Think Public Space

Welcome to our podcast series, Think Tank Sessions: On Experiencing Art in Public Space.This podcast emerges from engaging workshops conducted across various Belgian locations.

How do you turn public space into a place where people truly meet each other?
In this special edition of the podcast Think Tank: Experiencing Art in Public Space, we explore how art, dialogue, and participation are transforming our cities into meaningful meeting places. Katrien Laenen outlines, based on her years of experience—17 years with the Flemish Building Master Team and 8 years with Art on Commission (Department of Culture)—how public art projects have evolved towards a more participatory approach. Artist duo Ivo Provoost & Simona Denicolai share surprising strategies to engage communities in a playful and authentic way. Mark Pozlep and Danielle van Zuijlen discuss how art festivals can be engines for lasting connection, collaboration, and social engagement. How does the idea of kinship—relationship and dialogue—play a central role in this?

This episode was specially recorded for the city festival Openbare werken (Public Works) under the City Hall in Ghent. Building on previous Think Tank sessions, this conversation brings together artists, architects, students, and theorists to explore how art can socially and spatially enrich our urban environments, thereby stimulating an engaged dialogue with public space.

Openbare Werken (Public Works) takes place from Friday 9 to Sunday 18 May 2025, and is organized by the Tot in de stad! network: a collaboration between Ghent-based organizations VIERNULVIER, Kunsthal Gent, De Koer, Manoeuvre, Jong Gewei, Campusatelier, and the art schools LUCA and KASK.

Concept and realisation: Angelique Campens
Sound and montage: Raf Enckels

Today we are going to the outskirts of Antwerp where we explore the integration of art in social housing and public spaces, drawing inspiration from the works of architect Renaat Braem's units at Kiel. These high-rise blocks were built between 1949-1958 in Kiel. It was Braem’s first project where he integrated painting, murals, and sculpture, and shows the importance of the synthesis of the arts.

Philosopher and art historian Vlad Ionescu is here with us today and positions historical examples of art productions in public space to contemporary practice. He helps us define the matter of ‘public space’ as one of confrontation and compromise. He highlights challenges and risks of arts in this context, with indifference, in particular, to be considered as the ‘death of publicness’. When speaking about this topic we mostly focused on architecture or sculptures, but could engagement itself be a meaningful artistic alternative?

We also talk about the role of community engagement in art and the ethical questions it raises. We discuss the tension between creating art for the sake of the community versus creating art for its own sake and the problems that arise when artists are expected to also function as social workers. They also touch upon the role of ideology in the art world and the impact it has on community-based projects.

Concept, realisation and editing: Angelique Campens
Coaching & sound: Raf Enckels (Herculeslab)
Soundwork & mixing: Melissa Ryke
Opening and closing theme Glenn Miller "String of pearls"
Visuals: design by Veronika Akopyan and photography by Michiel Devijver
Production: Angelique Campens
Text assistance: Zoë Brennan, Davide Musco
Project participants: Veronika Akopyan, Zoë Brennan, Luna Van Bellingen, Menno Eggink, Milan George, Davide Musco, Jose Zapata Usma, Aagje Vandriessche, Baue Vercammen, Delphine Vo and Hilke Walraven
Coproduction: Nomadic School of Arts
With the support of: KASK School of Arts, Europe NextGenerationEU, Nomadic School of Arts

Welcome to our podcast series, Think Tank Sessions: On Experiencing Art in Public Space. This podcast emerges from engaging workshops conducted across various Belgian locations.
Have you ever considered parking lots as spaces for artworks? Today, I am taking you to the parking garages in Brussels, exploring them as platforms for artistic possibilities. Inspired by the innovative thinking of urban visionaries Charlie Depauw and Claude De Clercq in 1966, who collaborated with artist/architect Jacques Moeschal to transcend traditional art spaces, we explore how art can transform parking lots into unconventional art galleries. Accompanying us on this journey is architect Wim Goes and a team of thoughtful students as we engage in a lively brainstorming session. Together, we reflect on the important role of art in public spaces. Along our path, we discover contemporary examples that awaken inspiration and examine how spaces like parking lots can evolve into dynamic platforms for integrating artworks.
Concept, realisation and editing: Angelique Campens
Coaching & sound: Raf Enckels (Herculeslab)
Soundwork & mixing: Melissa Ryke
Opening and closing theme Glenn Miller "String of pearls"
Visuals: design by Veronika Akopyan and photography by Michiel Devijver
Production: Angelique Campens
Project participants: Veronika Akopyan, Zoë Brennan, Simon Breynaert, Malte Möller, Luna Van Bellingen, Menno Eggink, Davide Musco, Aagje Vandriessche, Baue Vercammen, Delphine Vo and Hilke Walraven
Coproduction: Nomadic School of Arts
With the support of: KASK School of Arts, Europe NextGenerationEU, Nomadic School of Arts
Locations: Parking Entre-Deux-Portes, Parking Poelaert and Parking Brucity courtesy of Interparking

