Z33, the contemporary art, design and architecture centre in Hasselt (a must-see destination), launched the Kunst-aan-de-Maas project in 2022 — known in French as Art-sur-Meuse — to highlight the beauty of nature, the genius loci, and the history of the great River Meuse, whose presence has been formative for Limburg. The river serves as a natural border with the Netherlands. It spills across its own valley (remember the catastrophic floods of 2021). It is a goddess. And the love and wrath of gods can be equally dangerous.
For the project, Z33 commissioned renowned artists to create site-specific works along the river. Together with the organisers from the arts press agency Be Culture, a group of journalists embarked on a fascinating journey through the Meuse Valley, visiting five of these installations. Created by leading artists from Belgium, the Netherlands and beyond, the works span a wide range of styles, media and artistic approaches. The result is a vibrant panorama of contemporary art from A to Z — powerful, conceptual and visually striking.
We had the opportunity to meet Laure Prouvost in person, ask Koen Vanmechelen about the ideas behind his Venice exhibition, discover Adrien Tirtiaux — a member of an exceptionally talented family of artists, writers and actors — and share lunch with Germaine Kruip.
We invite you to join us on a journey through Art-sur-Meuse. From this point onwards, we will use the project’s French title, as it contains the internationally recognisable word “art”.
Project Aim
Art-sur-Meuse is an interdisciplinary artistic initiative that seeks to explore and reveal the cultural, historical and ecological potential of the Meuse Valley as a unified cross-border landscape. Bringing together art, design and architecture, the project creates opportunities for the development of new site-specific works that offer fresh perspectives on the relationship between people, nature and the region’s industrial heritage.
The River Meuse serves as the project’s central theme and source of inspiration. Its course, borderland character, gravel extraction industry, local histories and myths provide the context within which artists from Belgium and abroad develop their work. Through both temporary and permanent installations, Art-sur-Meuse aims to highlight the multiple layers of the landscape, its collective memory and its capacity to become a space for dialogue between communities, territories and artistic practices.
A network of partners within the Meuse Valley River Park plays an active role in the implementation phase, contributing local knowledge, professional networks, public engagement expertise, communication support, and experience in designing walking and cycling routes. One of the project’s key objectives is to engage both residents and visitors in discovering and experiencing the Meuse Valley. Since 2023, the Meuse Valley River Park has been officially recognised as a cross-border Landscape Park (IUCN Category V).
Background
Z33 is a contemporary arts centre in Hasselt operating at the intersection of art, design and architecture, with a strong focus on research-based and exhibition projects. In collaboration with a curatorial advisory group responsible for selecting artists, Z33 drew up a shortlist of Belgian and international practitioners. These artists were invited to explore the region and subsequently develop project proposals in response to it.
Z33 then supported the selected projects through all stages of production and implementation, facilitating local partnerships and drawing on regional expertise and manufacturing resources wherever possible.
- Herbricht – Mark Dion «Tree of Life»
Mark Dion’s sculpture Tree of Life in Herbricht (Lanaken) is a six-metre-high installation situated on elevated ground overlooking the Meuse Valley. Integrated into the river landscape, it functions as both a symbolic landmark and a temporary point of orientation. The image of the tree serves as a kind of map of the region, bringing together animals, plants, geological phenomena and mythological narratives from different periods in the valley’s history — from the ancient inland sea and the Ice Ages to the ecological realities of the present day.
The work is conceived as a multilayered “catalogue of nature”. A mosasaur and an ammonite evoke prehistoric times, while a woolly mammoth and contemporary animal species trace the evolution of local fauna. Other figures, such as the beaver, heron and stag beetle, connect the sculpture directly to the current ecosystem of the Meuse. Cultural and mythological references, including local legends, are woven into this structure, creating a rich interplay between natural history and human imagination.
The artist, Mark Dion, is internationally known for his investigations at the intersection of art and scientific knowledge. His practice critically examines the ways in which nature and history are classified, interpreted and represented through visual systems, archival structures and the tradition of the cabinet of curiosities. Within the context of Belgium and the Art-sur-Meuse project, Tree of Life acquires particular resonance through its direct engagement with the landscape of the Meuse Valley and its ecological memory. The work transforms a specific location into a site of artistic inquiry, where natural processes and cultural narratives are understood as parts of a single interconnected system.
