Koopvaardijlaan
Tolerance zone
Since 2021, graffiti artists have been able to display their creativity at five public locations in Ghent. As it will no longer be possible to paint graffiti on the old gravel bins due to the construction of the Verapazbrug bridge, the City of Ghent has created a new graffiti area on Koopvaardijlaan.
To the left and to the right of the wall, you can already admire a lot of artworks that will be preserved, but artists can do their own thing on the wall itself. An information panel indicates where painting is allowed exactly.
On Friday 8 October 2021, sign painter Maarten Leenknecht (Letterknecht) from Ghent was the first to use the new graffiti area on Koopvaardijlaan by painting the slogan 'Graffiti will not be buffed but will surely be crossed', which means that works will not be removed but instead will be painted over. Since then any artist has been able to use the wall as their canvas.