City of Refuge IV

We all need security, while at the same time longing for freedom. Inspired by this contradiction, Berlinde De Bruyckere transforms the Turbinenhalle into a walkthrough installation. Its title is taken from a song by Nick Cave, which itself was based on an original gospel song by Blind Willie Johnson. City of Refuge IV seeks to pay tribute to all those seeking shelter and to those who provide it – invoking compassion and empathy and investigating the duality of human nature. This is symbolised by three guardian angel sculptures, framed by a sonorous and audiovisual installation. In the midst of a total installation integrating the monumental turbines, surrounded by rusty fences and accompanied by found materials conveying an industrial storage setting, the angels arise, humbly yet majestically. The grave, hybrid figures in which motifs such as humans, animals, nature and the divine are combined, foreshadow both hope and sorrow.