Art to the Rhythm of the City
With PLAKT, artlead, publisher of art editions and objects, invited twelve artists to create images in poster form. These prints emerged to the rhythm of the city: sometimes unnoticed, sometimes unexpectedly, appearing on walls, façades, fences and billboards across several Flemish cities and in Brussels.
As unpredictable as the appearance of these images is the collaboration with the artists. Valérian Goalec’s proposal was not an image, but a carrier: a steel wall sculpture inspired by the advertising frames encountered daily in the Paris metro. The impossibility of distributing these steel structures in public space led to the development of a second chapter of the PLAKT project.
At various cultural institutions located in the geographical periphery, where the posters had not previously appeared in the streetscape, this wall sculpture will function as a support for the prints of the other eleven artists. Here too, an element of unpredictability remains: each institution determines the order and duration of display.
At Abby, PLAKT can be found in the underpass near the museum garden.
The images for PLAKT were created by Céline Mathieu, Michel François, Camille Orso, Peter Downsbrough, Shervin/e Sheikh Rezaei, Aline Bouvy, Geert Goiris, Tine Guns, Mekhitar Garabedian, Gerard Herman, and Katja Mater. The frame is a work by Valérian Goalec.
PLAKT is a project by artlead, in collaboration with IKOB, Eupen; CC Strombeek; De Warande, Turnhout; Kunsthal Mechelen; NW, Aalst; De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam; Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle; Kapel De Rozenkrans, Koksijde; Abby, Kortrijk; and C-mine, Genk.
22.10.2025 to 25.01.2026 – Valérian Goalec with Act 24.3
During the first phase of PLAKT, the empty black metal frame is presented as a wall sculpture. Inspired by the advertising frames encountered daily in the Paris metro, the work functions not only as a physical support for the eleven posters to come, but also as a commentary on how art and advertising share and influence public space.
Born in 1986 in Rennes, Valérian Goalec explores the world through small-scale interventions that question the choices we make to organise and shape our environment. Since 2022, the artist has been developing “scores” or “descriptive instructions” based on spatial and temporal phenomena, exploring subtle relationships between bodies, objects and environments. Through this series of actions, the artist plays with shifts, rhythms and intervals, paying close attention to what disappears, transforms or remains. Rooted in a meticulous attention to detail and use, this approach invites a renewed reading of both the visible and the invisible.