Design

Why Can't an Entire City Be a Museum?

Curators in Ghent, Belgium, use art to force visitors into far-flung neighborhoods.
Courtesy of SMAK

The clock tower at Sint-Pieters railway station in Ghent, Belgium, has been covered in some deceptive scaffolding since mid-May.

On a platform atop what amounts to a faux-construction site stands "Hotel Ghent," a temporary, one-room structure created by Japanese artist Tazu Rous. At its center is the station’s massive, four-faced clock, wedged into the room from floor to ceiling. This "hotel" is actually part of a city-wide exhibition called TRACK: A Contemporary City Conversation.