The parade of men, women and those who from a distance look like flies is a living art piece by visual artist and performer Thomas Verstraeten.

His latest work is a once in a lifetime parade of people of Antwerp, from businessmen in suits to street sweepers, from women in SUV’s to Golden Retrievers on leach. It will take place on the Frederik van Eedenplein on the 20th of May and it’s bound to be one the cultural events of the year.

We sat down with the artist to find out what drove him to produce ‘The Parade’.

This is Antwerp : Where did you get the idea for the parade?

Thomas Verstraeten : As a visual artist I find my inspiration in what I see in the streets and what I experience in my daily life. I wanted to make a performance that represented the city.  A city is a living chaos with different micro universes living in parallel to each other. You can even see it as different theater pieces, but you are never an actor in those plays. The idea sprang to combine all these different people we see on the streets into a whole sculpture. In other words, I’m trying to portray our complex chaotic society in to one organized image.

: That’s ambitious.

Thomas : You know from the beginning that it won’t be possible to portray the whole city and moreover to understand how these different worlds live together. When you make an image of reality, e.g. a picture, it’s always a reduction of that reality. You are only showing a certain aspect or detail. However, I’m trying to make an as complete image as possible: all ages, all vehicles, all uniforms, …

: You work with a gigantic amount of people. How did you start ‘making’ your living sculpture?

Thomas : I started from my own personal view. I walked around in Antwerp and I named everything I saw: a woman with a dog, white vans,… You start to be more aware of your surrounding. What do I see? What do I find interesting or beautiful? What are the clichés in the city? I ended up with 200 ideas and I chose 50 out of them, which are representative for Antwerp. But I also worked out of a visual point of view. I looked for certain colors and sizes. The sculptural element is very present.

: What was one of the stereotypes that reoccurred in Antwerp?

Thomas : The cargo bike, there’s such a polemic around it. I think that is one typical cliché of Antwerp. But it’s the same for a young Moroccan boy who rides in a very fancy car with the music cranked up all the way. Stereotypes are interesting because whether the stereotype is true or not, it always determines your gaze.

: To round up, which group was the most difficult to reach?

Thomas : Groups that aren’t in my personal daily life e.g. men in suits! Apparently I don’t know anyone who works in a suit. Through this project I discovered that we all live in certain social bubbles. A bubble, which you don’t leave often. You see all those different people on the street but you are not aware of them. It opened my view on our society and the different actors who form it.

More Thomas Verstraeten and his parade?

If you want to participate in the parade you can send an email to freija@deparadevanmannenenvrouwen.be.

And for more informations and tickets, just .