The project is also linked to Verbeke Foundation, which has supported and exhibited Dion’s work while fostering contemporary artistic practices in dialogue with natural and post-industrial environments.
Today, the village of Herbricht is almost abandoned, with only a single resident remaining. This circumstance heightens the sense of the fragility of human presence when set against the vast scale of geological and natural time embodied by the sculpture itself. The devastating floods of 2021 — which severely affected cities such as Namur and whose images were seen around the world — provide a contemporary context for the installation. Viewed through this lens, Tree of Life takes on the symbolic character of a modern Noah’s Ark on the River Meuse, carrying within its branches the memory of past worlds and the uncertain future of those yet to come.
2. Kinrooi (Bastion) – Laure Prouvost «Mère! Oui, rêve jusqu’au bout»
The monumental sculpture Mère! Oui, rêve jusqu’au bout by Laure Prouvost in Kinrooi (Bastion) is a large-scale bronze installation set within the landscape of a former gravel quarry, now transformed into a water basin and natural oasis. The work is associated with the figure of the “Mother Meuse” — a personification of the River Meuse, traditionally understood in local culture as a source of fertility and life.
The sculpture depicts a hybrid figure combining human and aquatic characteristics. A pregnant body, tentacle-like arms, and birds perched on its limbs create the image of a natural entity deeply connected to water, land and the cyclical processes of the landscape. One of the central elements is a flag bearing the inscription “Oui, rêve jusqu’au bout” (“Yes, dream until the very end”), which is integrated into the spatial dynamics of the site and remains visible even at high water levels.
The formal language of the work continues a recurring theme in Prouvost’s practice. The octopus-like form carries particular symbolic weight: with multiple hearts but no central brain, it senses and thinks through its tentacles. It becomes a metaphor for a form of intelligence that is distributed, embodied and sensorial rather than hierarchical. By merging these animal characteristics with the human figure, the artist invites a shift in perception — encouraging ways of seeing and understanding that move beyond the boundaries of the self.
The creative process began with sketches, conceptual ideas and clay models. In consultation with a local working group of residents with diverse backgrounds, the final design was selected and refined. At Brons Atelier in Zottegem, a 3D model was developed, and a full-scale sculpture was carved in polystyrene before a team of sculptors carried out detailed finishing work. The forms were then transported to the Netherlands, where the bronze was cast at temperatures exceeding 1200°C. After solidification, the elements were returned to Belgium for polishing and assembly. The installation required a temporary dam, with the site being partially drained for its placement.
The work’s conceptual framework revolves around the interconnectedness of nature, memory and the region’s industrial heritage. Gravel extracted from the Meuse becomes both material and metaphor — a symbol of landscape transformation and its reinterpretation through art. Within this context, the sculpture draws on Prouvost’s characteristic visual language of hybrid beings and layered associations, where corporeality, nature and metaphor merge into a single narrative structure.
Based between Antwerp and London, Laure Prouvost is known for poetic installations in which language, image and emotion intertwine in fluid, associative forms. Within the context of Belgium and the Art-sur-Meuse project, her work becomes a key point of reflection on borders, water and the collective imagination of the Meuse region.
When we arrived at the sculpture, partially rising from the water, Prouvost — holding a bouquet of daisies and with her trousers rolled up — stepped into the cold water and “offered” the flowers to the Mother Meuse. The charismatic artist works across multiple media, from tapestries to painting.
3. Rotem (Dilsen-Stokkem) – Koen Vanmechelen «Future Fossil»
The monumental sculpture Future Fossil by Koen Vanmechelen is located on the banks of the River Meuse in Rotem (Dilsen-Stokkem). The work is constructed around materials linked to the recent history of river management: old sandbags, once used for flood protection, are embedded within the structure of the piece and gradually merge with soil, root systems and the riverbank topography, forming a kind of “geology of the present”.
Rising above this foundation is a charred willow tree — a species characteristic of the Meuse Valley — preserved in sculptural form and reinterpreted as a marker of the long-term presence of nature within a constantly shifting landscape. The composition also incorporates traces of beaver activity, often referred to locally as the “engineer of the Meuse”. These signs of ecological intervention are integrated into the work as part of an ongoing process through which the river continuously shapes its environment.
