Knokke Heist wrongly removed bronze hares from the Zwin
The Council of State decides in its judgment of 30 September 2024: the board of aldermen of the Municipality of Knokke Heist was not authorised to ban the open-air exhibition “Sculpture Link” of June 2022. The decision to remove these statues was also declared null and void for the same reason.
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Pleasant sculpture walk 'Sculpture Link'
For 28 years in a row, NV MSA (Mr. Alexander Tuteleers) organized a leading Sculpture Walk on the dike called Sculpture Link in consultation with the Municipality of Knokke Heist.
In November 2021, Mr. Alexander Tuteleers submitted a new application for the 29th Edition of this sculpture walk, during which fourteen meter-high bronze statues by the artist Barry Flanagan were on display from 15 June 2022 to 15 August 2022.
Following this, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen of the Municipality of Knokke Heist took two decisions on 6 May 2022 and 10 June 2022 to refuse the organization of the sculpture walk '29th SL Barry Flanagan'.
Since the preparation of the sculpture walk was already in a final stage, the statues were placed in the Zwin in consultation with the Agency for Nature and Forests.
The Mayor of Knokke-Heist then gave the order on 23 June 2022 to remove the statues at the expense and risk of the organizer.
Although these decisions were all disputed by the Organizer, the municipality of Knokke Heist had the 14 very heavy bronze statues removed, which unfortunately also caused damage to these statues.
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for the full text of the judgment. (in dutch)
Declared null and void by Council of State
The Council of State has therefore, following the objections of the organizer, declared the unjustified decision to remove these statues null and void, so that it is wrong that this statue walk was abruptly stopped on the basis of that decision.
Not only did the interruption of the statue walk cause considerable damage to the organizer, but some hares were also damaged by the removal. The owner of the statues filed a claim for damages, which gave rise to legal proceedings that are still pending. In the meantime, the procedure for the annulment of these unjustified decisions was initiated before the Council of State and has now been completed. The substantive proceedings are still pending before the Court of Appeal in Ghent.
"It was the most beautiful and largest exhibition ever by Barry Flanagan." The artist is known for his work 'Hospitality', a statue of a jumping, bronze hare, which can be admired in the Zwin. "For the open-air exhibition, 14 hares were on display, worth 26.5 million euros. The municipality should never have removed those statues. If they had left the statues there, they would never have been damaged. So I hope that the right people will quickly take responsibility."
Both the appeal file at the Council of State and the unfortunate further handling of the damage are being represented by Mr. Pierre De Keukelaere, lawyer at Wanted Law Bruges, with regard to the interests of the organizer.
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