Concrete Evidence: 1m
1 meter highway according to Belgium standard, 2012
Collection Verbeke Foundation
Heylen is fascinated by the effects and impact of large scale building projects in our post industrial environment and the process of regulation, standardisation and normalisation associated with it. In his conceptual work, the transcendence of humanity through the means of machines and the temporal and spacial scale of change, caused by technological en intellectual development, takes a central place. Which consequences do these transformations of the urban landscape have on our current and future society?
Concrete Evidence: 1m consists of a series of nationally standardised highways that are part of a trans-European network.
In 2012, Concrete Evidence: 1m was constructed at the Verbeke Foundation in Kemzeke (Belgium) according to Belgian standards.
Heylen is working since 2013 on the implementation of Concrete Evidence: 1m in Berlin. After two years of preparation, Heylen has finally expanded Concrete Evidence: 1m into an international project in May 2015. The research towards the development of urban infrastructure and the connection between industrial normalisation and socio-historically formed values is hereby continued. This last Concrete Evidence: 1m is presented to the public at the Hans-Baluschek-Park.
Signing & Marking: Tourism is a collection of the former road signs that indicated the various Flemish tourist regions along our highways. The gigantic signs were filed in alphabetical order on the Verbeke Foundation in Kemzeke, so they easily can be consulted by visitors. The life-size filing cabinet allows in confrontation with the well-known highway signs over the past 30 years to the current streets belonged.
The plates, with a size of 2 m high and 3,6 m long, are designed to get a message to drivers crossing by at high speed. At a glance they give a transition to a new area. By placing them in a relaxed and natural environment, they lose their context. The graphically abstract views of different cities and regions turn into areas of white on Brown, with characters used by their exaggerated size be unreadable. The typology remains rcognizable, the meaning and relevance fades.
(Metal construction, 28 highway-signs, containers (7m x 4m x 2m))
- Website: Lodewijk Heylen