Planned for Demolition
A moment in the cycle of destruction and creation

“In a former supermarket in Ghent, a temporary exhibition takes shape just before the building disappears. Artists fill the empty walls and open spaces with work created specifically for this brief moment—fully aware of its impermanence. The structure, the abandoned materials, and the raw atmosphere of the building become part of the setting and the source of inspiration.
Planned for Demolition brings a final burst of life to a place that would otherwise vanish unnoticed: a quiet ode to creativity, transience, and the ability to find beauty in things that are disappearing.”

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Too late? Or just in time?

At the end of October, the former Cemsu Supermarket on Tolhuislaan in Ghent unexpectedly received one last short artistic life. When the store closed to make way for new student housing, its dusty windows caught our attention. The building was ready for demolition, but with the approval of developer ION we were allowed to give it one final intervention.

That permission came late—or just in time—because the arrival of the bulldozers was already scheduled. We had less than a month left to make the building accessible, safe, and presentable. And this in a structure that was in a rough state: rooms full of abandoned waste and disconnected utilities—it was going to be a sweaty job.

Three days of cleaning followed, during which all kinds of usable materials were salvaged: wooden panels, roller blinds, chains, glass. Finds that would later reappear in various works. Wintertime brought early darkness, so our only source of light came from an initial set of construction spotlights and a rented generator. The neighbors undoubtedly heard that something was coming.

Artists

The line-up consisted of a mix of local artists and several guests from abroad. Some we had worked with before; with others we saw an opportunity for a first-time collaboration.

EYES_B (Brussels, BE), REINIER LANDWHER (Rotterdam, NL), BEN HENDLISZ (Brussels, BE), YVES GALLARD (Brussels, BE), LEGRAND (Ghent, BE), FOREAL (somewhere in NL), ASE TORRALBA (Madrid, ESP), PALO (Madrid, ESP), KYMO ONE (Zottegem, BE), MAGNUS MORI (Ghent, BE), SAM SCARPULLA (Ghent, BE)

We sought contrast in style, content, and methodology—a spectrum that begins as readable and figurative and gradually slides into the abstract-organic.

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The Expo

Visitors could wander through the main hall and side rooms, discover installations, and view works created specifically for this location. The past of the space as a supermarket, and its future as a construction site, shaped the design of the event. All works were lit with construction spotlights, whose warm light created a pleasant contrast with the coolness of the open space and concrete. Thought was given to breaking the openness of the hall without destroying it. Some artists worked with salvaged materials, others with paintings, and some in hybrid forms.

As dictated by exhibition etiquette, visitors ended their route in the shop—a corner where artists displayed various prints and works. The doors of the adjoining townhouse were salvaged and hung on the wall with chains at a slight angle, much like grocers displaying their goods outside.

At the center stood a “self-print station,” where small cards could be decorated using wooden blocks as a keepsake from the event. A voluntary contribution was welcome to help support the project, but this rarely happened. “You want me to print my own work and then still pay?”—a line of reasoning that felt like karma for all the times a paint roller slipped into my bag unscanned during a self-checkout visit to Action.

‘Planned for Demolition’ was not intended as a traditional exhibition, but as a fusion with the closed nature of painting beyond public reach. The contemporary abstract artist often already feels more at home in vacant or abandoned infrastructure, where they are free to experiment without the promise of compromise. The public artist often carries this burden around their neck—something this project aimed to spare all participating artists from.

In this way, the viewer gains access to work that the public space itself may not yet be ready for.