Luc Deleu - Antwerp and world

To the controversial architect and urbanist Luc Deleu (º1944, Duffel), from the end of the sixties onwards, the domain of visual art has become the launching platform to enounce his critical sociological and ecological ideas. The scale-model ‘Vipcity’ which will be shown for the first time is a constituent part of ‘The Maladjusted City’, an urbanist design study at which Luc Deleu has been at work in collaboration with his bureau T.O.P. Office (Turn On Planning) in Antwerp from 1995 onwards. Since living on the planet earth has become quite problematic due to a lack of space, urban spaces ought to be used in a more polyvalent manner, according to Deleu. ‘Maladjustment’ is one of the fundamental characteristics of the city and by means of this complex project, based on a calculation of the necessary infrastructure, comfort facilities and living space, Deleu proposes an ideal spatial organisation in which he organises the interconnected building activity in such manner that everybody feels comfortable with it for generations. According to him, a city can be beautiful instead of chaotic and, as opposed to other architects who are solely preoccupied with living, Luc Deleu attempts to organise the entire city. ‘The Maladjusted City’ was realised in successive phases, and, in succession to the previously designed quarters ‘Brikabrak’ (1998), ‘Dinkytown’ (1998-99) and ‘Octopus’ (1999), ‘Vipcity’ constitutes a fourth stage: a large-scale allotment for 38.000 inhabitants in free-standing dwellings alongside an urban axis of 7,5 km long. Incidentally, the length of ‘Vipcity’ equals one sea mile: 1851 m. Consequently, the scale model on a scale of 1/100 is 18,51 m. In addition to six office buildings, ‘Vipcity’ contains all manner of comfort facilities such as hotel and catering industry, sport and entertainment, social facilities and different transport circuits. For instance, the quarter is equipped with a convenient cycling circuit and a sky tram. Deleu intends to demonstrate that some people still do have a grip on the world and that a gigantic concept such as the ‘Maladjusted City’ could also be perfectly realised by a small-scale office such as T.O.P. office which only employs six assistants. The exhibition ‘Luc Deleu – Antwerp and the world’ consists of two parts: the absolute eye-catcher is the new 18,5 m long scale model ‘Vipcity’. It is explained in greater detail by means of maps which show the entire project, constantly evolving design drawings “vipcity under construction’, spreadsheets with statistic calculations and scores such as ‘exploded view’ on which all transport circulations are reproduced. The second part of the exhibition is applied to the city of Antwerp. The spectator gets an overview of Deleu’s proposals which do not only tell something about the city, but at the same time propose solutions for acute actual problems. Subjects like ‘preventive construction’ and ‘overcapacity’, but also the port and transport over land and by sea are being addressed. Additionally, the public can also watch ‘Luc Deleu Close Up’, a film realised by Hans Theys who has been following the activities of the artist-architect for years. The film, which was commenced by Theys in 1999 is a series consisting of 12 parts and will be shown in its entirety at the MuHKA for the first time . Parallel to this, (existing) works by Deleu will be shown at the Central Station, the National Museum of Navigation and the Library of the University of Antwerp. In collaboration with the Institut Supérieur d’Architecture/La Cambre (ISACF) Pressetext

Luc Deleu - Antwerp and world