Every three years the Triennial Bruges brings contemporary art and architecture to the historic city centre of Bruges: a unique setting and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since 2015 it has built further on the series of triennials that were put together in 1968, 1971, and 1974 and brought visual arts into the public domain. In each edition, the artistic team invites national and international artists and architects to submit new temporary installations. Some dozen of these works of art and meeting places engage in an active dialogue with their surroundings: alongside waterways, in cobbled streets, in peaceful places of worship, or on vacant lots. For visitors, it will be a summer-long exploration, following a unique and inviting trail with a social aspect.

The Triennial Bruges 2021: TraumA presents a multi-voiced discourse in which ambiguity, the imagination and the senses are stimulated, and the demarcation between public and private space is renegotiated. The route traces a course where Bruges in all its facets is discussed and there is room for experiment and discourse in a journey behind the scenes of the urban imagination. The starting point will once again be the Poortersloge (Burghers’ Lodge), where an exhibition will also encourage reflection and imaginative responses on the theme.

Although Bruges may seem to be a dream destination, poverty, loneliness, pollution, and anxiety are constantly lurking in this seemingly picture-perfect world. Via artistic and architectural spatial interventions, the Triennial Bruges 2021: TraumA also brings out the less attractive aspects of our heritage city and makes them part of the cityscape. The Triennial Bruges 2021 goes beyond the visible and offers a glimpse beneath the bark of the fragile city.

From 08/05/2021 to 24/10/2021.

More info on https://www.visitbruges.be/en/bruges-triennial-2021