Well,hello dear. I'm deeply touched that you've stayed to listen to me for a bit longer. Tracing my way back to the Grand-Place from the Aula Magna, look up and you can see the painting on which I appear. So grand was this university town project. Bordering on megalomania: created from nothing, in the middle of fields and woods, a multicultural place for knowledge and dialogue, where students would venture into a labyrinth to discover both the world and themselves... As for their plan for an urban centre built on a concrete slab over a maze of roads, that was a bit weird wasn't it? You know, it reminds me of the story of the Tower of Babel! Are you still wondering who I am? Look how i stand abve this Utopia that has become reality, wisely reading my book. The town is entirely dedicated to me, at least during the day, because at night it's another story... But they can never get all the way to me : I'm Knowledge!
Photo(s)
Date created
Unveiled in 2010
François Schuiten, Belgian comic book artist and artist in residence at the UCLouvain in 2009.
Alexandre Obolensky, specialist in monumental painting
Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve town council, UCLouvain, Région wallonne.
The work was created at the end of a workshop attended by 60 students from the UCLouvain, based on a theme of “a stage setting for an alternative Louvain-la-Neuve”.
Boxwood was planted at the foot of the work so as to extend it into the public space. You cannot tell what is real and what is not...
A group of people set about building a tower so that they could reach the heavens. God decided to punish their arrogance by creating many different languages, which stopped them from understanding each other and continuing their undertaking. The reference to the legend of the Tower of Babel is a nod towards the history of Louvain-la-Neuve, which began due to a language and community quarrel. Furthermore, a reference to the extraordinary cultural wealth of the town welcomes the citizens of more than 125 different nationalities.
