The baths at Ostend.

baths at ostend_visit flanders & ostend
poster campaign_online video_social media_event_art_pr

Goal:

Drawing attention to Ostend, the hometown of Belgian painter James Ensor.

How:

Create a campaign that generates free publicity (earned media).
 
During the Belgian COVID-19 lockdown, people were longing to step out of their everyday isolated life to experience social interaction again. In the summer just after the first lockdown, 
we translated this strong societal need into a successful earned media campaign.
 
Hundreds of actors were needed for this project. So we launched a call that was as mocking as the spirit of the great master himself. We pushed the right button, apparently: the requests to take part in this exuberant setting were overwhelming.
 
The participants could play a role in a contemporary version of Ensor’s well-known painting ‘The Baths of Ostend’. The Belgian photographer Athos Burez was the new master of this artwork. At first glance, the work is a tribute to the old painting. But Burez gave it a contemporary touch. He subtly and satirically shows the clichés of our society and addresses themes such as fugitives, pollution, mass tourism and inclusion.

client: visit flanders & ostend_elke dens_ tama d'haen_vincent buyssens_jorinde verpoorten_pieter hens_isolde simoens
artist & photographer: athoz burez
special thanks to_creator network_glints_robin stevens_all actors, extra's, stylists, make-up artists, art directors, set dressers en all people involved

The result.
The call for actors and the shooting days became the talk of the town and got picked up by (inter)national media. Athos Burez’s artworks became the centerpiece of the following exhibition in the Ensor House.