Brussels, October 8: Symposium: Forming collections and purchasing policy

SYMPOSIUM: FORMING COLLECTIONS AND PURCHASING POLICY
Thursday 8 October from 10.00 to 17.00 in Flagey, Brussels

The Agency for Arts and Heritage of the Ministry of the Flemish community, The Institute for visual, audiovisual and media art (BAM) and FARO, the Flemish point of support for cultural heritage, have organised an international symposium on the collection and purchase of art and heritage by institutions and governments. The symposium will also examine the cultural and social significance of this subject, its relationship with private collections, and government policy on collecting and purchasing.

Keynote speakers: Hans Feys, Jan Debbaut, Fransje Kuyvenhoven and Christian Bernard. Other participants on the panel discussions include Dirk Snauwaert, Jef Cornelis, Paul Depondt, Phillip Van den Bossche, Manfred Sellink, Dirk Pültau, Koen Brams, Jan Debbaut, Joost De Clercq, Patrick De Rom, Dominique Allard, Björn Rzoska, Leen Van Dijck, Alfons K.L. Thijs, Hendrik Defoort and a representative from the General State Archives.

This symposium will take the current situation as its departure point and will also take a brief look at both the past and future of the Flemish Community's purchasing and collection policy within a broader policy framework (arts and heritage policy). Although the topic will be approached from an international perspective, the symposium will also look at practical examples and testimonies from the main protagonists in this story. Various keynote speakers will tell interesting stories and specialists will conduct an in-depth examination of various questions that are currently topical in Flanders within an international reference framework during three major panel discussions. Opportunities and problems surrounding collection policy in museums for visual art, the relationship between private and public collections and purchasing heritage will all be explored in detail during in-depth panel discussions. 

PROGRAMME

9.30
Welcome

10.05
Jos Van Rillaer, general administrator of the Agency for Arts and Heritage of the ministry of the Flemish community
Introduction and brief outline of the day's events

10.15
Keynote 1: Hans Feys, Agency for Arts and Heritage of the ministry of the Flemish Community
Brief history of the Flemish Community's purchasing and collection policy
With reflections from Jef Cornelis, Assessment Committee for Visual Art 1992-2002, Dirk Snauwaert, external curator for the purchase of contemporary art 2003-2005 and Manfred Sellink, artistic director, Stedelijke Musea Brugge

11.00
Keynote 2: Jan Debbaut, curator and professor at Groningen University, former director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and former director of collections at the Tate museum.
Purchasing for small or large museums: experiences, models and consequences.  

11.30
Break

11.50
Keynote 3: Christian Bernard, director of MAMCO, Geneva
About collection policy, private and public cooperation and present day opening and exhibiting policy.

12.30
Keynote 4: Fransje Kuyvenhoven, Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (Instituut Collectie Nederland).
The Dutch government's collection policy seen from a historical perspective

13.00
Lunch

14.00
Keynote 5: Jan Vaessen, former director of the Nederlands Openluchtmuseum Arnhem
lecture: 'De kruik ging zolang te water tot ze brak...'

14.30 PANELS

Panel 1: Collection policy in museums of visual art  
Moderator: Paul Depondt
Participants: Jan Debbaut, curator and professor at Groningen University
Phillip Van den Bossche, chief curator, MU.Zee Oostende, Manfred Sellink, senior curator, Stedelijke Musea Brugge, Koen Brams, director of the Jan van Eyck Academy, Maastricht and Dirk Pültau, editor-in-chief of De Witte Raaf.

Panel 2: The relationship between public and private collections
Moderator: Joost De Clercq, director/ curator of Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle
Participants: Patrick De Rom, art dealer and president of the Belgian Royal Chamber of Antiques Dealers, Dominique Allard, director of the King Baudouin Foundation, a collector (not yet known)

Panel 3: Collecting and purchasing heritage
Moderator: Björn Rzoska, employee of FARO
Participants: Leen Van Dijck, director of the Letterenhuis in Antwerp, Alfons K.L. Thijs, emeritus professor at Antwerp University, Hendrik Defoort, employee of Ghent University Library and a representative from the General State Archives

16.30
Conclusion

Chairperson
Mrs Marina Laureys, head of the Heritage Department at the Agency for Arts and Heritage of the ministry of the Flemish community.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION                             
When: Thursday 8 October 2009 from 10.00 to 17.00
Where: Flagey, Heilig Kruisplein, 1050 Brussels
How to reach it: Flageyplein in Elsene, bus 71 from central station, as well as buses 38, 59, 60 and tram 81.
Price: 20 EUR (this includes lunch, a document folder and catalogue) to be paid at the door.
To register: www.faronet.be/agenda
Official language: Dutch (Christian Bernard will give a lecture in French). Simultaneous translation into English will be provided in the morning.