Exhibition 'Open Call. 20 Years of Public Architecture'
This project is an explorative research of the Open Call architecture competition procedure as developed and used by the Flemish Government Architect between 1999 and 2019, to assist public authorities in selecting a design team for a public commission. The exhibition studies this specific procedure creates conditions for developing architectural quality. Case studies trace how public commissioners are supported in developing an ambitious project assignment, and how subsequently design teams are (pre)selected, sketch designs being submitted and compared, and finally a commission is granted. Two other issues addressed concern the relation between architectural quality and the conditions of the Belgian urbanized territory, and the contemporary architectural expression of public institutions. These three aspects are developed into an Archives, a Panorama, and a Wunderkammer section of the exhibition.
This exhibition is an initiative of the Flemish Government Architect, and was realized through a collaboration between the Team Flemish Government Architect and various members of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of Ghent University, including Maarten Liefooghe and Maarten Van Den Driessche (curators); Pieter-Jan Cierkens (research), Eef Boeckx, Kris Coremans, Hans Lust (scenography and production); Ester Goris, Malgorzata Maria Olchowska and Joris Kerremans (with Louis Seynaeve and Toon Verdonk) (Panorama and Wunderkammer installations). The exhibition halts at Ghent (VANDENHOVE), Brussels (Atelier Bouwmeester) and in Leuven, Hasselt, Kortrijk and Antwerp (dates and locations to be confirmed).
Visitor’s guide: Liefooghe, M., Van Den Driessche, M., Olchowska, M., Kerremans, J. & Goris, E. (2019). Open Call. 20 years of public architecture. Brussels: Team Vlaams Bouwmeester. http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8635130
In the meantime further research projects studying these and other aspects of the Open Call procedure, its history and outcomes, have been started, a.o. through a BOF research grant (M. Van Den Driessche.)
Project Info
Research group: Architecture Culture and the Contemporary (ACC)
Duration: from 20-09-2019 until 31-10-2019
Researchers: Maarten Liefooghe, Maarten Van Den Driessche, Pieter-Jan Cierkens, Ester Goris, Malgorzata Maria Olchowska en Joris Kerremans
