Title Access to the 21st century
Design André Willocx (°1949, Asse)
Material Stainless steel, natural stone, granite
Installation 1991
Location Sloepenlaan
The imposing artwork made of heavy stainless steel is four metres high. Extremely simple lines represent an open hand containing a closed object in its most geometric form; a square.
The monument, in fact, forms a meeting point for three seating walls that are laid out like question marks. At the front, there are five sunken stepping stones with artistic, engraved texts. The cut-away back of a stone book forms a viewing channel which offers a glimpse of the twentieth century on its narrowest side.
The artist aimed to create a highly abstract, ethereal form which refers to the subsequent century. 'Access to the 21st century' will certainly raise a few question among passers-by; questions about sense and nonsense, about the value of art, the significance thereof and why it was created. If this happens, it has done what it set out to achieve.