The first permanent sculpture by Plensa in Belgian public spaceAcclaimed Spanish visual artist, sculptor, designer and engraver Jaume Plensa is renowned for his ability to weave spirituality, corporeality, and collective memory into his sculptures and installations, using a wide range of materials. Many of his iconic sculptures can be found in public spaces, in some of the most evocative places in the world. The city of Leuven now joins this list with the acquisition by KU Leuven of The Four Elements, the first permanent sculpture by Jaume Plensa in Belgian public space. The sculpture The Four Elements consists of two parts in bronze, located in two places, the gallery of the KU Leuven University Library and the newly created St-Raphaël Square. The first part, Fire, commemorates the resurrection of the University Library after the devastating fire of World War I. Water, Earth, Air, the second part, rises like a totem pole on a new urban site that is a meeting point for health care and medicine. This collection of essays documents how the two parts of the sculpture and its two sites represent a broader trinity of interaction and togetherness: between the university and the city and its public spaces, between research and art, between the study of health (in this case the brain) and organizing care. Ebook available in Open Access. Register to be notified when the limited hardback edition becomes available>Read more about the sculpture The Four Elements by Jaume Plensa

A Proper Tribute
Urbain Vandeurzen

Knowledge and Art
Luc Sels

A Warm Welcome in Leuven
Mohamed Ridouani & Bert Cornillie

The Four Elements
Filip Abraham & Koenraad Debackere

Stéphane Symons in Conversation with Jaume Plensa

Eyes Wide Shut - One Theme, with a Dozen Associations around The Four Elements
Johan Wagemans

One Sedes Sapientiae, Two Locations, Four Elements
Mark Derez

Four Elements of Academic and Artistic Research
Erik Thys

The Four Elements
Mark Derez

A Skin of Language
Tom Van Imschoot

St. Raphaël's Square
Rebecca Gysen & Karen Landuydt

Leuven: Art in Public Spaces
Stéfanie Lambrechts

Coda
Plensa and Contemporary KU Leuven: Four Elements, Three Narratives, Two Locations, One Sculpture
Geert Bouckaert

Biography Jaume Plensa

Selected Artworks Jaume Plensa

About the Authors

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