Four festivals, four distinct identities, and four reasons to explore further. From the coast and the city to the countryside, visitors can chart their own route and discover new worlds of art along the way. COPPA sparks curiosity, encourages people to venture beyond the familiar, and offers a fresh perspective on West Flanders.
Four arts festivals, one shared ambition
Starting in 2027, Beaufort Triennial, Bruges Triennial, Kortrijk Triennial and Watou Arts Festival will join forces under the new umbrella organisation COPPA (Contemporary Platform for Public Art in Flanders). COPPA is a platform that connects these four established festivals and gives visibility to their shared ambition. Each festival retains its own identity and artistic trajectory, but by sharing knowledge, expertise, networks and audiences, new opportunities arise for collaboration, exchange and innovative initiatives. COPPA aims to strengthen the presence of contemporary art in public space while also broadening its outlook. The platform invites visitors not to stop at a single destination, but to combine multiple artistic experiences, from the coast to the Westhoek region. Together, the four festivals transform West Flanders into a diverse artistic landscape that reveals itself step by step.
Joris Van de Moortel creates the artistic connection
For COPPA, artist Joris Van de Moortel will create a new artwork consisting of four elements, distributed across Beaufort Triennial, Bruges Triennial, Kortrijk Triennial and Watou Arts Festival. Each element will be embedded within the unique context of its respective festival, while together they form a recognisable and conceptually connected whole. In this way, the collaboration becomes not only visible but also tangible in the public realm. Van de Moortel is renowned for his multidisciplinary practice, in which painting, sculpture, music, performance and other media intersect. His work frequently explores the boundaries between disciplines and is driven by experimentation, imagination and a strong spirit of inquiry. For COPPA, he translates this distinctive artistic approach into a project that creates a dialogue between the four locations. One work begins where another ends, allowing visitors to discover, along the way, the story they tell together.