New sculptures on campus

Starting July 2, 2021, ten new outdoor sculptures, created by a younger generation of contemporary artists, will be added to the permanent sculpture collection of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. They will be displayed in four clusters of two or three sculptures each, arranged in close proximity to one another in the green, open spaces of the Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus. The artworks will remain there for two years and will then make way for a new batch of temporary sculptures. This project is an initiative of Pilar and forms a dynamic component of the permanent Humanities Sculpture Park.

As a “House for Art and Science,” Pilar not only organizes concerts, theater performances, debates, and art exhibitions, but also actively supports cultural entrepreneurship among young people and provides creative space for emerging artists. The first cluster of the temporary sculpture project is therefore filled by the residents of Barak Lili M, Pilar’s artist studios located on the See U site. Their participation in the temporary sculpture project is one of the opportunities to showcase their work that was offered to them as part of the artist residency. To fill the remaining clusters, Pilar partially delegated the curatorship of the project by appointing several artists, each of whom was given free rein to curate one cluster. This role fell to Leyla Aydoslu, Elise Eeraerts, and Kasper Devos. They invited fellow artists to create a work for the campus and chose whether or not to supplement their cluster with a sculpture of their own. This led to a diverse collaboration involving both Belgian and international artists.

The artistic assignment for the participating artists was to create an in situ sculpture inspired by the context of the university campus and the liberal-humanist character of the VUB. However, the artists were given free rein regarding the creation and placement of their works within the environment. This resulted in a series of artworks that, both visually and thematically, serve as a thought-provoking addition to the permanent collection of the Humanist Sculpture Park. Several of the recent artworks tie in with the theme of activism, which the university promotes in its recent campaign “The World Needs You.” Other sculptures, in turn, serve as a visual response to the social and architectural context of the campus.

Find all the sculptures on the interactive map

Plan your visit

The Humanist Sculpture Park is open 24/7 and free to visit.
The park is located on the Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Ixelles). Parking is available, and the grounds are wheelchair accessible.
Next to each sculpture, you’ll find a QR code that provides access to background information about the outdoor sculptures and their creators. Scan the codes with your smartphone and discover all the stories.

Interested in a personalized tour? bjorne.baeten@vub.be

Written by Bjorne Baeten

Cultural agoge and art historian - works for Pilar