Struggling Sculptura festival under fire for unpaid bills
Brussels’ Sculptura festival, which took place for the second time this spring at the Gare Maritime, is unlikely to see a third edition unless it clears its debts. And if this high profile Brussels event with endorsements from the Brussels region, Fl
Brussels’ Sculptura festival, which took place for the second time this spring at the Gare Maritime, is unlikely to see a third edition unless it clears its debts.
And if this high profile Brussels event with endorsements from the Brussels region, Flemish government and the European parliament, does survive, it will not be at Tour & Taxis.
Launched in 2022, Sculptura is a free festival, with the aim of making sculpture relevant and accessible for all. With that in mind, this year’s show, from 19 January to 10 March, was headed: "Art Moves, Art Connects".
“The aim of this event is to encourage the public to take a closer look at sculpture and to get them to look consciously at what they see,” festival organiser Äke Verstraelen told the late December launch of the event that welcomed 38 international artists including Belgium’s George de Smet and Russia’s Alexandra Dementieva.
The idea was that the transport costs of all artists, local and overseas, would be paid by the non-profit Brussels Sculptura Festival ASBL, German artist Will Reiche told Bruzz. “But the organisation does not keep the promises it made.”
Many of the festival’s partners and international artists have made complaints concerning non-payment of fees and broken contracts.
According to an investigation by The Brussels Times, unpaid bills of the art transport company IDS Spedition remain too, reportedly reaching up to €22,000.
Reiche also emphasised, in common with many artists, that communication with the organisers left a lot to be desired. The festival was, unsurprisingly, particularly bad regarding payment demands.
“I sent several emails to the organiser, but I did not receive any response,” said one artist who asked to remain anonymous. “I lost €3,000, perhaps even more, but I have little proof. They strategically chose never to reply to my messages.”
The festival did email all artists on 1 September. It assured them it was “actively exploring all possibilities to ensure that its obligations would be respected” and trying to “secure the outstanding funds needed to pay the outstanding bills”.
It added: “In the light of these efforts, we kindly ask for your support in maintaining discretion and not going public with this matter. This will give us the best chance of finding a solution and honouring our commitments to you.”
But as the artists have still not received a concrete answer about payment nine months after the festival ended, they feel obliged to make the information public.
Meanwhile, Belgium’s National Lottery has refused to release any funds to the festival, as “no verification document has been given”, its spokesperson Lis Mispoulier said.
“The National Lottery is aware of the artists’ complaints, but has not received any communication from the organiser,” Mispoulier said. In the meantime, the National Lottery is looking internally at the next steps, legal and administrative, that must be taken.
Ultimately the festival has indicated that because of the financial constraints, there is perhaps no future for Sculptura, which Verstraelen wanted to become “a benchmark for sculpture not only in the city, but also in the centre of Europe”.
And if it does survive, it will not be at the Gare Maritime. With Tour & Taxis already having to bail out the first festival, its sales and hospitality manager Jean Vandamme told The Brussels Times: “There won’t be a Sculptura 3.”
The situation is disappointing given Sculptura’s aim, as a free festival, to be as open, accessible and inclusive as possible. As Reiche said: “It was a very interesting exhibition and the idea is really good, but how it’s been handled is a disaster.”
For German sculptor Jörg Plickat, whose statue was stranded in Brussels until October, it is more than just the money: “Now people feel betrayed and they will perhaps think twice before sponsoring another project.”
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