09/05 – 18/05/2025
Once, the bread oven was the beginning of a cooperative of workers in Ghent, the origin of the Vooruit and its associated social movement. Today, this heating infrastructure is tucked away as much as possible to the backroom or relegated to the periphery.
For the occasion of the festival “Openbare Werken”, Ciel Grommen, Maximiliaan Royakkers and Clémentine Vaultier dive into contemporary bread ovens, teaming up with a handful of active bakers in Ghent to reconnect with the stories, rituals and relationships of these containers of heat.
Through three different gestures, the audience of the festival is invited to gather around an oven and have a taste of the rich and multicultural traditions that exist around baking. These encounters activate the Atlas of Ovens through archival images, a diverse array of objects, and a surprising conversation with passionate craftsmen.
After all, we are daily companions: A bread ovens libretto
Artistic installation in situ
Location: Smorbrod, Guldenspoorstraat 29, Gent
Time: continuous: 13/05 – 18/05/2025, 8:30-17:30h (regular opening hours)
In SMØRBRØD bakery, customers are welcomed by two enormous bread ovens: an electric steam oven and a stone wood oven stare ahead, one still operative, the other a reminder of a previous venture. Through a projection, these silent infrastructures come to life and interact with each other. They reflect on the art of baking past and present, on technology and craft, convenience and romance. In short, small infrastructural stories hidden in this bakery.
Atlas of Ovens x Mahmut from Wetterse Bakkerij Gent
Location: Wetterse bakkerij Gent, Sint-Salvatorstraat 63, Gent
Mahmut from Wetterse baker is a dedicated craftsman who takes the art of baking very seriously. One of his specialties is the surprise breads. Thanks to an exchange about bread rituals with the team of Atlas of Ovens, he is reworking his models for this city festival into super deluxe and extra-large editions. Crocodile and crab breads will spread throughout the events and brighten up communal picnic moments, while a chapter of the Atlas of Ovens will be on display in his bakery on Sint-Salvatorstraat.
Clementine Vaultier, Ciel Grommen, and Maximiliaan Royakkers investigate ovens as sources of stories and connection. They explore various ovens, from brick to ceramic ovens. During the festival, they work with bakers from Ghent to share and celebrate baking practices with archival images, bread tokens, and crocodile bread.
Openbare Werken
The art festival Openbare Werken invites you to (re)discover the city. Art practices emerge in places where you don’t always expect them. Artists embrace the margins, connect with what already exists, and challenge the dominant currents of the city. The festival highlights these quirky creators. They engage with public space, explore relationships, and take root in squares – with the swamp as an undercurrent and nourishment and kinship as a common thread.
Openbare Werken is organized by Tot in de Stad!, a collaboration between VIERNULVIER, de Koer, Kunsthal Gent, Manoeuvre, CAMPUSatelier, Jong Gewei, KASK & Conservatorium School of Arts, and LUCA School of Arts. Together, they support artistic practices that engage in dialogue with residents and the environment, working bottom-up from what already exists and questioning the city in all its complexity.