Gelukstraat
Artwork from the VIERNULVIER Collection
Artist: Stefan Hertmans | BE | 2000
‘Gelukstraat’ (‘Happiness Street’), a poem by leading Belgian writer, poet and essayist Stefan Hertmans, has adorned the facade of De Vooruit since 2000. The poem is part of Ghent’s Poëzieroute (‘Poetry Route’), which spans 20 locations between the Poëziecentrum (‘Poetry Centre’) on the Vrijdagmarkt and the S.M.A.K. in Citadel Park. Until 2013, the poem (from the poetry collection ‘Annunciaties’, published in 1997) was displayed on the monumental south facade of our building, but the construction of the Terrace meant that it had to move. Since 2015, it has regained its permanent home at the entrance to our VIERNULVIER Terrace.
Hertmans is also a familiar face in the building. He was a guest at our monthly literary book programme ‘UITGELEZEN’ and was awarded the Flemish Community Prize for Prose here during the ‘Mind The Book’ festival in 2014. His widely acclaimed novels ‘Oorlog en terpentijn’ (‘War and Turpentine’, 2013) and ‘De opgang’ (‘The Ascent’, 2020) were premiered with book readings in De Vooruit’s Theaterzaal.
The Poëzieroute is an initiative of the Poëziecentrum and is managed by the City of Ghent. Find more information (in Dutch) about the walk at literairgent.be/wandelingen