On the occasion of the publication of the book Founder’s Choice—a richly illustrated overview of T.O.P. office’s activities, compiled by Luc Deleu and published by Antwerp publishing house Hopper&Fuchs—M HKA is bringing together several of the artist’s works for an INBOX presentation. Since 1970, Deleu has been building an architectural and artistic oeuvre together with T.O.P. office: from small-scale interventions to global concepts, and from (never-executed) proposals to completed building projects. With a critical eye on the role of architecture and urban planning, and with radical imagination, Deleu is concerned with the world’s ins and outs. 

The presentation starts from a text by Panamarenko titled ‘Reservaat: Eksperimenteel Centrum voor Vrije Samenleving’ [Reserve: Experimental Center for a Free Society]. In this proposal, nature, modernity, and a lighthearted approach are interwoven. Zeppelins cheerfully collide in the sky, residents themselves provide a closed radio and television network, exotic and native animals graze around homes made of practical materials, and energy is generated by wind and water power. During a 1968 happening, then student of architecture Luc Deleu received a copy of this pamphlet. Only years later would the artist realise the importance of the text in shaping his thinking and his works. In his Voorstellen [Proposals] series from the 1970s, to which Deleu regularly returned in later years, one can recognise a similar radical drive for freedom: simultaneously deadly serious and humorous, visionary and confrontational. His Orbanistisch Manifest [Orbanist Manifesto] is a plea to approach architecture and urban planning from the perspective of the entire planet, focusing on the balance between all existing life forms. It’s important that such comprehensive proposals and plans don’t impose a single housing type, but rather guarantee the freedom for people to organise their lives in their own way. As a self-proclaimed orbanist, Deleu believes it’s important to start to grasp the scale of the Earth. This is how the idea for a trip around the world arose. Deleu chose Madrid as the starting point for the journey, for the simple reason that it’s the only European capital with landmass on the opposite side of the globe (exact antipode). This is rather unusual, given that two-thirds of the Earth’s surface consists of water. In 80 dagen rond de wereld [In 80 Days Around the World] charts routes to explore the world.

During a trip to the United States, Deleu got impressed by the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and by a fallen sequoia tree in California. According to Deleu, we can only get a sense of the size and volume of towers when one tower is lying flat next to the other and we can walk past them. For a social housing competition in Barcelona, he designed two identical buildings (based on the principle of the golden ratio): one upright and the other flat alongside it. The overarching title of this research is Schaal en Perspectief [Scale and Perspective]. The Neo-Nature series draws on photographs Deleu took over 40 years ago of an abandoned cement factory in the Flemish commune of Ravels, which document how nature overgrows and reclaims the ruins. In Deleu’s view, non-building or even the disappearance of buildings are also important aspects of architecture. After their original publication in magazine Vrije Ruimte, the negatives were lost, but through detours and coincidences, Deleu got them back. It is almost as if the work presents itself to the artist again, begging to be reused. Darling Springs is the final chapter in Deleu’s research into Orban Space. Three people at T.O.P. office have been collaborating on the digital drawing of this fictional city for over six years. Public space and mobility are examined from street level to the perspective of the Earth. In this digital laboratory, architecture and urban design are conceived as conceptual art forms that challenge us to continually reflect on the spatial presence of humans and its consequences for our planet.