In an interview entitled “Architecture Can’t Help Exhibiting Itself”, published by OASE in 2012, Geert Bekaert stated that “no exhibition – indeed, no human activity – can be free of a certain bias or stance. There is always an idea behind it, however nonsensical it may be”. He also asserted that an architecture exhibition – and by extension, any cultural event – is of very little interest if it does not reach as many people as possible. The Urban Summer architecture festival, which opens at the Mont des Arts in Brussels on 21 June 2021 for a two-week programme, raises these positions espoused by Bekaert in an ambiguous manner.

Since 2017, urban.brussels, the Brussels authority responsible for urban planning and heritage, has been working to redefine the scope of its mission to raise awareness of architecture among a broad public and has been stepping up its cultural initiatives. In October 2020, for the second edition of archiweek, urban.brussels appointed Traumnovelle, humbble and Katía Truijen as programmers. The team’s cultural proposal centred on visits to buildings and architectural practices around five ‘fundamental acts’: life, education, ceremony, love and death. In addition, the team had developed a series of interventions in public spaces. However, due to health restrictions, these events could not take place. Urban Summer therefore constitutes both an extension and an adaptation of the original collaboration between urban.brussels and Traumnovelle humbble Katía Truijen. In a summer reconfiguration, the event will offer a range of architectural interventions, including talks, rituals, performances and installations. Across the Mont des Arts, Something Fantastic, Jean-Benoît Vétillard, Donna van Milligen Bielke, Raumlabor and Carbonifère will take part, each addressing one of the five themes.