Thieffry Metro Station
And so the blog takes its first steps into the unconventional, though this is nothing compared to what I have planned further down the line.
Most people who are reading this will know that I moved to Brussels two months ago, but I haven’t written much about the city, either on here, or in e-mails to people. There are plenty of gigs to go to and museums for me to visit, so if I actually get off my arse and do some other stuff, this should mark the first of many reviews based around the city.
Thieffry metro station is in the Etterbeek area of Brussels and serves one of the schools that I work in. The Brussels metro system isn’t great, but it sits somewhere between London’s (at the crappy end of the scale) and Paris’s (at the better end) in terms of the effort made in turning the stations into nice places to be. Most London tube stations haven’t seen a lick of paint in years (since privatisation, I suspect) and most of the food outlets are fast-food franchises, whereas in Paris stations are well-kept and up-to-date and most of the cafés are privately owned. But what really sets Parisian metro stations apart from their London counterparts is that some surely slightly quirky Frenchman came up with the idea that they could be used to display art. Somehow the idea caught on, and now there are pieces of art in metro stations throughout Paris. This is something that appeals to my left-wing, liberal sensibilities, and putting art in public for everyone to enjoy rather than in stuffy museums where it’s only seen by a handful of tourists is a great idea.
Brussels’ metro stations share one thing in common with London and two with Paris. They are all in serious need of a lick of paint, and they have privately owned cafés and are used to display art. Thieffry station is no exception, offering one of the most peculiar pieces of public art I’ve seen. As you walk up the stairs from the platform, in the main entrance way, there are large black cables coming out of the floor. The floor is blistered and it seems as though the cables have burst through. The first time I saw it I was a little shocked… This is, after all, an image of Something Gone Wrong, and it’s not really this that commuters want to think about, especially after 7/7. But to be honest, my initial reaction soon wore off and I started to view it as just another piece of public art, walking past it several times per week on my way to work, mostly ignoring it, sometimes admiring it, and always with that initial reaction nagging at the back of my mind.
One day, I wasn’t in my usual hurry, and I stopped at the vending machine to get a drink. As I walked past the broken cables again, taking a swig of my drink, something caught my eye. I’d never looked at the statue closely, but when I approached it I noticed something quite unsettling. Set in the end of each of the broken cables was a part of the human body. As I walked around, I saw hands, feet, an arse, and arms all disembodied and seemingly fossilised. It’s a frightening piece of art and one which seems horribly out of place, which is possibly the reason why it’s my favourite piece of public art in Brussels so far. Art should be a kick in the bollocks, and this certainly managed to lay the boot into me a couple of times.
Most people who are reading this will know that I moved to Brussels two months ago, but I haven’t written much about the city, either on here, or in e-mails to people. There are plenty of gigs to go to and museums for me to visit, so if I actually get off my arse and do some other stuff, this should mark the first of many reviews based around the city.
Thieffry metro station is in the Etterbeek area of Brussels and serves one of the schools that I work in. The Brussels metro system isn’t great, but it sits somewhere between London’s (at the crappy end of the scale) and Paris’s (at the better end) in terms of the effort made in turning the stations into nice places to be. Most London tube stations haven’t seen a lick of paint in years (since privatisation, I suspect) and most of the food outlets are fast-food franchises, whereas in Paris stations are well-kept and up-to-date and most of the cafés are privately owned. But what really sets Parisian metro stations apart from their London counterparts is that some surely slightly quirky Frenchman came up with the idea that they could be used to display art. Somehow the idea caught on, and now there are pieces of art in metro stations throughout Paris. This is something that appeals to my left-wing, liberal sensibilities, and putting art in public for everyone to enjoy rather than in stuffy museums where it’s only seen by a handful of tourists is a great idea.
Brussels’ metro stations share one thing in common with London and two with Paris. They are all in serious need of a lick of paint, and they have privately owned cafés and are used to display art. Thieffry station is no exception, offering one of the most peculiar pieces of public art I’ve seen. As you walk up the stairs from the platform, in the main entrance way, there are large black cables coming out of the floor. The floor is blistered and it seems as though the cables have burst through. The first time I saw it I was a little shocked… This is, after all, an image of Something Gone Wrong, and it’s not really this that commuters want to think about, especially after 7/7. But to be honest, my initial reaction soon wore off and I started to view it as just another piece of public art, walking past it several times per week on my way to work, mostly ignoring it, sometimes admiring it, and always with that initial reaction nagging at the back of my mind.
One day, I wasn’t in my usual hurry, and I stopped at the vending machine to get a drink. As I walked past the broken cables again, taking a swig of my drink, something caught my eye. I’d never looked at the statue closely, but when I approached it I noticed something quite unsettling. Set in the end of each of the broken cables was a part of the human body. As I walked around, I saw hands, feet, an arse, and arms all disembodied and seemingly fossilised. It’s a frightening piece of art and one which seems horribly out of place, which is possibly the reason why it’s my favourite piece of public art in Brussels so far. Art should be a kick in the bollocks, and this certainly managed to lay the boot into me a couple of times.
posted by Ryan Stephens at 12:03 PM
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