Bruges Triennial 2018: Liquid City | Vloeibare Stad reaches back to the theme of 2015, which was a reflection on the city as a megapolis. However, in 2018 they took it a step further : how flexible, liquid and resilient can a historic city like Bruges be in an age when nothing seems to be certain any longer? This world is changing rapidly. Established ways of thinking and forms of life are under pressure. What does the future hold?
Bruges Triennial invited international artists and architects to think about these questions. Many of them sought inspiration for their work in the role of liquidity in the city that is literally criss-crossed and surrounded by water. The waterways that once earned Bruges its international renown, became a metaphor for Liquid City. Fifteen works of art, installations and meeting places were put up in the city centre. They formed a hospitable route that brought people together in unexpected spots.
Curators: Till-Holger Borchert (b. 1967, Hamburg, DE), Michel Dewilde (b. 1963, Ghent, BE)
With the theme of TraumA, Bruges Triennial 2021 dived into the uncanny history and reality of Bruges. Historical layers were exposed, forgotten or hidden storylines discussed. This edition explored the thin line between dream and trauma, between paradise and hell. It appealed to the imagination, to the pomp and circumstance, but also to the "unheimliche" that is present underground. For although Bruges seems to be a dream destination for many, poverty, loneliness, pollution or fear also lurk in this picture-perfect world.
Bruges Triennial 2021: TraumA used thirteen artistic and architectural interventions to bring the hidden aspects of a city to the surface and make them part of the Bruges’ image. It created a polyphonic discourse, where there was room for imagination, beauty, darkness and complexity. A space where artists and architects could explore both the stage and the dusty wings. Bruges Triennial 2021: TraumA balanced between the present and the hidden. With a course of sculptural, architectural and organic creations, the installations were a celebration of the versatility and mobility of this city. Between private and public. Between dream and nightmare.
Curators: Till-Holger Borchert (b. 1967, Hamburg, DE), Santiago De Waele, Michel Dewilde (b. 1963, Ghent, BE), Els Wuyts (b. 1976, Oudenaarde, BE)
Every year, five million tourists visit Bruges. What if they all decided to stay? What if a small, preserved, historic city should suddenly become a megapolis?
This scenario opens up a plethora of possibilities and challenges. Would a small city be capable of coping with the dynamics of a metropolis? And conversely : could a city on a human scale contribute to a new, better form of urbanism? That was the premise of Bruges Triennial 2015.
Eighteen international artists went to work on this idea. They created new works that could be viewed on an art trail through the centre of Bruges. The artists posed questions and reflected on the future and potential of the city, of urbanisation, citizenship, lifestyle, community, economics, energy, space, sound and the values that guide us. Three indoor exhibitions illustrated the concept of 'city' – in visions, dreams and real-life images – as a living, growing and evolving organism.
Curators: Till-Holger Borchert (b. 1967, Hamburg, DE), Michel Dewilde (b. 1963, Ghent, BE)
For more than twenty years, Bruges has been strongly committed to contemporary architecture in harmony with the existing city center. Concertgebouw Brugge, for example, opened its doors in 2002. More recently, the BMCC (designed by the Belgian architectural firm META, together with Pritzker Prize winner Eduardo Souto de Moura) opened its doors and in 2026 BRUSK will also be open for visitors. But attention to contemporary art and culture bubbled up much earlier, including in the minds of town alderman Fernand Traen and author Paul de Wispelaere. They therefore founded the Independent Cultural Forum Raaklijn in 1957.
Under this impulse, the First Triennial of Plastic Art in Belgium was opened in 1968 by then-Mayor Pierre Vandamme. With a large-scale exhibition, contemporary, Belgian artists, including such resounding names as Marcel Broodthaers, Jef Geys, Panamarenko and Roger Raveel, were given a platform to the general public.
Despite good visitor numbers – 12,851 people visited the exhibition – the First Triennial of Plastic Art in Belgium was also criticized by some. For example, the local press regularly expressed incomprehension of some artworks, and particularly targeted was Grande Casserole de Moules by Marcel Broodthaers. But there was also criticism within the art world itself, especially about the selection of artists and the way this was carried out. This indignation culminated in a veritable counter-exhibition called Kontra-Punt, which opened on the same evening as the triennial. That exhibition also worked with a selection of artists which led to plans to organise another exhibition with the twice-rejected artists. This exhibition ultimately did not take place.
Thus, the First Triennial for Plastic Art in Belgium caused a small landslide in Bruges' cultural landscape and laid the foundation for subsequent editions.
Three years after the very first edition, the Second Triennial was organised in 1971 in the City Halls. The intention remained the same, namely to offer a current overview of the visual arts in Belgium and to allow 84 Belgian artists to show their work. Conceptual art was given a bigger platform and the artists themselves were no longer divided by artistic movement.
However, the biggest eye-catcher of this triennial was not in the City Halls but appeared on the canals of Bruges. Roger Raveel made four wooden swans, each with a square vista and placed them in the water at the level of the Rozenhoedkaai. Although it was first assumed that the swans were merely a publicity stunt for the triennial, Raveel's real intention was to address the poor quality of the water in the canals. This prompted the Bruges city council to clean up the canals in the years that followed, which would eventually lead to the first swimming platform on the canals during Bruges Triennial 2015.
Moving the exhibition to the public domain is an idea that originated as early as 1971, when Roger Raveel spoke the prophetic words 'Why not let that exhibition spill out into the city and into the houses?'. It would take until 2015 for this idea to become a reality but in the meantime the Bruges Triennial has become an integral part of the public space.
The third edition of the triennial in 1974, appropriately titled Triennial 3. Informative Exhibition of Contemporary Art in Belgium, was a break from the previous two editions in a few ways. For example, the exhibition did not take place in the City Halls but rather in the less centrally located Beurshalle. The choice of this new building – with considerably more space than the City Halls – also had to do with the somewhat modified concept of the triennial. Whereas previously all artworks were displayed in an open exhibition space, now the artists were each given their own space that they could arrange according to their preferences. In addition, the Beurshalle also provided a childcare center, youth studio, documentation center and cafeteria.
The number of participating artists was also reduced to 44, but still with some established names such as Marcel Broodthaers, Panamarenko and Roger Raveel. In addition, a number of young, emerging artists were also chosen to present their work.
This third edition was the last for the time being. Although there were plans for a fourth edition in 1977 with international ambitions, it did not take place. It would eventually take until 2015 before a triennial was organised again.
After three editions in which Bruges Triennial focused on themes such as the city as a megapolis, Liquid City, and Bruges between dream and TraumA, this edition focused on the future. In a UNESCO-protected heritage city like Bruges, where preservation is central, the question arises how to integrate concepts such as sustainability and change. Contemporary art and architecture were used during TRIBRU24 to create new frameworks for these challenges.
In recent years, global crises have increased the pressure on living and working and put our society on edge. This era of awareness calls for new ways of thinking and smarter use of resources to ensure well-being and sustainability. Public space plays a crucial role in this as a place for movement, meeting and creativity, also in Bruges, a city balancing between historical heritage and modern challenges.
With Bruges Triennial: Spaces of Possibility, they searched for Bruges' potential by inviting (inter)national artists and architects to reinterpret the city's morphology. They focused on un(der)used places in Bruges, aiming to create new social, ecological and urban narratives. These temporary installations questioned the status quo and invited the public to experience the city from a renewed perspective, in line with Bruges Triennial's mission as a platform for experimentation and forward-looking ideas.
Curators: Shendy Gardin and Sevie Tsampalla