Zebrastraat

Aerial view of Zebrastraat with roof sculpture by Nick Ervinck

The Zebrastraat (Dutch for "Zebra Street") is a small street in the Belgian city of Ghent. A historical building named after the street is located on Zebrastraat and was designed in 1906 by the architect Charles van Rysselberghe. It stands as the first public worker housing project in the country. Today, the building remains a private project dedicated to the coexistence of housing, entrepreneurial, and cultural initiatives.

History

Zebrastraat is situated on land formerly occupied by the Ghent Zoo which opened in 1851. After the zoo closed in 1905, the land was purchased by the city of Ghent which used the land to create a new neighbourhood.[1] In recognition of the previous use of the land, several streets in the area were named for animals that were once housed at the zoo, including Elephant Street (Olifantstraat), Tiger Street (Tijgerstraat), Lion Street (Leeuwstraat) and Zebra Street (Zebrastraat).

At the beginning of the 20th century, the textile industry was a booming business. Nonetheless, many workers suffered from poor housing conditions. Consequently, the city council, along with some notable charity organisations, established The Ghent Workers Housing Company (Gentsche Maatschappij Der Werkerswoningen) which built and later rented better houses for the working class. Their housing project to refurbish Zebrastraat was designed and supervised by Charles Van Rysselberghe, the officially appointed "City Architect" of Ghent. Since the city accommodation was very expensive, Van Rysselberghe decided to construct an apartment styled building with three units on top of each other. This housing project is widely known as the first social housing apartment building in Belgium.

The building never had an official name but it was popularly called "The Cirq (De Cirk)" because of its circular central square. A 4th story was added in the 1930s. By the 1990s, the Ghent Workers Housing Company had evolved into the Ghent Housing Association (Gentse Huisvestingsmaatschappij), however they had trouble maintaining the decaying building. In 2001, the barely inhabited ruins were put up for sale and sold to the Liedts-Meesen foundation. Between 2002 and 2005, this new owner reconstructed the exterior of the buildings into its original state and design, while profoundly reshaping the interior. It was the beginning of "The Zebrastraat project".[2]

The goal of Zebrastraat is to create an urban climate by combining and mixing art, business and housing. People can rent short or long term apartments, companies can book meetings or events and artists can display their work.

In 2005, Zebrastraat housed its first major art exhibition Stippels En Pixels, linking new digital art forms with the pointillism of Theo Van Rysselberghe, brother of the original Zebrastraat architect. This exhibition was in fact the start of the biennial exhibition Update and the NTAA[3] (New Technological Art Award).

In 2012, the Zebrastraat project expanded with the building of "New Zebra", a brand new extension to the original building, housing several life size public artworks of artists such as Ned Kahn and Nick Ervinck.

Initiatives

The projects of Zebrastraat concentrate on interactive and experimental digital art. The foundation has chosen for less well-known forms of artistic expression, reflecting technological evolutions. A first initiative was the exhibition Stippels en Pixels in early 2005. While, 2006 saw a follow-up with Update, a bi-annual manifestation for interactive and digital art.

In 2010, a second Update manifestation was organized, in the form of the exhibition Body Sound, in cooperation with the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. The Update events always come to an end with an exhibition by an established provincial artist.

Parallel to these bi-annual manifestations, the foundation has been handing out the New Technological Art Award since 2008. The award is presented to the individual who displays Outstanding Work in the World of Digital Art, after an evaluation by an international jury. The 2016 jury has been announced:

Head of the jury Martin Honzik (Head of Department Prix/Festival Ars Electronica) together with Peter Weibel (Director, ZKM Karlsruhe), Jean-Marie Dallet (artist, research professor at the Université Paris 8), Liedts-Meesen Foundation, Stef Van Bellingen (Consultant for Zebrastraat – Artistic leader VZW Warp), Paul Dujardin (Artistic Director, Bozar), Nick Ervinck (Artist, winner of the Update II public award), Julien Maire (Artist, winner of the Update II jury award), Alain Thibault (Artistic Director of Elektra), Edwin Carels (Curator New Media exhibitions), Karen Helmerson (Program Director for Electronic Media, Film & Visual Art at the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA)) and Ralph Dum (scientific officer and senior expert of the European Commission).[4]

"The Artist of the Month" is another remarkable initiative, with a young promising artist presenting a selection of his work to a broad and diverse public in a non-commercial context.

The foundation is also engaged in projects promoting diversity and opposing fragmentation between people, e.g. Habbekrats, a service for disadvantaged young people and for transgressing initiatives.

Zebrastraat possesses its own art collection, with works by Nick Ervinck, Panamarenko, Thomas Huyghe and Honoré d’O, among others.

Exhibitions

References

  1. ↑ Lambrechts, Toon (January 31, 2014). ""Back When Ghent Had A Zoo"". Flanders Today. Mediahuis NV and the Flemish Authorities. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Zebrastraat / New Zebra Gent - Cultuur, Wonen en Events". zebrastraat.be.
  3. ↑ NV, Zebrastraat. "NTAA - New Technological Art Award 2016 - Home".
  4. ↑ NV, Zebrastraat. "NTAA - New Technological Art Award 2016 - Home".

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zebrastraat (Gent).

Coordinates: 51°02′24″N 3°44′01″E / 51.04°N 3.7337°E / 51.04; 3.7337

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