A forest in the middle of Mons, made by Arne Quinze, a
Flemish conceptual artist best
known for his unconventional and controversial public art installations with his
trademark sculptures made
out of wooden planks.
Located in Rue de Nimy (between the church of Saint Elisabeth and the Maison Losseau),
this urban installation is 90 m long and 18 m tall, mounted in 20 days around November
2014 and inaugurated on December 6, 2014 with a street party.
Similar works already installed in
Nevada, Brussels and elsewhere in the world. It has to be said that there is
poetry in this neon-painted wooden
structure. Metaphors
for what binds us together, Arne Quinze’s installations are enthralling because
they are like us: fragile and strong, ephemeral and indelible.
Lucky I’ve already seen and took
some photos because in early January the local government decided to remove it.
Said passers-by heard cracking noises and then part of
the structure collapsed. Fortunately nobody was injured. The damage was pretty
limited too.
We didn’t know about it because we
were on Christmas holiday, but when we’re back in early January we had a pretty fierce
wind for days.
Across the globe the artist has
built over thirty installations and this has never happened before.
The work of art is supposed to
stay there for five years, but after about five weeks the largest installation for
Mons 2015 that cost 400,000 EUR has gone. Not even make it to the opening night
of Mons 2015.
BUT.. there’s news update on
February 4, 2015: the Board of Directors of the Foundation Mons
2015 has agreed to build a new "The Passenger" around the same
location. It will be built in June 2015. Additional safety measures will be
taken to monitor the stability of the structure.
Re-construction “The Passenger 2” finally done on October 16, 2015 and hopefully it will stay still until December 19, 2019.
Re-construction “The Passenger 2” finally done on October 16, 2015 and hopefully it will stay still until December 19, 2019.