On the 1st of April 1982, Erik Temmerman signed a long-term tenancy agreement for a period of 27 years with the Vooruit Cooperative. The idea was to fix up the Concertzaal and to organize parties there, which would provide the money needed to set up a cultural programme. The young guns had two goals: one, the preservation of the building, and two, to give the building a new impulse thanks to cultural events.
The Vooruit building has always been a determining factor in the Arts Centre’s enterprises. It the early days, it even served as the inspiration to undertake these enterprises: a few young idealists wanted to save the moribund building at all costs. It was only in 2000, with the completion of the restoration works and the subsequent increases in subsidies, that the building’s function as an arts centre has come to the fore. You might be tempted to think that a titanic building with 11 storeys and 367 rooms of all shapes and sizes presents a hindrance to the Performing Arts. True, the building is dominating, static and cannot host certain events. Especially seeing the ‘Feestlokaal van Vooruit’ was made a listed monument in 1983, meaning the building cannot be kneaded, reorganised or adapted in any way. But the building’s pains were turned into passions; programmers can choose theatres à la carte or use the entire building from top to bottom; and of course as a listed monument, Vooruit can target the heritage visitor.
The 80s were years of discovery. The young guns who reopened the doors to (or “squatted” according to less charitable interpretations) the derelict building in September 1982, learned by trial and error how to make the most of the immense building. It was a period of pioneering and experimentation, of guaranteeing a minimum level of safety and keeping the rain out at the same time. The infrastructure was surveyed floor by floor. The fact that the building was on its death bed also gave artists carte blanche to perform projects which later, in a restored and fully refurbished building, would not be possible. This guerrilla movement lead to the basketball-dance-music spectacle, Games Room; the exhibition in deliberate conflict with museum curator, Jan Hoet entitled, Initiatif d’Amis and the actors-objects-sculptures event, Altamira. Throughout all this artistic violence, the young Arts Centre began to reshape the building to its needs, for the restoration project was in sight.
Did photography save Vooruit? Maybe. According to legend, in the early 80s, two academy students sought shelter from the rain in Vooruit. They were so charmed by the building’s former glory that they began to take pictures. Their act quickly snowballed into an exhibition and a book and all of a sudden, all of Ghent noticed this magnificent building, albeit seriously the worse for wear, but which had immeasurable potential. And this in a city where young artists had to look for rehearsal and performance space with a magnifying glass! And this right at the time that the owner was toying with the idea of selling the loss-making and decaying Feestlokaal! In 1982, Vooruit was rescued, opening a new cultural chapter in Ghent. In 1983, the ‘Feestlokaal van Vooruit’ was designated as a listed monument.
