‘Forms of
Public Privacy'
2019 - 2020
Self-initiated urban research
Photography by: Axel De Marteau
Graphic Design: Kabinet Studio
Supported by: Z33 FORMAT program 2019
As a critique on the current urban trend to overprogram and overdesign Belgium cities, and Western cities in general, research is done into five cases of abandoned and un-programmed spaces of Brussels. Through fieldwork, photography, and form research the question is posed: How are these spaces used and what social-spatial and ecological value do they provide to our cities?
For the FORMAT 2019 exhibition ‘Changing Attitudes’ at Z33 in Hasselt, several 1:1 models are created, illustrating architectural parameters that facilitate a certain ‘public privacy’, used by people in need, desire or despair. A series of photographs by Axel De Marteau capture traces of nature and people appropriating these spaces. Together with an image essay by De Marteau, the research is synthesised in a small publication accompanying the exhibition. This project has been shown in multiple exhibition spaces, including at PILAR and Collectible design fair in Brussels.
