Jan Vercruysse
in Project Palace: a centenary
1 April—21 July 2022
Group exhibition at Bozar, Brussels, Belgium
2022 is the time to celebrate for Bozar. 4 April 1922, Brussels Town Hall: The date when the Centre for Fine Arts (‘Palais des Beaux-Arts’) was officially launched. The judicial basis for the construction and the associated ambition of creating an arts centre had become a reality. The statutes that establish this historic moment are the starting point for centenary celebrations that begin with the Project Palace exhibition and a celebratory programme in April 2022.
Bozar, together with curator Wouter Davidts, has invited 10 artists to participate in the celebrations by producing new work that reflects on what an arts centre such as Bozar can and should be now and into the future. They put the spotlight on the arts centre today, yet viewed through the filter of the past. We invite you to do the same. Share their journey through glimpses of the long history of the Centre for Fine Arts - including the chance to view a number of works exhibited in the past, and selected by our artists, that are now returning to Bozar. But do not expect a history of the ‘Palace’ but rather an artistic retelling and a look to the future.
Project Palace is just the beginning of a whole series of celebratory events. On 4 May 1928 the exhibition rooms at the Centre for Fine Arts finally opened their doors to the public. A year later the public attended the first concert in the magnificent Henry Le Boeuf Hall.