Brussels urban planning in the second half of the 20th century was so violent that a term was coined to describe the damage it caused: "Bruxellisation", or the destruction of a city in peacetime. While the Belgian capital was not the only city to suffer this vandalism - France was unfortunately not spared - it is perhaps the city where this phenomenon has been most pronounced. While Paris remains a very beautiful city with unfortunately many blemishes, Brussels has become an ugly city where islands of beauty remain here and there. What is still damaging its heritage today is therefore all the more unacceptable.
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- 1. 40 rue Léopold in Liège
Photo: Promeneuse7 (CC BY-SA 3.0) - See the image in its page
We recently reported on two cases concerning Belgium, one in Liège and the other in Brussels, both related to what must be called wokism. The first one has a happy ending, the second one threatens to end very badly.
The first was a request by an association to remove two sculptures from the façade (ill. 1) of a historic building (see the article). As is often the case in these situations, the arguments were not only absurd: they were false. The missing hands were not missing in order to celebrate the hands cut off on the orders of King Leopold, and the rue Léopold where they were located was not named in honour of Leopold II, but of Leopold I. There was no connection between the disappearance of these hands (due to the deterioration of the sculpture) and the tragic episode denounced by the activists.
Let’s face it: after the case had been publicised, the association of people from Liège of Congolese origin, which had started the controversy, recognised its mistake, negotiated with the owner of the building and agreed to restore the sculptures and add hands to them. You can read about it in this RTBF article. It should be emphasised that the owner emphasises the need for care in this operation involving classified works of art and that it should be carried out, it is hoped, according to best practice, based on old photographs showing the hands as they were designed by the sculptor.
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- 2. Sculpture by Aglaïa Konrad, which Brussels has chosen as an example of the design that will replace the Victor Rousseau monument.
Photo: City of Brussels - See the image in its page
The second story is likely to end more badly: it concerns the replacement in Brussels of a historic sculpted monument representing Maturity by the sculptor Victor Rousseau (see the article). Not only has the Brussels government refused to back down, but it has also chosen the work that is to replace the Carrara marble group. The author, as RTBF has also revealed (see the article), is the "[Brussels artist of Austrian origin] Aglaïa Konrad.
RTBF, quoting its promoters, informs us that "this sculpture will be made up of construction site debris, the artist sublimating this construction site waste to pay tribute to it in a tender and sculptural form" (isn’t that charming?). It will be made up of "two columns, one 4 to 5 metres high and the other 2 to 3 metres high". The visual accompanying the work (ill. 2) is described as non-contractual since: "It will be an original work, specifically created for this location, and the illustration provided does not correspond to the work that will be installed in the redeveloped square". So there we are, reassured...
The meaning of the work is described as follows: "The artist approaches this subject from a feminist perspective, thus recontextualising the history of urban planning and architectural development of a city that was built mainly from a male perspective.". Feminist and anti-masculinist, that’s Victor Rousseau all got roasted.
The rest of the gibberish quoted by RTBF is also worth repeating here: "The collected materials will be cut like crystals, then stacked on a central metal axis, in order to transform them into monumental jewellery. Inspired by the aesthetics of ruins, the artist reworks the raw materials in order to accentuate this contrast between form and content. The materials used are treated to prevent any future deterioration, to crystallise them in time and protect them from any other type of natural erosion."
If the Brussels government wanted to make it an allegory of its destructive action, which in fact affects the entire neighbourhood where the monument is located, it would not be doing things any differently. The "Brusselisation" continues.