024 and Beaufort Triennial 2024.
Artist Ivan Morison (b. 1974, Istanbul, TR) has established an ambitious situated practice that transcends traditional divisions between art, architecture, theatre and activism. His work is often performance-based and site-specific, existing as one-off events and large-scale installations and buildings in public spaces.