Place

In 2020, the former front region of the First World War focuses on post-war reconstruction. It is now almost a hundred years old. One of the leading architects of this reconstruction was Jos Viérin. His great-grandson, Philippe Viérin, is still an architect, like his father and grandfather before him. Philippe is a contemporary architect, he creates new buildings but also reinterprets old ones. He continues to build. He did the same with his office noAarchitecten in 2010 for the extension of the In Flanders Fields Museum.

For twenty years now the IFFM has invited a contemporary artist every year for a personal reflection on war and peace. In this Fenix year this should ideally be an architect. So the museum invited Philippe Viérin to answer a question of a century: has the reconstruction that typifies the Westhoek today succeeded?

For an entire winter and spring, Philippe reflected on that question in short texts and examples from his own practice and life. The figure of the great-grandfather became more important than he had initially suspected. In the installation

PLACE

Philippe Viérin takes us on a layered quest for a personal appreciation of a history, of the needs of people, of a region and of an ancestor. The search forced him to clarify his own vision of architecture.

PLACE by Philippe Viérin is an installation with multimedia projection in which the reflection of Philippe Viérin is richly illustrated and made accessible. Commentary voice in Dutch, with translation in English.

PLACE is also a book. In addition to Philippe Viérin's texts, it contains historical photographs and a new photo reportage by Stijn Bollaert.