Fire

Beneath a cloud of gathering smoke, the thermostat lies. A fire is burning. Another dies out. Conduction, convection. Bodies gather. On the waterfront, a pile of ashes. Part of the Group Exhibition “Radiator” at 019 in Gent, Belgium.

019 no longer finds itself at the edge of town: residential towers, supermarkets, banks, gas stations, playgrounds and parking lots envelop the building. At the same time, 019’s program is moving into public space more and more. It begs the question what this building is, what its function might be in a landscape that is no longer post–industrial but gentrified. The former welding factory is integrated in the zoning plan for the Oude Dokken as a building with a public function that both supports and complements the new (residential) developments. These are attempts at finding out what this public function could be: a series of exhibitions and interventions that delve into the potential of a perforated building.