Intervention carried out on 31 July 2011 in the Royal Park in Brussels, Belgium
"Dichotomy" is an intervention carried out in the summer of 2011 in the Royal Park in Brussels, a few days after the Belgian National Day (July 21st). It consisted of tracing, with spray chalk and stencils, a 350-metre long dotted line cutting the park in its centre into two equal parts.
At that time Belgium was going through a major political crisis (the country had not had a government for more than 36 months) resulting in growing tensions between the Flemish and Walloon communities, which gave rise to separatist tendencies, particularly among certain sections of the Dutch-speaking population, a harbinger of rising populist and separatist tensions in Europe.
Situated near the Grand Place, the Royal Park of Brussels represents both the physical and political heart of the Belgian capital, the seat of royal and federal power in Belgium. The line drawn during this intervention thus linked the Royal Palace on one side of the park and the seat of the federal government on the other, while symbolically carving out the national unity conferred by these two institutions.
The word 'Dichotomy', a term shared by both the French and Dutch languages, reflects both the division and the opposition between the two elements embodied by this intervention.
This intervention has been documented through photos and a video captured with a mobile phone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmzB101tpao&t=31s)
