PRESS RELEASE: We would like to present BUNSHAFT x PISTE, the temporary installation being built this autumn by Pieterjan Ginckels for ING on the Esplanade of the Marnix building. Ten sculptures will come together to form a cycling track made of wood, lacquer and metal. "I see the Esplanade as a playground where objects have pride of place: flag poles, a ramp, flower pots, and then that empty stand on which a sculpture of Henry Moore once stood." For BUNSHAFT x PISTE, Pieterjan will add ten abstract sculptures to this colourful ensemble. "The sculptures appear abstract until they suddenly form an extremely real image at a specific moment: a cycling track over which four riders ride live laps." Two ING employees and two performers will become the four protagonists of a competition or challenge, and will compete to ride a record number of laps in fifteen minutes — a scaled down world hour record — on Saturday 12 September, 2-4 p.m. Through this activity the sculpture will generate a sound that unites PISTE, ING and Brussels together in its DNA. The sound from this performance will be recorded using atmospheric and contact microphones. This recording – the sound of bikes on the installation combined with echoes of the city – will be processed into a sound-based work capturing the uniqueness of the sounds at this specific ING Brussels location, and will be compressed onto vinyl as a multiple limited release.

During the performance of BUNSHAFT x PISTE the production of a permanent sculpture, intended for the main stairwell in the Marnix building, will also begin. The sculpture, HUMAN DISCO BING, will be the sister of the current HUMAN DISCO BONG (Schunck*, Heerlen, 2012) and has been tailor-made for ING. Central to the piece are 120 artisanally-produced bicycle helmets studded with mirror fragments placed in and around the ING buildings in Brussels, during lunch breaks, at staff meetings and conferences, after work and at home. It will be an installation that can be understood just as much as a piece by the artist as by ING staff or the extended network of work-related acquaintances and families. The finished helmets will sparkle at the Car Free Sunday on 20 September 2015 during HUMAN DISCO RING: a public cycling tour around the inner ring in Brussels, with 120 participants each wearing their own HUMAN DISCO BALL helmet. The small cycling track circle on the Esplanade will be linked at that point to the larger course of the inner ring around Brussels, and the helmets will become living sculptures for a unique period of time. After the tour the helmets will be collected and mounted onto HUMAN DISCO BING, which will be assigned the recording from BUNSHAFT x PISTE as its soundtrack when finally assembled. The twin projects of BUNSHAFT x PISTE and HUMAN DISCO BING are a multi-faceted story of energy, circuits, context, production and reproduction, at times loose and elusive, at other times extremely tangible.

Pieterjan Ginckels (b.1982) lives and works in Brussels. His work forms part of the permanent collections at Mu.ZEE in Ostend and ING Belgium, and could previously be seen at BOZAR (Brussels), ANDOR (London), Neuer Aachener Kunstverein (Aachen), Pinkpop (Landgraaf) and the Graham Foundation, Chicago.

On Saturday 12 September (2 pm - 4 pm) Bikers and staff members will face each other in an attempt to beat a world record. Come and cheer them on with friends or family, and make your own HUMAN DISCO BALL helmets with the artist! Meeting point : Marnix Esplanade – Avenue Marnix 24 – 1000 Brussels.

On Sunday 20 September (10pm), European car-free day, be an actor in a collective work of art. Armed with your bicycle and your disco helmet, cross Brussels guided by our indispensable artist Pieterjan Ginckels. The Marnix - esplanade will be the start and finish point : Avenue Marnix 24 - 1000 Brussels.