Table Setting #3 Sophia Holst

In late summer, architect and researcher Sophia Holst will be the third architect to take part in Table Setting. In this exhibition series, young designers from Flanders and Brussels will take up position on the square in front of De Singel, using a set of display tables and accompanying attributes. In Table Setting #3, Holst turns the spotlight on the often overlooked rooftop landscape of De Singel. In doing so, she examines the untapped potential of public outdoor space on the arts campus.

Rooftop landscape in focus
In Table Setting #3 Sophia Holst examines the public route that Léon Stynen and Paul De Meyer designed half a century ago on the roof of De Singel. This little-used outdoor space meanders around and between the theatre and the concert hall of the arts campus, through the quiet inner garden and the noise of the Ring. Working in close collaboration with Holst, photographer Illias Teirlinck captured a series of remarkable perspectives in the rooftop landscape. The dimensions of the table – a constant in the exhibition series – determine the portrait proportions of the images, which form both a first section and a foundation for a series of ideas.

Hypothetical use scenarios
Holst reinterprets the rooftop landscape of De Singel by manipulating the architectural elements in the photographs as she draws. She imagines hypothetical use scenarios, elaborates on existing elements and sometimes suggests completely different scale levels. In doing so she explores, tests and questions the boundaries of public space. Holst presents her ideas in an idiosyncratic composition of tables and benches on the square in front of De Singel. The installation deliberately seeks out the contrast between the distinctive but relatively hidden spaces of the rooftop route and the busy but inhospitable exhibition area of the asphalt square.

Sophia Holst
Sophia Holst is a Dutch architect and researcher based in Brussels. Holst holds a Master’s in Fine Arts (Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam) and Architecture (KU Leuven, Brussels). She has previously worked with Studio Anne Holtrop, NU architectuuratelier and CRIT. architects, among others. She was one of the laureates of FORMAT 2019 (Z33, Hasselt) and she completed a residency at the Jan Van Eyck Academie in Maastricht.

Holst is currently developing a distinctive and multifaceted architecture and research practice. Working from a transdisciplinary perspective and using various media, she aims to reveal, question and test the political and ideological structures underlying urban space. Through research, exhibitions and implemented projects, she not only navigates a distinctive course within the disciplines of architecture and urbanism, but also constantly questions them.