Vacant City

by Meulder, Bruno De; De Meulder, Bruno; Herck, Karina Van

• ISBN13: 9789056621674
• ISBN10: 905662167X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-05-01
• Publisher: Distributed Art Pub Inc

Summary

The Mont des Arts district in Brussels is the city's museum quarter, home to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, the Center for Fine Arts, the Museum of Cinema and numerous other cultural institutions. Vacant Cityassesses the project to reconfigure this district, which was originally designed to steer the city's development and cultural activity, but which has largely failed to do so. Offering a fascinating insight into the problematic history of the Mont des Arts as an urban site, Vacant Cityalso raises larger questions regarding the role of museums and cultural institutions for and in the cities of the future, as our paradigms of both the modern city and the modern museum begin to alter.

Table of Contents

Introduction	7	(16)
I. FRAGMENTED PANORAMA
The Westbury Tower	16	(2)
Bruno De Meulder
The Telex building	18	(3)
Ronny De Meyer
The Sabena Air Terminus	21	(1)
Maurizio Cohen
The Shell building	22	(3)
Jo Braeken
The Gare Centrale	25	(1)
Eric De Kuyper
The Galerie Ravenstein	26	(3)
Dieter De Clercq
The Palais des Beaux-Arts	29	(1)
Karina Van Herck
The Old England	30	(3)
Virginie Jortay
The Bibliotheque Royale	33	(1)
David Vanderburgh
The Palais de la Dynastie	34	(6)
Koen Van Synghel
II. IN THE SHADOW OF THE PLACE
The metamorphoses of an area between two fires	40	(18)
Bruno De Meulder
Nancy Meijsmans
Karina Van Herck
Ilke Verhoeven
Modernity versus identity: Leopold II and Charles Buls	58	(14)
Karina Van Herck
Bruno De Meulder
A Belgian labyrinth: Victor Horta and the Mont des Arts	72	(12)
Bruno De Meulder
Karina Van Herck
The Carrefour de I'Europe	84	(16)
Bruno De Meulder
The ``invisible'' Museum of Modern Art: the peak of modesty?	100	(7)
Johan Lagae
III. ARCHITECTURAL ARCHIVES DISCLOSED	107	(83)
IV. THE STATE OF THE ARTS
The Mont des Arts as terrain vague?	190	(26)
Dieter De Clercq
Counter-arrangement	216	(12)
Tom Avermaete
City without excitement	228	(6)
Kristiaan Borret
How public are the temples of culture on the Mont des Arts?	234	(12)
Koen Van Synghel
Art and culture on the Mont des Arts: a descent and an ascent	246	(21)
Koen Brams
Dirk Pultau
V. MUSEUM AND CITY: ELEMENTS OF REFLECTION
The Mont des Arts as a ruin in the revanchist city	267	(15)
Erik Swyngedouw
The Mont des Arts: between museum and city	282	(10)
Karina Van Herck
Hilde Heynen
The Mont des Arts, Brussels 2000 and the Fondation Roi Baudouin	292	(6)
Marie-Laure Roggemans
VI. LABORATORY FOR THE CITY OF TOMORROW
The Mont des Arts: one nation under ground	298	(8)
Max. 1 & Crimson
De-masking the Mont des Arts	306	(8)
Design + Urbanism
Sleight of hand, signal or manipulation?	314	(8)
Hilton Judin
Old knowledge, nothing new	322	(6)
Bart Verschaffel
Agent provocateur	328	(8)
Atelier Seraji
Cet obscur object du desir	336	(8)
Joao Luis Carrilho da Graca
A proposal for a significant and dynamic cultural collage	344	(8)
Catherine David
The Mont des Arts as theoretical spectacle	352	(8)
Isabelle Graw
Brussels as it might have been	360	(8)
Riken Yamamoto
Field shop
Food for thought. Ideas for the Mont des Arts	368
Paul Vermeulen