Laia Estruch and Jordi Bernadó participate in the Kortrijk Triennale

From June 29 to October 6, Kortrijk (Belgium) hosts the third edition of this international contemporary art event, which transforms the city's streets into exhibition spaces. Trena, Laia Estruch's installation, will occupy the central space of the Triennale.

The third edition of the Kortrijk Triennale (Belgium) opens on June 29 with works by twenty-two artists who, until October 6, will be part of the urban landscape of this Flemish city and some of its most emblematic buildings. Kortrijk City Council and the artistic platform Be-part are responsible for this international event which emphasizes the social aspect of contemporary art and its dialogue with the urban fabric.

Laia Estruch will install her work Trena in the Grote Markt (Great Market), located in the most central square of the city. The sound sculpture, produced by the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC), forms a circuit 35 meters long by 6.60 meters wide and 5 meters high and 2 meters in diameter, and creates an experience unique, where the boundaries between the outside and the inside fade away. It starts from the morphology of the so-called plexus (from the Latin 'braid'): the branched network of vessels or nerves within the human body. The structure of the sculpture is also inspired by the study of the architecture of car circuits, athletics circuits and amusement parks, and is also in relation to the routes created in the underground of cities by pipe water or gas. It has a performative nature and premiered in July 2023 in the MNAC's Oval Hall. On this occasion, visitors to Kortrijk are invited to rediscover and renegotiate their relationship with one of the city's most central and vital spaces.

Jordi Bernadó

Jordi Bernadó will exhibit at BK6, an old museum located in the historic center transformed into a creative center for teenagers, photographs from the Last & Lost series, fruit of the research he has carried out in 10 unique ecosystems from around the world that have its continuity threatened. The artist tries to document the memory of these places for future generations. It contemplates the ecological and philosophical challenges of the present, portraying scenes of extinction, but also of hope. Each image shows a reality that struggles to resist, or that affirms its survival. Some speak from denunciation, others from evocation, metaphor or desire for change. His photographs are presented in dialogue with works by the American-Cuban visual artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres (died 1996), the Belgian avant-garde artist and architect René Heyvaert , and the American visual artist and writer Roni Horn .

The curators of this year's edition of the Triennial are Patrick Ronse , director of the contemporary art platform Be-Part, and Hilde Teerlinck , director of the Han Nefkens Foundation. The motto they have chosen is After Paradise (After Paradise) and refers to the contrast between the social harmony and material abundance of a past paradise lost and a present that leads to the scarcity of raw materials, social tensions and a highly polluted environment. However, according to its curators, After Paradise wants to offer a positive story, focused on the responsibility and empowerment of people, with works that encourage dialogue, reflection and action.