Gijs Van Vaerenbergh, an artistic collaboration between architects Pieterjan Gijs and Arnout Van Vaerenbergh, have created a labyrinthine intervention at the heart of the C-mine Arts Centre in Genk, Belgium.
The development of this sculptural-spatial intervention has its foundations in the artists' interest in fundamental architectural typologies; earlier installations of theirs have been based on structures like the city gate, the bridge, the wall, and the dome. Here, the "age-old" form of the labyrinth" is explored as a spatial experience in a unique composition of wall and void.
The installation measures 37.5 by 37.5 metres and consists of 1 kilometre of walls (186 ton), made out of steel plates that are 5 mm thick and 5 m high. Out of this structure, large elementary shapes – sphere, cylinder, cone – are cut to break down the logic of the labyrinth and create new spaces and unexpected perspectives. These Boolean transformations convert the walk through the labyrinth into a sequence of spatial and sculptural experiences.
