2024 Exhibition

speed equals distance over time

Upon arrival in Buda – be it a singular visit or a routine part of one’s week – what immediately stands out is the presence of various transport axes in the area. Train lines and waterways, viaducts and tunnels, paths and highways, bike arteries and air traffic, each characterised by their distinctive range of speed. The network of persistent motion is set against the backdrop of a landscape that retains a relative stillness, shaped by the remnants of industrial development. Vacant buildings and rampant weeds occupy the area, a blind spot to many, as the sole audience for its dissonant polyphony.

In physics, speed is defined as the rate at which an object covers distance over a specific period of time. These three parameters – speed, distance and time – as elements that define experience in a given space, are the artistic points of departure for the presentation and creation of newly commissioned artworks in the public spaces of Buda. The formula also mirrors the methodological approach of the artists. What occurs when the speed parameter is altered, and how does this adjustment impact the ratio between distance and time? How does the variation in time, when isolated and rearranged within the equation, influence the outcome? Border Buda provides both space and time as essential factors for the development of artistic projects in the public sphere, with the distance overcome to reach the Buda area becoming an integral aspect of each project. The artistic processes harness the potential of speed, decelerating the urban rush and stimulating new encounters.

time equals distance over speed

The group exhibition that rounds up the first phase of the three-year project Border Buda consists of temporary and permanent installations by thirteen local and international artistic practices. These artworks have been developed in a site-sensitive manner, informed by and reflecting upon the historical, socio-cultural and ecological characteristics of the area. The seven temporary artworks, inaugurated simultaneously on April 26 but spanning over different temporalities of presence and permanence, were created by Amel Omar, Elias Cafmeyer, Ignace Wouters, Marine Kaiser, Pieter Chanterie, Nel Maertens and Zinaïda Tchelidze. This group of artists was composed through an open call to engage in a durational research residency trajectory, gathering every other week over seven months to explore the area of Buda together and meet with the local experts. The six permanent artworks, created by Evita Vasiļjeva, Haseeb Ahmed, Ilke Gers, Jean Katambayi Mukendi, Katja Mater, and Nico Neefs & Colas Fiszman unfold on different timelines. While the inauguration of Ilke Gers’ Landmarks in October 2023 marked the public launch of the project, the works of Evita Vasiļjeva, Haseeb Ahmed, Katja Mater, Nico Neefs & Colas Fiszman are inaugurated along with their temporary counterparts in April 2024, followed by the commission of Jean Katambayi Mukendi, that will be realised on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Buda Bridge next year.

An important trajectory within Border Buda is focused on looking back in time. Het Be(h)lang van Buda, the socio-cultural heritage section of the project, collects knowledge about the history of the Buda area, working closely with the heritage enthusiasts of the local history circles from Vilvoorde, Machelen, Neder-Over-Heembeek and Haren. Besides functioning as the breeding ground for artistic and curatorial research in the process of creating the exhibition in public space, the stories collected through Het Be(h)lang van Buda will be shared through conversations and guided tours on April 27 and 28.

distance equals speed times time

Border Buda is an initiative that brings together three municipalities – Vilvoorde, Machelen and Brussels – whose borders run across Buda. Moreover, the area is traversed by the administrative and linguistic divide between Flanders and Brussels. Despite being integral to Buda’s identity, the borders that exist on maps dissolve on site, leaving subtle indications that hint at the geographic designation of a particular location, such as the hue of road markings or the visual style of street signs. The periphery, encapsulating numerous complexities in the challenge of living together, living with difference, often seems further and more rigid than it actually is. Border Buda aims to bridge this relative distance, drawing attention to Buda among the neighbouring residents and the broader (inter)national community through a series of artistic initiatives.

The project adopts the notion of change, rather than permanence, as the framework for conceptualising reality, thereby perceiving the area of Buda as continuously subject to transition. Within this motion, we seek to notice the forms of being that emerge as a blueprint for life in urban environments, and as guides towards the future.

Curators Anna Laganovska and Koi Persyn

Koi Persyn (°1996, BE) is a curator and writer based in Brussels. He obtained a master’s degree in Fine Arts (2019), followed by a postgraduate degree in Curatorial Studies (2020), both at KASK in Ghent. During his education, Persyn founded a residency programme at Het Paviljoen in Ghent. He participated in the exchange programme with BIDAI in Kanazawa (JP, 2017) and was selected for the Young Curators Program (2019) as a trainee for the Belgian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Together with Laila Melchior, Persyn won the Lichen Curatorial Prize 2021 and they carried out their exhibition proposal at Jester (formerly CIAP) in Genk (2022). Persyn is co-curator of Publiek Park, a group exhibition, public programme and publication at Citadelpark, Ghent (2021) and Harmoniepark, Albertpark & Provincietuin, Antwerp (2023). Persyn was a curator at Komplot in Brussels, and the project coördinator of Off the Grid, the residency and presentation platform of Cas-co in Leuven (2024). Koi is currently the artistic director of Jester.

Anna Laganovska (°1996, LV) is an independent curator and writer based in Antwerp. She has studied Art History and Theory at the Art Academy of Latvia, Riga and Cultural Studies at KU Leuven. In 2022, she completed the post-graduate programme in Curatorial Studies at KASK in Ghent. Anna Laganovska has worked as a curatorial assistant at Frans Masereel Centrum. Her recent curatorial projects include Flowers at Room Temperature, the central exhibition of Antwerp Art Weekend at De Studio, Antwerp (2023), Bodies of Work at Kunsthal Extra City, Antwerp (2022), as well as Publiek Park at Citadelpark, Ghent (2021) and at Harmoniepark, Albertpark & Provincietuin, Antwerp (2023).