We start to become familiar with this place as we go again to the outskirts of Antwerp and we explore the integration of art in social housing and public spaces, drawing inspiration from the works of architect Renaat Braem's units at Kiel. These high-rise blocks were built between 1949-1958 in Kiel. It was Braem’s first project where he integrated painting, murals, and sculpture, and shows the importance of the synthesis of the arts.

Once again, we are at the community centre ‘Nova’, encountering the kindness of its volunteers and residents. After a chat with some of them, we meet our final guest: professor Pascal Gielen, a well-known figure in this field, who works extensively on networks, community arts, commoning, and arts in public space. As we touch upon many different topics, talking with Pascal feels like a trip in itself: we don’t focus specifically on arts in public space, but rather on the broader sense of arts for the community. Pascal shows us that culture has a measurable impact on people’s health, social cohesion, cognition, and the economy, among other things. It supports people in meaning-making and building a shared, symbolic common ground.

But it can also disrupt the ground under someone’s feet, unexpectedly changing one’s personal life and perception. Perhaps we are already unconsciously aware of that, but this information makes us look at the artist’ profession in another light - one of choice, responsibility, and politics, ultimately. If we need a sensory common ground for a political community, then let the artists shape our spaces!
Concept, realisation and editing: Angelique Campens
Coaching & sound: Raf Enckels (Herculeslab)
Soundwork & mixing: Melissa Ryke
Opening and closing theme Glenn Miller "String of pearls"
Visuals: design by Veronika Akopyan and photography by Michiel Devijver
Production: Angelique Campens
Text assistance: Zoë Brennan, Davide Musco
Project participants: Veronika Akopyan, Zoë Brennan, Luna Van Bellingen, Menno Eggink, Milan George, Davide Musco, Jose Zapata Usma, Aagje Vandriessche, Baue Vercammen, Delphine Vo and Hilke Walraven
Coproduction: Nomadic School of Arts
With the support of: KASK School of Arts, Europe NextGenerationEU, Nomadic School of Arts

Today we are going to the outskirts of Antwerp where we explore the integration of art in social housing and public spaces, drawing inspiration from the works of architect Renaat Braem's units at Kiel. These high-rise blocks were built between 1949-1958. It was Braem’s first project where he integrated painting, murals, and sculpture, and shows the importance of the synthesis of the arts.

Here we are meeting the Social worker Bart Eggermont who kindly hosts us in Nova, a community center in Kiel, featuring a social canteen, workshops, exhibitions and a stage for theatre or music. Different organisations work in this place, with the common aim of facilitating access to culture for the neighbourhood and, ultimately, creating a space for everybody. Bart Eggermont discussed how art can help to create a sense of identity and belonging within a community. Or how art can bring people together, and how it can serve as a platform for dialogue and engagement.

We are all excited by this example of engagement in the community, and some questions arise: how can an art institution support a community’s life and its needs? And what kind of engagement should it ask of people with limited access to culture?

Concept, realisation and editing: Angelique Campens
Coaching & sound: Raf Enckels (Herculeslab)
Soundwork & mixing: Melissa Ryke
Opening and closing theme Glenn Miller "String of pearls"
Visuals: design by Veronika Akopyan and photography by Michiel Devijver
Production: Angelique Campens
Text assistance: Zoë Brennan, Davide Musco
Project participants: Veronika Akopyan, Zoë Brennan, Luna Van Bellingen, Menno Eggink, Milan George, Davide Musco, Jose Zapata Usma, Aagje Vandriessche, Baue Vercammen, Delphine Vo and Hilke Walraven
Coproduction: Nomadic School of Arts
With the support of: KASK School of Arts, Europe NextGenerationEU, Nomadic School of Arts