Visual artist Pieterjan Ginckels (PJG) wedges himself between the perfectly realised renderings of the urban developers in Leuven’s Barbarahof. He does so in a literal sense, by means of a full-scale truck trailer, covered in a dark grey skin of dust. Smudged out in extra large letters are the words “NO PEAKS”. The trailer is a monolith, a static sculpture disrupting the day-to-day ballet of urban developers and their clients.

Also, in collaboration with skate shop Twits—the HQ of the local skateboarding community—PJG will produce a “NO PEAKS” skateboard deck.  This personal limited edition embodies a childhood dream-come-true, usually reserved for the most gifted pro riders. PJG’s deck stimulates another kind of sculptural practice: by handing out all the decks to local skaters, he makes them partners in crime on the ground. To paraphrase PJG: under the banner of Research & Destroy—analogous to ‘Skate & Destroy’—the death-defying boredom of Western pseudo-urbanism that is creeping upon us needs to be consumed, experienced, and destroyed from within.

“Our lives are hyper-real, and we feel the urge to continuously pimp, remix, recollect our own identity,” says Pieterjan Ginckels. “As such, I see myself as an embedded outsider, playing with ambivalences in speed and authenticity.”  The Belgian artist’s work concerns itself with the acceleration of modern life and he demonstrates this through exhibitions and experiences that interweave spatial, artistic and design practice, and everything in between. (ICON Magazine, ‘Future 50,’ 2013)

• The pavilion will be inaugurated on Saturday 4 May.
• On Saturday 11, Thursday 16 and Saturday 25 May, SPEEDTRIPS will take the public on performative safaris through the city.

More information here.