Set in a former Citroën building in the north-west of the capital, the highly-anticipated venue promises to be more than just a place to see art. Merging art, architecture, performance, food and public space, Kanal looks to “redefine the role of public cultural space in Europe and beyond”.
“This project involved creating a brand for a cultural organism rather than a conventional institution,” says Dimitri Jeurissen, founding partner and ECD of Base Design.
“As the only museum of modern and contemporary art and architecture in Brussels, Kanal is committed to engaging with the city and its people in a way that is open, plural, and in constant evolution,” continues Yves Goldstein, general director at Kanal. “Our aim is not simply to show what is being created, but to connect it with the people for whom it exists, and to engage with their perspectives and points of view.”
Working with the passionate team at Kanal, Base Design devised a framework that lives up to the gallery’s lofty ambitions. Aligning with its dynamic output, the brand system takes the form of a full visual identity and “motion ecosystem”; a sound identity created in partnership with Kiosk Radio; a distinct and adaptable tone of voice; and a series of “behavioural principles that guide how Kanal acts, welcomes, engages and evolves”.
Motion in particular, was crucial in capturing the character of Kanal, with a suite of designs that reflect the overarching notion of the gallery as a “living organism”. This also follows from the central strategic concept of “flow and overflow”, which the designers say “conveys Kanal’s non-linear fluctuating energies, its openness to change, diversity and imperfection, and its mission to constantly evolve, always responding to the rhythm of the site and the city around it”.
Along with a diverse palette of colours, a broad range of typography, and imagery that moves between abstract, figurative and architectural, these elements create a “holistic” brand world that highlights and elevates the many different facets of Kanal.
With the gallery looking to open its doors at the end of this year, Base Design’s design director Thomas Leon says getting to this point has required constant and extensive collaboration.
“A project of this scale only comes to life through deep co-creation,” he notes. “The identity has been built together – with the Kanal team, with Brussels, with the building’s industrial heritage and with the partners who help it resonate. Our priority has been to articulate Kanal’s ambition as a generous, open public space for all residents of Brussels.”