In The World of Bruegel (2019-2020), visitors experience how Bokrijk, as a museum of the heritage of daily life, is intertwined with the oeuvre of the painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder (ca 1526/28 - 1559). They discover Bruegel as an important painter of ingenious composed landscapes and how and why also Bokrijk’s landscape is a composed, but obvious landscape.
Additionally we introduce Bruegel as subtle observer and commentator of the daily life of 'ordinary people' and how he holds up a mirror to us still. Even today Bokrijk uses its heritage in a critical and forward-looking manner.

Image series trail

The route consists of 11 Bruegel stops, each stop consists an installation dealing with a standalone theme.

The challenge of the project is to create an impactful and traceable trail in a museum park of over 95 ha, where visitors relax in the park-like , enchanting environment so that they tend to wander. In addition, Bokrijk is a museum for a wide and large audience: the museum welcomes in a period of its opening between April and November (seven months)around 300,000 visitors.

Photos Luc Dealemans, ruimtevaarders, Terenja van Dijk

PUBLICATIONS

In addition to the trail, there are two publications that were published in parallel to the project:

• Object of conversation , the world of Bruegel , October 2018 first edition in collaboration with Kunsthistorisch Museum Vienna, Hannibal Publisher
• Public Art Property Flanders OKV: The world of Bruegel, mirror to today, April 2019

Image series game

Photos Luc Dealemans, ruimtevaarders, Terenja van Dijk

A game - with both physical and virtual elements - strings together the trail. It challenges visitors and especially children to visit the route up to and including the last location. They virtually adopt one of Bruegel's hats from a central work: The battle between Carnival and Lent, on which they collect hidden objects from the painting along the way. In terms of content, each object is a key to a scene from The battle between Carnival and Lent. At the final station of the trail, in an animation of the painting scenes from the painting are transformed into a contemporary questioning scene. The objects are used as key.

Image series game

Photos Luc Dealemans, ruimtevaarders, Terenja van Dijk

A game - with both physical and virtual elements - strings together the trail. It challenges visitors and especially children to visit the route up to and including the last location. They virtually adopt one of Bruegel's hats from a central work: The battle between Carnival and Lent, on which they collect hidden objects from the painting along the way. In terms of content, each object is a key to a scene from The battle between Carnival and Lent. At the final station of the trail, in an animation of the painting scenes from the painting are transformed into a contemporary questioning scene. The objects are used as key.

Image series theater

Photo’s Kathleen Michiels

In 2019 the theater play Bravo Mr. Bruegel takes place every day in summer. The screenplay was written especially for Bokrijk's context, for its wide audience and the location outside. It is a contemporary interpretation of Bruegel's Struggle between Carnival and Lent with humor and for young and old.

https://www.laika.be/EN/bravo-mister-bruegel

https://www.dewereldvanbruegel.be

More about the making of The world of Bruegel: https://www.dewereldvanbruegel.be/making-of/.