About North West Walls
Since 2014, North West Walls has stood as a totem of ever-changing street art at the heart of Rock Werchter. What began as an artistic experiment has evolved into a defining feature of the festival site. A big sculpture of stacked shipping containers transformed each year into a ever-changing gallery.
Rock Werchter has always been a place of music, energy and culture. With North West Walls it has also become a place of visual storytelling. In doing so the festival proved something essential: art has its place at a music festival, and even thrives there.
The North West Walls installation is not a decorative backdrop, but it’s a monumental canvas that dominates the skyline of the festival site. Rising up to 20 meters high, they demand attention and yet, no matter how big the struture, it’s always changing. Each year the walls are reborn, repainted and reimagined by a new selection of street artists. It’s this contrast that defines the project. The installation is physically permanent, but the art itself changes every year. In between festival seasons it acts as a landmark, that waits quietly for its revival. Each summer, it becomes something entirely new. It's this accessibility that makes North West Walls this powerful.
Every edition of North West Walls is carefully curated by Arne Quinze, the Belgian contemporary artist known for his large-scale public installations. Each year, Quinze selects six different street artists from across the world and invites them to work within the unique context of the festival park, where their work is not limited by gallery walls. It exists outdoors, ready to be seen by thousands of festival-goers, exposed to the elements and the music. Going back to the roots of street art.
Over the past decade, North West Walls has showcased a lot of different street artists from all over the world. Each of them has left a mark, not only on the structure but on the legacy of the project. The walls have carried stories and evoked emotions. The walls, as well as society, change.