Since 2003, Beaufort has transformed the Belgian coastline every three years into a living canvas, blending contemporary art with nature’s ever-changing landscape. If you haven’t yet explored Beaufort24, now is the perfect time to discover the Belgian coast, where 18 striking artworks stretch from De Panne to Knokke-Heist. Curated by Els Wuyts, the theme Fabrics of Life weaves sustainability, memory, and human connection into the landscape.
While it’s possible to see all the works in one day, it’s not recommended. Instead, consider exploring by theme or area. The 67-kilometre coastline is connected by a historic digue, built in 1405, that stretches beyond Belgium’s borders. The coastal tram takes about two and a half hours from end to end, and a day ticket allows you to hop on and off at 16 stops closest to the artworks. Plan ahead, as some pieces are hidden, and signage is minimal.
1. Environment and nature
My journey began in De Panne, where Maëlle Dufour’s Capsule sits quietly near a gas station, bordering France, constantly bustling with people buying cheaper fuel and tobacco. I was struck by the spectacle of people rushing to buy products tied to environmental harm completely unaware of the artwork, which through a clever use of mirrors on its surfaces, distorts the surrounding landscape, reflects on humanity’s desire to control nature and serves as a critique of the environmental impact of biotechnology and farming.
2. The Sea, presence and absence
The sea is a key theme, opening and closing the exhibition with works like Filip Vervaet’s Staging Sea in De Panne, and Lucie Lanzini’s Trouble Sea, located in Knokke-Heist. These glass structures reflect the sea from a distance, exploring presence and absence. Both pieces play with the concept of viewing the sea from afar, much like coastal architecture, where glass balconies echo the ocean even when it’s out of sight.
3. Women, fertility and strength
The sea, la mer in French, an homonym of la mère (mother), inspiring the theme of women, fertility, and strength. Johan Creten’s The Herring connects nature and fertility, with a 5 m high statue of a woman holding a herring, which some view as phallic, while Femmy Otten’s Moeder celebrates the cycle of birth and life, with his pregnant marble lady. Alexandra Bricken’s Top Down/Bottom Up critiques the commercialisation of female beauty, using a handstand figure, standing both on her hands or upside down, to symbolise resilience. The piece challenges viewers: is the girl standing on her head, or is the world upside down? It is all a matter of perspective.
As I approached The Herring in Koksijde, I overheard a couple inspecting it. The husband muttered, “She’s ugly”, while a woman passing by called her a “virago”, emphasising the powerful, almost intimidating nature of the figure. However, Creten’s work is known to go well beyond the surface and is all about hidden symbolism. In many cultures, herring represents fertility and abundance. In 1942, a miraculous herring catch sustained Belgium’s west coast. Creten’s work, balancing beauty and grotesque, captures life’s fragility and strength.
4. Communication and disconnection
Further along, All the Words in the World by Jorge Macchi features a concrete keyboard without keys, symbolising the breakdown of communication across generations, cultures, and technology. A father told me that despite passing by the sculpture daily, he hadn’t realised what it was until his son pointed it out, another reflection of the generational divide amplified by technology’s complexity. Nearby, a couple with a Golden Retriever admired the sunset through the sculpture, commenting on how beautifully the light filtered through it.
Other works like Lost for Words and Attentifs Ensemble also explore themes of disconnection. The latter, a series of chairs, forming a circle bound by their backs and separated by steel partitions, allows users to observe the surroundings, bound together but facing different directions – a critique of our surveillance society and lack of communication.
5. Death, time and memory
Selva Aparicio’s At Rest is a living memorial, etched with the handprints of Nieuwpoort’s residents. Set on a former World War I battleground, it honours present and past generations. During my visit, two elderly women with matching white hair and white duffle jackets sat by the piece enjoying a late afternoon aperitif, marvelling at the beauty of the piece, “scary but nice”, an echo to the work’s theme of memory and mortality.
Similarly, Al Met der Tyd and Façade reflect on time’s passage and the traces left behind, whether through memory, architecture, or nature’s decay.
6. War, memory and time
Another theme is World War II. The road between At Rest and Untitled is bordered by a stretch of dunes and old WWII bunkers, relics of the Atlantic Wall. Elements of this military history appear in artworks like Jef Meyer’s Untitled and Ivan Morison’s Star of the Sea. Both draw on ‘bunker aesthetics’. Untitled mirrors the brutalist qualities of these fortifications.
Set between the windsurfer’s beach and the industrial port of Zeebrugge, Star of the Sea’s cylindrical structures evoke the sense of connection amidst changing times, or pipes that are reminiscent of tunnels and hiding places, constantly changing as the light and tide shift throughout the day.
7. The disposable and the discarded
Some works blend so naturally into their surroundings that they nearly vanish. Sara Bjarland’s Monobloc Moments is one such piece, located on a roundabout. From one angle, the stack of plastic chairs disappears into the trees; from another, it merges with nearby buildings. By casting the chairs in bronze, Bjarland elevates a symbol of disposable culture, asking us to reconsider our relationship with waste.
Beaufort 24 runs until 3 November, 2024, make sure you do not miss it.
