#1 History and structure of the Flemish art scene

By Eva Wittocx

Among the modern-art crowd, Belgium is known as the country with that 'surrealist' lineage: James Ensor - René Magritte - Marcel Broodthaers. While this is certainly a fine compliment for three artists of far-reaching significance, a great deal has changed in this country, which has been a crossroads of the Roman and Germanic cultures, a key logistic point between Great Britain, Germany and France, and home to the European Community.

The art scene in Flanders is just as diverse and complex as the region itself. Ever since Belgian independence was declared in 1830, the country has been made up of two language groups, the Dutch-speaking and the French-speaking, situated in its northern and southern areas respectively. During the second half of the twentieth century, Belgium became a federal state in which specific areas of policy were assigned to the two communities. Since the late 1980s, culture has consequently been subject to regional authorities, its autonomous policy being stipulated by the Flemish and the French-speaking communities. This division resulted in different policies on each side of the linguistic border. In Flanders the budget for culture has risen considerably since the 1980s, and in recent years the government has significantly professionalised its support of contemporary visual art. Both languages are represented in the capital Brussels, where cultural initiatives receive support from the Flemish or the French Community; in some cases, the two communities jointly support cultural organisations. In this publication we are limiting our scope to Flanders and Brussels. The French-speaking Community in Belgium has its own sources of information on its policy and on people and organisations active in the contemporary visual arts in French-speaking Brussels and Wallonia (Le Service des Arts plastiques du Ministère de la Communauté française de Belgique/ www.artsplastiques.cfwb.be).

 

1.1. History

At the end of the 1950s and in the 1960s, an avid group of collectors, art enthusiasts and galleries in Belgium (e.g. Vereniging voor het Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst in Ghent, and the galleries Wide White Space in Antwerp, and MTL in Brussels) actively set up projects and invited artists to participate.

Not until the mid 1970s, much later than in other European countries, was the first museum for contemporary art (today's S.M.A.K.) founded by the municipal government of Ghent. Jan Hoet became its director. The Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (MuHKA) opened during the mid 1980s, founded by the Flemish government and initiated on the basis of developments at Antwerp's ICC. Flor Bex, from the ICC, became its director. Currently the MuHKA and the S.M.A.K. are Flanders' two most important museums of contemporary art. Almost at the same time, the Province of West Flanders set up the Museum for Modern Art (today's Kunstmuseum aan zee) in Ostend. There the collection focuses largely on modernism in Belgium and bridges the gap between that period and the art of today.

Although during this period the system of funding was by no means as extensive as it is today, the art scene was characterised by creativity and diversity. A great many organisers, artists, critics, collectors and others launched numerous remarkable exhibition projects and initiatives. This gave rise to a rich climate marked by a sense of enterprise and personal involvement. A number of motivated individuals set up their own organisations, consolidated funds and sought affiliation with an international network. In 1986 Jan Hoet produces Chambres d'amis in Ghent's private homes and, in 1992, is asked to head the Documenta in Kassel. Jan Debbaut, later to become director of the Van Abbemuseum and of the Tate Collection, organises major exhibitions at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Chris Dercon brings attention to younger artists with exhibitions such as Doch Doch, held during the 'Klapstuk' festival in Leuven. As quite a few of these figures move on to higher positions within the country and abroad, this enterprising mentality is passed on, resulting in new artists' initiatives, non-profit organisations, one-man organisations and ad-hoc projects during the 1990s. In Brussels, the artists Alec Debusschère, Christoph Draeger and Delphine Bedel start Etablissement d'en face in 1991. Together with the Kanaal Foundation, Cathy De Zegher organises the group exhibition Inside the Visible in Kortrijk in 1996. Barbara Vanderlinden founds Roomade in 1996, developing a range of international projects such as Laboratorium. In 1997 she becomes curator of Manifesta 2. Philippe Pirotte, Win Van den Abeele and Patrick Van Rossem start the initiative Objectif in 1999. Wim Peeters produces several exhibitions at the NICC and founds Extra City in 2004; both in Antwerp. In combination with an increasing number of artists on the international scene, this network constitutes a very interesting breeding ground. The creativity of the 'do-it-yourself' attitude continues to be part of the local art scene's identity to this day. Even now there are several small, special initiatives spread throughout Flanders and Brussels, all of them arising from the enthusiasm and ideas of one person or more.

