Luc Deleu & T.O.P. office. Future Plans 1970-2020

Future Plans

Half a century of Luc Deleu & T.O.P. office is the source for this striking exhibition. The title Future Plans serves as a filter through which to explore the living archive. Which projects, whether conceived in the 1970s or 2000s, hold the intelligent promise of a future plan? And how can they inspire the designers, architects, urban planners, ecologists, lawyers, administrators and policy makers of today and tomorrow? A future plan in itself.

Future Plans is not a traditional archive exhibition. It immerses you in the thinking patterns of Luc Deleu & T.O.P. office, without defining all aspects of their work. From breathtaking models (The Nautical Mile, Lego Obelisk, Barcelona Towers, Promenade Pier...), to original photo and video material and even the construction of a 'mirador' or watchtower (Stuurboord-bakboord) providing a view on the Antwerp ring road and later the river Scheldt. The exhibition comprises a wealth of artefacts and archive documents, but also builds on the ideas of Deleu and T.O.P. office. By moving beyond the walls of the exhibition space and also exhibiting in and around deSingel, it connects with the agency's subversive spirit and rolls out the red carpet for future designers and orbanists.

Luc Deleu & T.O.P. office

Luc Deleu and T.O.P. office operate at the crossroads between architecture and art. In 1970, architect-artist Luc Deleu and his wife Laurette Gillemot founded T.O.P. office, an architecture and urban design studio. Deleu's first move was to stage a solo exhibition saying farewell to architecture. The tone was set for a practice focused on contemplating man’s impact on the planet rather than on construction as such. Architecture as an uncompromising tool to persistently questioning the scale of the planet and the delicate balance with humankind - Deleu himself describes it as 'orbanism'. Since its establishment, T.O.P. office has collaborated with numerous contributors, with Steven Van den Bergh and Isabelle De Smet as permanent and pioneering members of the team. Between 1970 and 2020, this resulted in many (unrequested) proposals for intervention in the public sphere, installations, international competitions, performances and research. Eye-catching developments include the Extended Antwerp Ring Road (1969), Europakruispunt (Europa Crossroads, 1970), Mobile Medium University (1972), De Laatste Steen van België (The Last Stone in Belgium, 1979), Big Triumphal Arch, a container installation (1983), Scale & Perspective: Two Electricity Pylons (1986), Gare Europe Central (1989), Barcelona Towers (1991), Airbase Biekorfstraat, home of Panamarenko (1986-2011), The Nautical Mile (2004), Orban Space (2006-) and Darling Springs (2017-). Having been involved in installations and exhibitions across the globe and with works in the permanent collection of, amongst others, M HKA, SMAK, Argos, Middelheim, Kröller Müller and Flanders Architecture Institute, T.O.P. office is an established concept in the Belgian contemporary art and architecture world.

Future Plans

In 2020–2021 we are celebrating 50 years of unsolicited practice by Luc Deleu & T.O.P. office. To mark this anniversary, the Flanders Architecture Institute, in collaboration with CIVA, M HKA, Middelheim Museum and Argos, is launching the Future Plans project. The aim of Future Plans is to preserve, continue and disseminate the potential of T.O.P. office’s reflection on society from the perspective of design practice and design education. The project translates concretely into a book, an exhibition and a documentary. Through two additional educational and participatory projects – Studio for Orbanism and FUTURUM – we are working to activate the living archive and pass on the legacy of ideas to future generations of designers, those who imagine the future.

Book

A book with the same title is an enhancement of the oeuvre based on exploratory and unlimited archive research, rather than a catalogue raisonné (critical catalogue) published on the occasion of T.O.P. office's 50th anniversary. No fewer than 63 projects were selected on the basis of the filter: which projects assimilate the intelligent promise of a future plan? 44 authors reflect on one of the future plans chosen from the list of projects. Established names from the world of art and architecture alternate with new voices, resulting in a multidiscipline and polyphonic perspective on the work of Luc Deleu & T.O.P. office.

Collection

In addition to monumental container installations and urban models, the T.O.P. office archive also comprises several projects that are less well-known amongst the general public. Examples include the Belle Epoque Center in Blankenberge (2004-2010), the interior of the Antwerp café De Skipper (1973-75) and the Furkapas Dépendance in Switzerland (1986-97).

As a prelude to Future Plans, M HKA is showing a presentation of part of the T.O.P. office archive until 25 April. The Flanders Architecture Institute has digitized approximately 15,000 photo slides made by Luc Deleu between 1969 and the present. The slides can be viewed at via.be/collection.

Barnfinds

• Extended Antwerp Ring Road (1969)
• Documentation of the naturalization of the garden of Les Nénuphars through slides (1981-86)
• Opel Blitz ambulance customized into mobile unit (1970-72)
• First computer drawing of Scale & Perspective: Two Pylons (1984)
• Texts from the archive: Towards Re-use (1985)
• Stills of the pioneering experimental video work of the 1970s from the Argos archive