Belgium 2018

Title: “Eurotopie”
Curators: Traumnovelle & Roxane Le Grelle with Bruce Bégout, Philippe Braquenier, Sébastien Lacomblez, Dennis Pohl, Claire Trotignon  and 6’56’’ (Jurgen Maelfeyt)
Commissionner: Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (initiative de la Cellule architecture), en collaboration avec Wallonie-Bruxelles International

“Eurotopie”, the selected project for the Belgian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale of 2018, will address the issues and challenges tackled by the European Union. Despite being the E.U’s principal territorial, physical and symbolic anchorage, the European Quarter in Brussels seems in no way to contribute to a collective European identity. The relationship of the European Quarter with its host city, however, is ambiguous.
According to the curators Traumnovelle and Roxane Le Grelle, Europe is the only great narrative which can effectively counter nationalism and extremism. With Eurotopie, they hope to arouse political commitment in European citizens and extend an invitation to pursue the construction of Europe as a political ideal as well as its anchorage in Brussels. They also address architects and space-makers in considering how the European democratic space can be constructed, and how it can cohabit with Brussels.