1.2. The art scene as a combined action of participants

Visual art organisations

At the end of the 1990s, the Flemish government decides to give a number of organisations recognition and structural support in the form of a 'centre for visual art'. Six highly diverse organisations scattered throughout Flanders receive, for the first time, financing for an annual programme: Kunsthalle Lophem, near Bruges; the multidisciplinary centre Netwerk, in Aalst; the archive databank on contemporary visual art Kunstonline in Ghent; the artists' collective NICC in Antwerp; Argos, which focuses on video and visual art; and Roomade, in Brussels, which sets up international projects. The diversity of these organisations and the government's visual-art policy, still in the making, has advantages and disadvantages. In Flanders, there is no structured network of places for art, such as the FRACs in France or the Kunstvereins in Germany. What can be found is single-mindedness, but also freedom in organising places for the display of contemporary art in all shapes and sizes.

Today, in 2008, roughly twenty organisations for visual art are structurally supported by the Flemish government. Newcomers are often smaller non-profit organisations and existing initiatives receiving limited support. These include Objectif Exhibitions in Antwerp, Etablissement d'en face, CCNOA, OKNO (the latter three based in Brussels); Voorkamer in Lier, the artists' space Croxhapox in Ghent, the exhibition programmes of Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens in Deurle, Z33 in Hasselt and the cultural centre of Strombeek; and the exhibition spaces connected with educational programmes at Sint-Lucas and KASK in Ghent (Witte Zaal and KIOSK respectively) and Sint-Lukas in Brussels (Sint-Lukasgalerie). Existing along with these, and financed by other local governments, are a number of interesting places, such as Antwerp's Middelheimmuseum, BE-PART in Waregem or De Garage , affiliated with the cultural centre of Mechelen.

In addition to these smaller players, a few organisations are able to continue developing towards a larger scale: Argos, in Brussels, which recently opened a new space and expanded its exhibition programme; and Netwerk, in Aalst, which shows a wide range of young Belgian and foreign artists.

An investment is also being made in two larger spaces for art. Wiels, in Brussels, and Extra City in Antwerp, both recently renovated are developing more ambitious and international programmes.

Aside from the centres for visual art as presentation platforms, the government has also been investing, since 2004, in a number of workplaces focusing on research, reflection and the support and guidance of artists. Organisations such as the artists' collective NICC, the international artists' residence project AIR Antwerpen, the development-and-presentation space Lokaal 01 (all three in Antwerp), workplace FLACC in Genk, the social/artistic workplace Firefly, the new media centres Constant and FoAM (all three in Brussels) support both Belgian and foreign artists in contexts where the process, the exploration or creation predominates over the ultimate presentation.

Flanders has about five specialised publications for visual art: Openbaar Kunstbezit Vlaanderen (OKV) which also covers older and modern visual art (ten issues annually); De Witte Raaf, which publishes more in-depth articles touching on cultural philosophy and sociology (six issues annually); A Prior, a magazine which dedicates each issue to a limited number of artists or initiatives (two issues annually); Gagarin, which allows the artists themselves to speak (two issues annually); and ‹H›ART, a magazine for contemporary art, which keeps a close watch on current developments in visual art (fifteen issues annually).

In 2001, the government set up a support centre for visual art: IBK, which recently merged with IAK into BAM, the Flemish institute for visual, audiovisual and media art. This centre offers professional information to the sector, informs the outside world (nationally and internationally) about that sector, stimulates local and international networking and works together with the sector and its policymakers on further professionalisation. The artists' representative NICC and the professional consultative platform VOBK keep a critical eye on policies.

Visual art in other disciplines and forms of presentation

Centres offering other disciplines such as film, new media, theatre, dance or music frequently provide the field of visual art with impulses and an interesting context. In Brussels one can hardly avoid the federal institution Centre for Fine Arts which functions like a big machine for concerts, exhibitions, performing arts and film in countless rooms. Other centres of art have exhibition programmes of autonomous visual art but seek, through special formats, connections with other disciplines as well.

At deSingel, in Antwerp, the exhibitions organised by Moritz Küng reflect a particular concern for architecture. The arts centre STUK, in Leuven, has an exhibition space and offers a programme involving solo exhibitions of young Belgian and foreign artists. In addition to this, STUK programmes the media festival Artefact and the festival Playground, which focus on the common ground between visual art, performance art and the performing arts. The cultural centre of Bruges offers regular exhibitions. Arts centres such as Vooruit in Ghent, the Beursschouwburg and KVS in Brussels, de Warande in Turnhout, Buda in Kortrijk or the Concertgebouw in Bruges offer programmes by or involving artists on a regular basis. These are usually based on particular themes, routes, integrations or collaborations among different disciplines, often within the context of certain festivals, separate from any ongoing exhibition programme.

