CID – Grand Hornu

The CID – Centre d’Innovation et de Design (Center for innovation and design) at Grand Hornu is a cultural center established to promote contemporary design.

cover image: view of the Cathedral at Grand Hornu  © Grand-Hornu Images

History and site
The Grand Hornu is a former mining complex now converted into one of the most important centers for contemporary culture in Belgium. Located at a short distance from the cities of Mons and Valenciennes, the neoclassical building complex of the Grand Hornu, a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site from 2012, was built between 1810 and 1830 by entrepreneur Henri De Gorge as an “ideal industrial city”.
Indeed, the mining complex, based on utopian principles, along with factories and offices, included 450 houses for miners, each with a private garden, a school, a hospital, public spaces, a library, and a ballroom.

What to see at the CID Grand Hornu
In the mid-fifties the mining activity ceased, and from the 1970s the process to convert the complex into a cultural venue begun.
In the 1980s the non-profit association “Grand-Hornu Images”, now CID, was established in the place to promote culture and tourism on the site by organizing temporary exhibitions, mostly focused on the relationship between art and industry, as well as between product design and applied arts.

above, Grand Hornu, bird-eye view © Grand-Hornu Images

above, photo © Michel de Cubber © Grand-Hornu Images

 ‘Jasper Morrison –Thingness’, 2015, installation view, photo © David Marchal 

‘Design on Air’, 2019, installation view, © dbcreation  © stoz design

All images courtesy © Grand-Hornu Images