Stuff of Building: Deconstruction of the IJzertoren (1952-1965)

Stuff of building examines the rebuilding of the IJzertoren in Diksmuide, from the laying of the foundation stone in 1952 to its official inauguration in 1965, through the lens of construction-historical research. The exhibition doesn’t show the tower as a self-evident monument of a unified Flemish movement, but as a contested building site where architecture, technology, politics, and collective mobilization constantly intersect. Rebuilding the IJzertoren is understood as a process shaped by decisions, constraints, negotiations, and improvisations that accumulated throughout the act of building. 

The exhibition hinges on the tension between digital reconstruction and material evidence. Analytical and interpretative visualizations make hidden logics of this remarkable building site visible. Tube scaffolding becomes a scenographic stage, foundation piles become ceremonial symbols, and building materials become vehicles for sponsorship. At the same time, archival documents, site photographs, site objects, and propaganda material remind the visitor of the complexity and uncertainty of the visual narratives. 

What emerges is a layered history of labour, conflict, propaganda, technical ingenuity, financing, and material resistance. The IJzertoren appears as a process rather than a final image: a monument continually made, contested, and redefined during its reconstruction.

Willem Bekers is a post-doctoral research and teaching assistant at the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning. In this exhibition he revisits and builds on his doctoral research Architecture (de)mobilised : (digital) explorations of the Belgian (post-)military construction site (2024) in which the IJzertoren was one of several cases he studied.