Atlas of Ovens: Companionships

How and what do we fire, with whom do we share the resulting warmth ? With Clémentine Vaultier and Maximiliaan Royakkers, we research how oven infrastructures can transform not only matter, but also our relationships to communities and territories. We do this by visiting ovens and  bakers, taking with us an ever growing atlas with archival images.

After having looked at brick ovens and domestic stoves, at ceramic practices and heath networks,  we were invited by arts centre VierNulVier to focus on bread ovens during the city festival Openbare Werken. We decided to work together with some actual bakers from Ghent, sharing and celebrating baking practices with archival images, bread tokens, and crocodile bread.

Bread crocodiles from Wetterse baker
Artistic catering throughout the festival

Looking for bakers, we discovered the beautiful shop of Wetterse Bakker, acting like a small exhibition of the art of baking. Behind the counter, we found Mahmout, a generous person and dedicated craftsman. One of his specialties is the surprise bread. Thanks to an exchange about different animal bread rituals, we can find around the world, he reworked his model for the city festival into a super deluxe and extra-large edition. Finally its crocodile and crab breads spread throughout the events and brightened up communal picnic moments, while a chapter of the Atlas of Ovens was on display in his bakery on Sint-Salvatorstraat.

Bakkers op grote schaal Vooruit

The arts centre VierNulVier is located in the people palace of Vooruit. This cooperative, that has defined the base of the current socialist movement, actually once started as a cooperative bakkery. 
May 15, 2025, we invited people for a collective visit to the bakery school of Ghent, accompanied by historian Peter Scholliers, who provided us with insights into the pioneering role that the  cooperative Vooruit played in the industrialization of the baking industry in Belgium.
The talk started by loading the oven with four breads, dressed with “patacons” made of former Vooruit bread tokens. Many bakers, including teachers, participated and shared their view on the history of bread production. The talk ended by unloading the oven and sharing the bread amongst all participants.

After all, we are daily companions
A bread ovens libretto

In Smorbrod bakery, customers are welcomed by two enormous bread ovens: an electric steam oven and a stone wood oven staring ahead, one still operational, the other a reminder of a previous venture.  Through a projection, these silent infrastructures came to life and engaged in conversation with each other. They reflected on the art of baking from the past and present, on technology and craftsmanship, convenience and romance, in short, small infrastructural stories that are hidden in this bakery. 

Crocodile bread from Mahmout from Wetterse bakker



A visit to the bakkery school of Ghent, with bread historian Peter Scholliers.


Stills from a bread ovens libretto, in Smorbrod.