Lichtpunt

This summer, AMVB is once again highlighting the exhibition Lichtpunt by Joris Sleebus. This is no coincidence, as the story of the lost murals from Brussels’ Northern Quarter feels strikingly relevant again today. While the area around Brussels-North is once again changing under the pressure of demolition works, redevelopment, and an evolving urban landscape, Lichtpunt looks back at another turning point in the district’s history. The exhibition was previously shown at AMVB in 2022 and has since travelled to various locations across Brussels. It will be on view this summer from Thursday 18 June 2026 to Wednesday 12 August.

Demolition
Collection: Joris Sleebus

Between 1977 and 1980, the Northern Quarter underwent major changes as a result of the Manhattan Plan. Entire blocks of housing disappeared, residents were forced to leave, and whole streets were left empty in anticipation of new office buildings. What remained was a district full of derelict buildings, vacant lots, and uncertainty. In this context, a remarkable artistic and social project emerged: 22 monumental murals appeared on façades throughout the neighbourhood.

Artists, local residents, and volunteers brought colour to places that were becoming increasingly grey and silent. The murals were much more than decoration. They told stories about the neighbourhood, about loss and change, but also about solidarity, resistance, and the power of imagination. Some works were playful and colourful, others explicitly socially critical. Together, they formed a temporary open-air museum in a neighbourhood that was, at that time, in the process of disappearing.

With more than 5,000 square metres of painted walls, the project grew into one of the largest mural initiatives in Europe. Today, the works themselves have disappeared, but their story has been preserved through photographs, archival material, testimonies, and documentation.

In Lichtpunt, AMVB brings this history together once more. The exhibition not only presents the impressive images of the murals but also places them within the broader context of urban development, residents’ protest, and life in the Northern Quarter during the 1970s. It shows how artists and inhabitants responded together to a neighbourhood in transition, and how art could temporarily offer a form of presence, visibility, and hope.

This makes the exhibition particularly relevant today. The area around Brussels-North is once again under pressure from major changes. Old buildings are disappearing, new projects are emerging, and debates about the future of the neighbourhood are intensifying again. Lichtpunt invites visitors to reflect on this constant movement in the city and on which stories remain visible, and which risk disappearing.

This summer, AMVB gives this forgotten chapter of Brussels’ history a place once again. Through guided tours, a presentation about the project, and a heritage walk created by Erfgoedcel Brussels, the project is brought back to life.