At the top of the structure sits an egg, a universal symbol of origin and future, representing both biological continuity and the potential for renewal within this specific site. The choice of the Meerheuvel plain as the installation site adds another layer of meaning. The area is considered an important reserve for future sustainable freshwater resources, situating the work within broader discussions on climate change, water management and the ecological future of the region. In this context, Future Fossil operates as an artistic marker of the interdependence between landscape, memory and environmental responsibility.
The artist, Koen Vanmechelen, one of Belgium’s most prominent contemporary figures and often referred to as the “chicken man”, is based at LABIOMISTA. His practice operates at the intersection of art, science and social engagement, exploring the relationships between living systems, biodiversity and cultural evolution.
4. Maasmechelen – Germaine Kruip «Reflection»
The installation Reflection by Germaine Kruip, located in Maasmechelen, engages with the memory of the ferry crossing that until the mid-20th century connected the two banks of the Meuse between Meeswijk and Urmond. Through sound, space and embodied experience, the artist reactivates the historical layers of the site. The work is positioned precisely where the ferry route once operated, recalling the river as a medium of communication, exchange and everyday interaction between communities on both sides of the border.
Reflection takes the form of a monumental sound sculpture: a five-metre-long brass resonator suspended between two tall supports. Visitors are invited to activate the instrument using a mallet, producing a deep, sustained tone that travels across the river landscape. This resonance evokes the bell of the former ferry, once heard along the banks of the Meuse, transforming the work into a kind of instrument of collective memory.
The surrounding environment — the flowing river, weather conditions and natural silence — becomes an integral part of the composition, ensuring that each auditory experience is unique. Granite benches complement the installation, encouraging contemplation of the landscape and attentive listening. Cyclists passing along the nearby popular route also become incidental participants in the evolving soundscape.
The artist, Germaine Kruip, who lives and works between Brussels, Amsterdam and London, is known for her investigations into light, time, perception and architectural space. In her practice, the viewer becomes an active participant, with attention shifting from object to process. Within the Art-sur-Meuse project, Reflection extends this approach, offering not a traditional sculpture but a space for listening and reflection, where the history of the site unfolds through sound, duration and direct engagement with the landscape.
“As part of Reflection, I want to offer people the possibility not only to hear history, but also to reflect on it, re-establishing the connection that once existed between the ferry and the island,” explains the artist.
5. Maaseik – Adrien Tirtiaux «Echo of the Landscape»
The installation Echo of the Landscape by Adrien Tirtiaux, located between the River Meuse and Lake Heerenlaakplas in Maaseik, reflects on the long-standing relationship between the town and the river, which has shaped the region for centuries.
The starting point for the artist is three church bell towers in Aldeneik, Maaseik and Roosteren, all clearly visible within the open landscape of the Meuse Valley. Interpreting them as territorial landmarks, Tirtiaux rethinks these familiar architectural forms, extending them beyond their religious and historical functions and transforming them into elements of a spatial dialogue between town, river and surrounding landscape.
The work consists of three sculptural components, each linked to a specific bell tower and constructed from materials directly connected to the history of the Meuse Valley. An inverted concrete tower, cast using local gravel, references the extraction activities that shaped the landscape of Heerenlaakplas. A horizontally positioned brick structure, recalling the spire of the church in Maaseik, simultaneously functions as a viewing platform and refers to the region’s brick-making traditions. The third element — a steel structure in the form of a giant megaphone, inspired by the church tower in Roosteren — is oriented towards the Netherlands, emphasising the cross-border nature of the region.
Concrete, brick and steel together form a material portrait of the Meuse Valley, in which natural resources, craft traditions and industrial heritage are brought into a single artistic system. The artist, Adrien Tirtiaux, trained in architecture and visual arts, is known for projects in which space, materials and local history become the basis of artistic expression.
In Echo of the Landscape, he explores how territory can be perceived through form, scale and embodied experience. The sculptures not only mark key points in the landscape but also propose new ways of engaging with it — to look, to move through, to listen, and to discover connections between different riverbanks, settlements and historical layers of the Meuse Valley.
