Martin Margiela turns the city of Antwerp into an open-air museum

If his name resonates in the hearts of fashion enthusiasts worldwide and if his reputation was built not for his talent as a sculptor but for the artwork he brought to the world of fashion, Martin Margiela certainly has more than one trick up his sleeve. After the Belgian designer stepped down in 2009 from his eponymous fashion house, he did not rest on his laurels but instead ventured into the world of art. He spent two years working with Lafayette Anticipations – Galeries Lafayette Corporate Foundation, creating over 40 works of art for his first solo exhibition, which debuted in October 2021. More recently, last March, his works traveled to Athens, Greece, for a few months as part of an exhibition presented by the Bernier/Eliades Gallery. Today, however, his latest work does not stand in a gallery, museum, or even a store, but rather majestically in a street in his beloved Antwerp, where the first lines of his career were written.

At the heart of Schuttershofstraat, in the center of this northern Belgian city, stands Blinds, Margiela’s first outdoor sculpture, a cylindrical structure made of small metallic slats. Created as part of the Kunst in de Stad project (Art in the City) by the Middelheim Museum, the installation evokes window blinds while adding a touch of mystery that aligns perfectly with Margiela’s enigmatic inclinations. According to the Middelheim Museum, “the reflective artwork also alludes to the storefronts lining the street. Passersby see what’s displayed, but also catch a glimpse of themselves”, thereby exploring the notion of “seeing and being seen, allure and glow, and the unpredictability of urban life”. This object, associated with intimacy (the slatted curtain), is here on full display, yet what it conceals remains a mystery, allowing the viewer the freedom to imagine what secrets it might hold. Anyone attempting to look behind the curtain by circling the sculpture inevitably returns to the starting point. The silver slats remain motionless while the city buzzes around them. The artwork emerges like a mirage, an endless dreamscape that pays homage to Belgian surrealism, a major source of inspiration for Margiela.

Surrealism, of course, is not Margiela’s only inspiration; the street itself and the bustling life within it are also among his muses, justifying this choice of an open-air museum. In previous works, he transformed everyday urban objects into art, such as silicone spheres covered in human hair, large-scale paintings of dust particles, and empty spaces symbolizing an exhibition concept of “flow, incompleteness, and constant movement”. Here, the designer reversed the creative process by choosing to exhibit a private object, even one associated with modesty, in a highly public space, fully visible to all. One consistent element, however, runs through all of Margiela’s creations, from his fashion pieces to Blinds and earlier artworks: a keen sensitivity to materials and the concept of ephemerality, inviting us to savor the moment before it fades away.