It had to be local, accessible to many people in the area who aren’t particularly familiar with contemporary art. But it also had to be demanding enough for him. “Both the city’s region and its context are very ‘provincial’. Contemporary art isn’t really an issue here,” says Robijns. “With this work, I wanted to broaden the town’s view on the world.”
The result was “Het Dorp” (“The Village”), a life-size replica of the church and presbytery in the village where the artist grew up. “Het Dorp” is located 10 kilometres away from Robijns’ hometown of Gotem, on the former military airstrip where the Red Devils stunt team used to be stationed.
“People from Gotem will recognise ‘Het Dorp’ immediately,” says Robijns, who is keen to emphasise that the creation is more than simply a copy of his hometown. “These buildings are the icons of their village. Very local. But I gave the icon a new place. And though this new place is very nearby, it totally shatters the local link.”
The location is key, according to the artist. Had it been too far away, the local dimension and introspective concept would have been lost. “Now the local and the global aspects are tied to one another,” he explains. “The outside world observes the town, but, at the same time, the town looks at itself and, by extension, at the surrounding world.” The artist has described the work as somewhere between a sculptural environment and a photograph. At first glance, it looks like a real church and a real house. But then you quickly realise that everything is white – the walls, the roof, the doors – and that that there are no windows.
In fact, it is a steel structure, open at the back and covered in wooden panels on the front and sides to create the facade, with the whole painted white. It also slowly dawns on you that the village is located at the end of a runway, not the usual location for a church. Nor can you go up close to the village; it’s fenced off from the footpath by barbed wire and sign saying “Military area”. “Het Dorp” makes us question how we look at objects, places and people. It reminds us of the distance required to look at somewhere (or someone, or oneself) with fresh eyes.
Reactions from passers-by vary from bemusement to indifference, from curious to feelings of local pride. “Lots of people found it a bit odd in the beginning,” said one local man on his bike, “but now that they’ve seen the number of tourists who stop and take pictures, they’re okay with it.”
“Het Dorp” is the focus of a series of events organised by the artist and the NGO Villarte, including an educational package for children (in Dutch) and a free screening of the film Lost in Translation that will take place in “Het Dorp” in August.
An online auction of “Het Dorp” is due to start soon. “I’m not selling it out of pragmatism,” Robijns says. “It is more a symbolic act. The sale plays with the idea of how ‘Het Dorp’, which we consider ‘ours’, now becomes a property that we have to share with the rest of the world.”
It raises the issue of how small villages are often very closed communities and new inhabitants considered as strangers. “The act of putting it up for sale counters that protectionism, both subtly and harshly at the same time,” according to the artist.
How to find “Het Dorp”
The GPS coordinates 50.7817862,5.1740136 provided on the website are useful, but a little additional description may be helpful. From Sint- Truiden town centre, take the Naamsesteenweg (N80) south. The structures are at the end of the Brustem airstrip, about five kilometres south of Sint-Truiden and visible from the road. Once “Het Dorp” comes into sight, continue a couple of hundred metres, turn left down a track and park under the trees. If you get to the Kerkom junction, you’ve gone too far. For cyclists, Het Dorp is between junctions 184 and 185 on the cycle route network.
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