Farm Prod street art collective celebrates 20th anniversary with free Brussels exhibition

Legendary Belgian street art collective Farm Prod is marking its 20th anniversary with a free retrospective at LaVallée in Brussels from 1 to 30 September.

The show 20 years of Farm Prod presents two decades of work in a magnificent explosion of colour, creativity and humanity.

Staged in a vintage industrial space in Molenbeek that’s now an eclectic cultural venue, the collective was given carte blanche to decorate its immaculate walls.

A clever visual timeline intertwines the work of all members of the collective, both past and present. From the entrance of the building to the interior spaces and the courtyard, the monumental collection of artworks, video and archive photos reflect various inspirations.

However, the show also plunges the visitor into a wider perspective of the world of urban art. Between mural art and other art media, the public can discover the multiplicity of expressions present within the same artistic practice.

Be it gallery shows, monumental murals, custom orders or the organising of large-scale artistic events, the collective has created a strong but varied visual identity that is recognised around the world.

Farm Prod is responsible for numerous murals in Brussels, including 11 in the Parcours Bruegel, a tour of the Marolles neighborhood. As part of the Brussels Comic Strip Murals, it has completed the much loved Froed & Stoef mural.

The collective, which now consists of five members, is soon to have a new mural in the celebrated Brussels Street Art Parcours. Nationally, examples can be found in Mons, Halle and Louvain-La-Neuve, and internationally in Berlin, Dakar, Havana, Tulum and Katmandu.

Farm Prod member Guillaume Desmarets explained: “It’s more than an art collective, it’s about friendship, a bunch of friends who started 20 years ago to paint together, to work together, to party together, and then it became our job.”

Since then they have received commissions from the city, from private individuals and from abroad, even if family commitments mean they now spend more time in Belgium.  “For five years, we were all around, Nepal, Dakar, Brazil and other places. It was really fantastic but now we have kids and that means other responsibilities take over and we work closer to home.”

The month-long exhibition is accompanied by a packed programme of related activities: workshops for children and adults, festive get-togethers between the public and the artists and a concert.

In conjunction with the show, an illustrated book Farm Prod. In Paint We Trust has also been published.

20 years of Farm Prod
Until 30 September
LaVallée
Rue Adolphe Lavallée 39
Molenbeek

Photos: (main image) Farm Prod exhibition ©Clement Nourry; Charlie Boulangerie Bruxelles-2013 ©Gautier Houba; Louvain-La-Neuve; Semana Belga, Cuba 2018;