Flanders also has quite a number of festivals, biennials and triennials. They play an important role in the distribution and broadening of visual art, providing impulses to the local art scene and seeking connections with current international developments. For Beaufort, the triennial art route along the coastline, internationally recognised artists integrate work into public space. The point of departure for Hasselt's Triënnale is to combine visual art, fashion and design. The Poëziezomers have take place in Watou, in West Flanders, for the past twenty years. There art and poetry were combined, sometimes under the direction of an internationally known guest curator. The biennial Contour focuses on art and the moving image - video, film and installations - situated along a route of historical locations in the centre of Mechelen. The prize for 'Young Belgian Painting', awarded in Brussels every two years, involves an exhibition for young artists who live and work in Belgium and are  emerging locally and internationally. This event has been in existence for more than fifty years, but now the prizes are being awarded by an international jury and the focus goes well beyond painting. At the end of 2008, the first edition of the ambitious Brussels Biennial will be held. Aside from having an artistic and international character, this biennial will be a meeting point for various organisations and collaborations in and around Brussels.

Collectors and galleries

The art scene in Flanders involves the combined activities of artists, subsidised museums and organisations, but also private collectors and commercial galleries. Just like the French-speaking half of the country, Flanders has an exceptionally large number of collectors who play an important role in supporting young artists. Along with many who collect on a smaller and moderately large scale, there are some whose private collections have museum status, such as those of Anton and Annick Herbert and Herman Daled. While a few of them, such as Lieven Declerq and Roger Matthys, occasionally show their works in exhibitions, others have recently opened spaces of their own for alternating displays of work. Among those are Walter Vanhaerents in Brussels, and Mark Vanmoerkerke in Ostend. These private initiatives, involving numerous major groups of work by internationally renowned artists, complement the collections, research and exhibitions of the museums. Some, such as Espeel's non-profit Arteconomy, also support artists in their production and research. In addition to the private collectors, a great many banks and other holding companies, such as Dexia, ING, Belgacom and Cera, own impressive international collections of art.

Our country also has a number of outstanding galleries; an extensive town-by-town description of those in Flanders and Brussels can be found in the next chapter. Quite a number of galleries are present at major art fairs, such as Art Basel and LISTE, ARCO, the Frieze Art Fair, FIAC, Artforum, The Armory Show or at the many off-site fairs. Over the past several years, the international art fair artbrussels has grown considerably in terms of quality and is now among the major ones on the international calendar. Every year artbrussels moreover offers a varied supplementary program of lectures, debates and visits to public and private collections.

Artists

Flanders has many highly rated art schools situated in Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent. Guidance in the studios is given by known and internationally active artists. Only a fraction of the countless artists who graduate from these art schools continue on to a postgraduate program with an international character, such as the HISK (Higher Institute for Fine Arts) in Ghent, or to 'studio' programs at, for instance, the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht or the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. Aside from about 250 artists who are professionally active but chiefly exhibiting in Belgium, there are many whose work is frequently shown abroad or represented by galleries abroad. Some of them, including Luc Tuymans, Wim Delvoye, David Claerbout, Jan Fabre, Annie-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Koen van den Broek, Hans Op de Beeck, Jan De Cock and Michaël Borremans, are major figures in the art world. For such a small region, Flanders is prominently represented on the international scene with so many formidable artists. And a whole crop of young emerging artists might just arrive there as well.

Every year the Flemish government awards about a hundred grants to artists living in Flanders or Brussels; these range from smaller or development-oriented ones to others aimed at 'long-range' growth. There is also the possibility of obtaining project-based support for specific productions, exhibitions, research or presentations abroad. The Flemish community furthermore awards grants annually to young artists for a residence at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, Platform Garanti in Istanbul and ISCP in New York. Many foreign artists have been based in Brussels and Flanders for years. This region's central location makes it very attractive to younger as well as better-known foreign artists. They are an important part of the local community of artists.

International situation

The various urban centres of this region, namely Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent are located within a 100-kilometer radius of each other, comparable to that of different boroughs in London or New York. For that reason, one can scarcely talk about individual art scenes in Antwerp, Brussels or Ghent - more about a Belgian, French-speaking or Flemish art world. The concentration of exhibition spaces, initiatives and artists in Flanders is exceptionally high in comparison to other European regions. Brussels, the capital of Belgium (and of Europe, for that matter) lies at the centre of this triangle and is the only city that can be called a metropolis. Nonetheless, Brussels and Flanders can hardly compete with other major 'art' cities such as London, Paris or the German cities along the Ruhr.

