Ilke Gers

Ilke Gers – Landmarks, 2023

• Gillekensstraat – Harensesteenweg, Vilvoorde
• Schaarbeeklei 700, Vilvoorde
• Station Buda
• Emmanuellaan – Budasteenweg, Machelen
• Karting, Budasteenweg 2, Machelen
• Hamweg, Brussel
• Witloofstraat – Verdunstraat, Brussel

Landmarks is the first artwork in public space for Border Buda. consists of nine ground paintings at various locations in Buda, crossing the borders of Machelen, Vilvoorde and Brussels. Landmarks originated from boundary markers dividing lands and kingdoms, which over time became more generally used as conspicuous markers in the landscape for finding one’s way.

The nine ground markings at specific points across Buda can be used as points of reference for orientation and movement. Each marking or gesture relates and responds to its location, together fitting into a sequence like a sentence. Accessible by foot, the locations of the markings create a walking route that can be followed as a starting point for a new way to navigate, embody, and draw together different locations spanning the three municipalities.

Nearly half a year after the inauguration of Landmarks in October 2023, the ground markings now vividly illustrate the activities unfolding in the area. Frequently traversed by vehicles of varying sizes, some drawings are fading away gradually, like blurred and blurring borderlines.

About

Ilke Gers (1981) is a visual artist from Aotearoa New Zealand, based in Rotterdam. She makes installations and works with text, drawing, print and publishing to explore the relationship between the body, movement and language. Her work intervenes in standardised forms of communication and circulation, through open-ended processes that are contingent on spatial conditions, physical interaction and time. Her work has been presented at the Hayward Gallery at Southbank Centre (London), NDSM Werf (Amsterdam), LLS Paleis (Antwerp), the Biënnale Van België (Ghent), Kunsthal Rotterdam, 019 (Ghent), De Appel (Amsterdam), De Fabriek (Eindhoven), D21 – Kunstraum (Leipzig), and Beursschouwburg (Brussels). She holds a Master from the Werkplaats Typografie, and was artist in residence at the Jan van Eyck Academie (2014-2015).