Route N16 - Public Places for Private Experience, Puurs, Belgium

‘Route N16 – Public Places for Private Experience’ is an exhibition and a pragmatic study that explores the limits and potentialities of public space along the N16. The regional N16 road crosses what we can safely call the heart of the Flemish urban sprawl. Four communes, Bornem, Puurs, Willebroek and Mechelen, all located in the province of Antwerp, are connected by the N16. This road winds through an area that is almost exemplary for large tracts of Flanders: rural areas, a picturesque residential nucleus thoughtlessly flanked by blatant road infrastructure, industrial area, an impoverished residential neighbourhood. In this exhibition context contemporary architecture and art have been assigned to each other. Six teams were asked to create a work for a specific spot along the route - among them was the collaboration between Robbrecht en Daem and Valérie Mannaerts.