Public Plan Ghent N°1

2022, collective urban planning
Edition of 500 copies of A2 paper size and 1 unique XL city plan

Will you complete this plan from your personal experience of the city? 

Where do you find public water?
Where are you unwanted public?
Which private space should become public (again)?

In early 2022, Elly sent out a question­naire to a group of people who, like herself, had been in­volved in the ‘Stadsatelier’ of Arts Centre VIERNULVIER, which supports artistic work about and in the city. 

With these fellow artists, cultural workers and partici­pants, Van Eeghem looked into the ‘publicness’ of the city’s public places. What are the shared beloved or less beloved places, and why? 

Public Plan Ghent N°1 is a mapping of various meanings of ‘the public’. The plan re­mains unfinished and can be completed by whoever holds it. 

During the city festival Public Works (Openbare Werken) in April 2022, various plans were gathered and assembled into one gigantic cartographic patchwork. It was walked on, sat on, discussed by and lived by the attending public.
Later on, the XL-plan travelled through the city for further conversation on public space with involved city officials.

With contributions by: May Abnet, Peter Aers, Simon Allemeersch, Vincen Beeckman, Dominique Collet, Evelyne Coussens, Katinka De Jonge, Marieke De Munck, Fatih De Vos, Maarten Devrieze and truckers of 22 Herz Hotel, Jorik De Wilde, Ewout D’hoore, Renée Goethijn, Roland Gunst, Paoletta Holst, Naomi Kerkhove, Arnold Reijndorp, Andy Sarfo, Jaco Sette, Michiel Soete, Peter Vanden Abeele, Danielle van Zuijlen, Anyuta Wiazemsky, de Koer, CAMPUS Atelier, Manoeuvre and students of KASK School of Arts.

Concept and graphic design: Elly Van Eeghem

Copy editing: Evelyne Coussens

Proofreading and feedback: Leontien Allemeersch, Marieke De Munck, Evelyne Coussens, Jos Coussens

Translation: Jonathan Beaton

With the support of: Arts Centre VIERNULVIER, KASK School of Arts Ghent, BE PART – Art BEyond PARTicipation -, the Creative Europe programme of the European Union