A Peripheral Region at the Centre

The region's central location in Europe makes it possible to travel from Brussels to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne or Düsseldorf in a mere two hours. Unlike these other major cities, Flanders has no large machinelike museums, no vast spaces for temporary exhibitions or broadly historic collections of art, such as those of the Centre Pompidou, K20-K21, Museum Ludwig or the Tate Modern. What Flanders has to offer by being situated near these major cities is a diverse network of smaller and more significant players - each having a unique profile and programme - in combination with many artists with international potential. Its central location automatically prompts players in Flanders to look beyond the country's borders. They keep a close watch on international projects and tendencies, prospect in neighbouring countries and build a network of foreign contacts. During the 1990s quite a few Belgian curators were being hired for interesting positions abroad: Chris Dercon (Witte de With and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, Haus der Kunst in Munich), Dirk Snauwaert (Kunstverein München and Institut d'Art Contemporain Villeurbanne), Cathy De Zegher (The Drawing Centre, New York), Hilde Teerlinck (FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais). A younger generation, including Philippe Pirotte (Kunsthalle, Bern) and Ann Demeester (De Appel, Amsterdam), were given the opportunity to head fairly large organisations abroad. Eva González-Sancho , active as a curator in Brussels for many years, currently runs the FRAC Bourgogne in Dijon. This tendency has recently been seen in reverse as well: Anselm Franke (Extra City, Antwerp), Mai Abu ElDahab (Objectif Exhibitions, Antwerp) and Katerina Gregos (Argos, Brussels and Contour, Mechelen) moved to Belgium for directors' positions aimed at greater affiliation with the international art scene.

International scope

The international networking of organisations in Flanders varies considerably. Almost all of them present a programme involving both local and foreign artists. The museums maintain good contacts with other museums of their kind abroad and sometimes collaborate with foreign partners on the organisation of travelling exhibitions. Most exhibiting institutions uphold contacts and exchange information with similar ones in other countries.

It is unusual, though, that the Flemish who go abroad do keep in touch with the scene here and thereby encourage internationalisation. The potential for international growth by way of collaboration and passing on contacts often remains undeveloped, however. But as a younger generation of curators from within the country and abroad begins to take the lead heading museums and other important organisations - that now seems to be improving.

 

 

#2 Geographic Survey of Organisations and Initiatives

By Marc Ruyters

Any foreign visitor who comes here looking for contemporary art will find a first-rate, rich, original and broad range of options. But all of them are on a relatively small scale: no mammoth museums, gigantic exposition halls, no galleries with staffs of twenty, no billionaire collectors, but a great number of artists who are internationally very well known and, at the same time, much older and younger artists working internationally and producing art that is highly esteemed by curators, critics, collectors and others in the field.

This informative segment of the text is primarily intended as an efficient guide to the Flanders and Brussels regions for the foreign visitor. Interesting locations where art can be seen are placed in their geographical contexts: Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent.

Brussels

Brussels has various 'establishments' for contemporary art. Internationally, the best known is the Museum of Modern Art which is part of Belgium's Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, one of the bilingual federal cultural institutions. This museum collects top works by modern and contemporary Belgian artists who have acquired an international reputation: from Marcel Broodthaers and Pierre Alechinsky to Panamarenko. The nearby Centre for Fine Arts (CFA) is headed by director Paul Dujardin and is also a federal institution. The CFA organises historical and contemporary exhibitions. Their program of large-scale exhibitions frequently highlights European and other countries. An interesting newcomer is the art centre Wiels in Vorst, headed by Dirk Snauwaert; this intends to serve as a place for exhibitions having the utmost concern for well-chosen artists, both national and international. At the same time, considerable attention is being given to the effects of art education and dialogue with local neighbourhoods. Since 2008 Wiels has moreover been developing an international residency programme for artists. The experiment by Wiels is both fascinating and risky: here the government (mainly the Flemish, but also the French-speaking) and the private sector joined forces to support the project.

A great deal was also expected of the Brussels Biennial, an initiative supported by the Flemish Community, which began in late 2008 and involving numerous collaborations with organisations in Brussels and institutions abroad.

Visual art and audiovisual media are the focus of arts centre Argos. Having started as a distribution centre for video in 1989, it has now developed into a place for the display, conservation and archiving of audiovisual and media art, as well as a public multimedia library. The centre moreover serves as a meeting place for creation and discussion. On a smaller scale, the art centre Etablissement d'en face experiments with various forms of visual art and mainly develops them as projects; and the Sint-Lukasgalerie regularly holds solo exhibitions of work by artists from within the country and abroad. In the past few years, smaller organisations such as Komplot and SECONDroom have also been active in Brussels. Komplot is a collective of curators who organise contemporary art activities infiltrating the public space and institutions. Every Saturday, SECONDroom holds a different presentation of an artist in an exhibition space at the arts centre Recyclart.

