Trip Moments Recommendations
Middelheimmuseum
This is a detail from Congoville, a free temporary exhibition at the open air museum Middelheimpark. Scroll to see further details.
In the exhibition,15 artists who were selected by the Belgian-Congolese art historian Sandrine Colard, show their vision on Congoville and the colonial traces in our society.
Special focus lies on the former Colonial College of Belgium whose building next to the Middelheimpark is now owned by University Antwerp. Foundet in 1920 and closed in 1962, it trained top civil servants to run the Belgian colonies. The garden also contains the director's villa in colonial style.
This photo shows the work of artist Maurice Mbikayi and is called ‘The Aesthetic Observer (2021) ‘.
Maurice Mbikayic, born in 1974 in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo), lives and works in Cape Town (South Africa).
In the clothing of this figure we see keys from old computer keyboards. It refers to the raw materials needed in today's technology. The workers who extract the ores from the ground in Congo are still exploited thus enabling the Western way of life. Afterwards, the West often dumps the materials back in Africa as toxic waste.
By using this dumped materials in his art, Mbikayi denounces this reprehensible situation. At the same time it honorees the resilience of the African people, who have found endless ways to make the most of limited resources.
The dandy-like character of the figure refers to the Sapeurs from Brazzaville-Congo who are members of ‘La Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes’ which means that they belong to ‘the elite of élégance’.
They parade across the street like peacocks in striking clothing and create flamboyant identities for themselves showing they haven’t lost their free spirit and self respect.
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#themepark#zoo#nationalpark#lakes
Sint, Jansplein
In Antwerp you will find many references to the artist Panamarenko, a pseudonym for Henri Van Herwegen (1940-2019). He lived and worked most of his life in Antwerp, where he also completed his education at the Antwerp Academy. He is considered one of the most important Belgian sculptors of the second half of the 20th century, who even held exhibitions in London, Basel and New York.
Influenced by his grandfather an architect and his father an electrical engineer, he developed a fascination for technology and spatial constructions. Especially flying in the broadest sense of the word intrigued him.
He designed scale models of numerous imaginary vehicles, airplanes, balloons or helicopters in all possible original and surprising shapes. They are all variations on the dream of flying as in the myth of Icarus. Whether these craft can actually fly is part of the mystery and appeal.
His pseudonym Panamarenko is also the contraction of "Pan American Airlines and Company".
In a new district of Antwerp on the south which is still in full development, they named a square after him as a tribute.
On that square is one of his art works, the Bing II ; a bronze flying saucer with a diameter of 3.5 m.
On St. Jansplein you’ll find the artwork, Pepto Bismo, a bronze statue of a man with propellers on his back.
At the same Sint Jansplein the artist Werner Mannaers covered an entire pavilion with mosaic as a tribute to Panamarenko.
The former home and workshop of Panamarenko in Biekorfstraat with completely intact furniture was sold to the museum Muhka and can be visited.
It is a remarkable building with a helicopter platform on top of the roof. In the opposite of it on the facade of a newspaper vendor you find a huge mural by graffiti artist Yvon Tordoir (Aerosol Kings), who was inspired by Panamarenko's futuristic spacecraft.
#anvers #stadantwerpen #vierkantwerpen #peptobismo #instantwerpen #pilot #ig #antwerpphoto #contemporaryart #visitantwerp #flying #thisisantwerp #antwerpen
#themepark#zoo#nationalpark#lakes
Saint Paul's Church
Saint Paul's Church is a beacon in the old skippers quarter of Antwerp. A big surprise awaits you.
The church was part of a grand monastery complex of the Dominicans. They settled in Antwerp as early as the 1240s to proclaim the ‘true faith’. The church itself dates from 1571 and has been through a lot since then. In 1796 the French occupier closed the monastery and classified the church as a parish church. Fortunately, her belongings were spared. In 1968 she fell prey to a large fire from which she is fully recovered in the meanwhile.
The church is a feast for the eyes with the beautiful baroque altars, the sublime furniture, the important organ, the more than 200 statues and 50 paintings, among which works by Jordaens, Rubens, Teniers, Van Balen, Van Dyck…
The calvary garden, which you only get to see after you have passed the porch of the church, looks like a fragment from an epic film about Christ's suffering and resurrection.
St. Paul's Church is a Gothic building (late Middle Ages), but its furniture and works of art date mainly from the Baroque 17th century, as does the remarkable crowning of the 'lantern tower'. The portal also breathes Baroque. The depth effect in the church is remarkable, partly because of the very long choir. Light and space play their virtuoso game here, in a wonderful harmony of strict Gothic and dynamic Baroque.
An additional surprise is the treasury chamber with art pieces from 8 centuries!
If you enter the backyard of the church via St. Paulusstraat, you can relax between the greenery at a beautiful contemplative Maria cave.
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#kerkinterieur #calvarieberg #calvary #houtsnijwerk #visitflanders #wonderfulplace #antwerpen #sintpauluskerkantwerp #visitantwerp #visitantwerpen #travelblogger #sintpauluskerk #belgium #impressionsofantwerp #travellover #antwerpencity #kruis #beautiful #traveltheworld #visitbelgium #church #thisisantwerp #anvers #antwerp #antwerpcity #stadantwerpen
#themepark#zoo#nationalpark#lakes
kerkinterieur
calvarieberg