‘Moment - Point Zéro’

Molenbeek-Saint-Jean is a municipality located northwest of the city centre of Brussels. Like the rest of Brussels, it is renovating its urban spaces to provide a pleasant living environment for its residents. In 2014, the Place Communale was renovated. The work included a piece of art by the famous Brussels artist Joëlle Tuerlinckx.

As the work was to be installed in the centre of the square, the artist came up with the idea of creating a 'Point Zero', which is a reference to the point from which distances to other cities are measured (as in Leuven ). This concept carries significant symbolic value in a community as multicultural as this one, where nearly one-third of the population has foreign origins. The zero point thus becomes the symbolic starting point for calculating distances to all the countries with which the population has cultural and social ties.

The artwork comprises a 12.5-ton block of blue Hainaut stone, which arrived in Molenbeek by boat on January 8, 2014. The choice of material and mode of transport is a reminder that Molenbeek was the point at which the building materials used to construct the capital arrived, creating an additional link with the municipality's history. After being sculpted by Jean Dalemans, the stone was buried in the square's ground. Only the top is visible: a disc with a diameter of 58 cm in the middle of the cobblestones. Therefore, most of the block is invisible underground.

The work was the subject of fierce criticism as soon as it was installed: the total cost of purchasing the block, transporting it, carving it and installing it was estimated at €80,000. This is a considerable amount to spend on a piece of art that is buried in the ground and therefore almost invisible.

However, this was the artist's intention: for most of the block to be hidden under the cobblestones. According to her, unlike other monuments in public spaces, this monument does not symbolise anything, but rather the moment of its installation — hence its name, 'Moment—Point Zero'.

The symbolic significance of this work continues to elude many people, who still consider it a waste of public money. It has already been cited in the press as an example of a work of art whose cost is considered disproportionate. Nevertheless, it is still there today. It is the only permanent piece by this renowned Belgian conceptual artist that can be seen in a public space. Visitors must therefore take its symbolic dimension into account when viewing the work, or they may be disappointed by this stone disc that barely emerges from the ground!