As part of a public-private partnership with Tondelier Development nv and under the urban planning supervision of the firm Rapp + Rapp, the City of Ghent is developing a sustainable new urban district on the former Gasmeter industrial site. The developers also issued a call for art proposals, for which five artists were selected in June 2015: Filip Van Dingenen, Petra Stavast, Kelly Schacht, Stijn Van Dorpe and Lotte Geeven. Instead of creating a single work of art, they proposed jointly establishing a permanent platform for art in the public domain of Tondelier. Exhibition organiser Danielle van Zuijlen is acting as curator and coordinator. The art project is one of the five ‘Art on Commission’ pilot projects launched in early 2014 by the Team Vlaams Bouwmeester, the Department of Culture and Kunstenpunt under the title ‘Meer dan object’. A progress report.

On 23 June 2016, Ghent’s mayor Daniël Termont officially opened Koen Blieckplein. The central square in the new Tondelier neighbourhood was named after the priest and pioneer of intercultural coexistence, who passed away in 2015. The inauguration was not only a fitting tribute, but also marked a breakthrough in the relationship between the city council, developers and artists.