Beaufort 24 Arts Festival presented
The eighth edition of Beaufort builds on the known elements: national and international visual artists who create unique images that are accessible and can be visited 24/7. Eighteen artists present unique works in the nine participating coastal municipalities. Curator Els Wuyts selected the artists, who will show their visual work in often unique places in the coastal municipalities. “It’s actually mainly about the atmosphere of places: What is going on in the coastal community? What has disappeared? What has changed? What can we actually respond to? We have also consciously looked for a match between the artists and the place,” says Wuyts.
More inland
“Beaufort24 moves a little more inland and offers a series of visual proposals along the coastal tram that connects port zones, village centers, markets, dikes, fields and parks in one movement,” Els Wuyts continues. Eight of the artworks presented during Beaufort24 are permanent works. In this way, the Beaufort Sculpture Park will be supplemented with the 42 existing works from previous editions.
Absolute asset
According to Westtoer, art on the coast is an absolute asset. “Art and culture are an important pillar in the strategic policy plan for the Coast, and with Beaufort we want to position the Coast as a cultural tourism destination for a longer period of time,” says Sabien Lahaye-Battheu, chairman of Westtoer and representative for Tourism.
These are the 18 participating artists:
- Filip Vervaet (B) and Maëlle Dufour (B) in De Panne
- Johan Creten (BE/FR) and Jorge Macchi (AR) in Koksijde-Oostduinkerke
- Selva Aparicio (SP) and Alexandra Bircken (DE) in Nieuwpoort
- Lucy + Jorge Orta (UK/AR) and Jef Meyer (B) in Middelkerke – Westende
- Femmy Otten (NL) and Marius Ritiu (RO) in Ostend
- Sara Bjarland (FIN) and Pei-Hsuan Wang (TAI) in De Haan-Wenduine
- Romain Weintzem (FR) and Driton Selmani (KOS) in Blankenberge
- Monika Sosnowska (PO) in Zeebrugge
- Richard Deacon (UK) and Lucie Lanzini (FR) in Knokke-Heist