Rectangle is a Brussels-based and non-profit artist-run space founded in 2012. We have developed a particular interest in advertising and its apparatus. Our purpose is to challenge both its visual language and its proliferation in public and private space.
In a span of over 30 exhibitions, we initiated unique collaborations including John M Armleder, Melanie Bonajo,
Mark Dion, Pablo Helguera, Chris Martin, Jacqueline Mesmaeker, John Murphy, Benoît Platéus and Peter Scott.
Our group shows have included works by Harold Ancart,
Jef Geys, Dan Graham, Bodys Isek Kingelez, Otobong Nkanga, among others.
Early years
Rectangle first iteration incorporated a billboard (rectangle) above an exhibition space, offering artists the possibility of engaging audiences both within the gallery setting and across the broader public realm of the street. Located in the Saint-Gilles neighborhood of Brussels, Rectangle’s use of a small, one story factory building within a mixed-use neighborhood that showed signs of class “transitioning” presented a site of tension between the presence and growth of culture within “affordable” neighborhoods and the everyday experience of the local population.
Nomadic years
Since 2017 our process changed significantly as a result of using an itinerant, modular and ephemeral billboard, a format enabling fresh geographical adventures and more complex forms of existence. More recently shifting to a nomadic platform that incorporates a wide field of collaboration including art schools, collectors, institutions, and galleries. Rectangle is currently experimenting within mediums of advertising, inviting artists and produce “digital billboards” as part of their growing interest in the history of advertising itself.
