Today, art in public places, certainly in Sint-Niklaas, is almost always associated with sculptures in an urban setting, even though temporary and more ephemeral interventions are also a part of it. When the tradition of happenings and performances found a podium in galleries and museums during the 1960s and 1970s, this type of activity gradually disappeared from the street scene in the same way that political protests did.

WIT made up of Margot Dieleman, Stefaan van Biesen and Eric Windey, reintroduces a form of street performance on the occasion of Coup de Ville. WIT sources of inspiration are the Fluxus movement and the French Situationist international, which stubbornly explored the town and carried out their performances. WIT continuously examenes the fabric of the town, looking for dysfunction, imperfect aesthetic interventions and neglected spaces or locations that invite the making of a statement. What the team does, happens at irregular intervals, is short lived, and is in no way populist.

Although the action group is dressed in black and wears an armband with their logo, their methods are inclined towards a philosophy of peaceful resistance. Their actions are almost contemplative and occur without much noise, which means they function more like warnings. They hope to stimulate the consciousness of others with a small gesture, so that in future, change will occur. The actions are documented with photographs and video recordings, and they can be viewed on the website of the WARP art platform. The first action that WIT undertook, was placing a black armband around the crush barriers that so marred for many months the sculpture of Marin Kasimir on the station esplanade in Sint-Niklaas.

Stef Van Bellingen 2010. Text Catalogue Coup de Ville 2010.