Brussels also has an extensive gallery scene with Dutch-speaking, French-speaking and foreign owners . A number of fairly large galleries (Xavier Hufkens, Galerie Greta Meert, Baronian_Francey) promote established Belgian and internationally known artists. Some others (Jan Mot, aliceday, Galerie Les filles du calvaire, GALERIE CATHERINE BASTIDE, Galerie Erna Hécey, CROWN GALLERY or dépendance) have more experimental programmes and present young Belgian artists.

In the vicinity of Brussels, there are also a few interesting sites for contemporary art. The cultural centre Strombeek has formed an alliance with the arts centre De Garage in Mechelen. Together they often organise thematic group and solo exhibitions of artists. In Leuven the arts centre STUK has an annual programme of visual art, involving solo exhibitions of international artists and a concern for crossovers with other genres of art, particularly the performing arts.

We shall not be examining the wide range of French-language initiatives in Brussels and Wallonia, but we would like to mention a few interesting places. In Brussels there are Atelier 340 Muzeum, Contretype, Centre Culturel du Botanique, iMAL and ISELP. In Liège there is l'Espace 251 Nord and the nadjaVilenne gallery , which draws visitors from the Meuse region in the Walloon provinces, the southern part of the Netherlands and along the border with Germany. In Charleroi there is the Musée de la Photographie and the curator Pierre-Olivier Rollin is trying to develop the B.P.S.22 into a regional location for international exhibitions. Housed in the former mine site Grand-Hornu is the Musée des Arts Contemporains (MAC's) where director Laurent Busine is building a representative collection of mainly Walloon, but also Flemish and internationally known contemporary artists.

Antwerp

The harbour city Antwerp, only forty kilometres north of Brussels, is mainly known as a centre for diamonds and fashion, but an interesting contemporary art scene has developed there and is becoming increasingly international. The heart of the visual arts can be found in Zuid, a beautiful older district that came about during the nineteenth century. The oldest part of the harbour used to be located here, and the many warehouses have been ideal structures for museums and galleries. Three major museums are situated in this area, all within walking distance of each other: the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, the FotoMuseum and the MuHKA. The MuHKA's collection has been built around the collection of the Gordon Matta-Clark Foundation and includes work by every great Belgian artist and many international ones. Artistic director Bart De Baere has also introduced an entire process for developing various ways of thinking about the role of contemporary art in society. Literally an outsider, due to its location in a park on the south side of Antwerp, the Middelheimmuseum is building a major collection of modern and contemporary sculpture.
Antwerp furthermore can boast of having the most active gallery scene, with Zeno X Gallery, Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Stella Lohaus Gallery, TIM VAN LAERE GALLERY and KORAALBERG playing an important role in supporting their artists. Galerie Annie Gentils, Galerie Annette De Keyser, Geukens & De Vil, Kusseneers Gallery, MAES & MATTHYS GALLERY, Dagmar De Pooter Gallery and Office Baroque Gallery are among the many other galleries offering a program of young and emerging artists. And galerie De Zwarte Panter , the city's oldest gallery, is mainly known for its low threshold and its concern for local artists, including Fred Bervoets.

Other initiatives are Hessenhuis, a place for younger artists to display work, and Ruimte Morguen, a presentation site among galleries in Zuid. Two organisations focus on artists' residences: AIR Antwerpen, located in the harbour district, houses a number of studio/apartments for Belgian but especially foreign artists. Lokaal 01, affiliated with a similar type of space in Breda (in the Netherlands) invites artists to work on specific projects in their space; these are then shown for a short period.

Two important centres for contemporary art are no longer located in Zuid, but in the older neighbourhoods of the city. The largest is Extra City, housed in a former bottling plant in the northern part of Antwerp and showing mainly group exhibitions that are research-oriented and well contextualised. Objectif Exhibitions , in the centre of Antwerp, is smaller and mainly aims for solo exhibitions of younger international artists. Both Extra City and Objectif Exhibitions are headed by young artistic directors from abroad: the German Anselm Franke and the Egyptian Mai Abu ElDahab, respectively.

Mechelen offers, in addition to the arts centre De Garage, two other major initiatives: the biennial for video art Contour, which always involves a different internationally known curator, and the gallery TRANSIT.

A number of interesting initiatives are also based in the province of Limburg; these have strong ties with the Eindhoven-Maastricht-Aachen-Cologne region. Among the more important is Z33, in Hasselt, where both solo and group exhibitions are held and consideration is given to the relationship between art and design. Another is FLACC, in Genk, a workplace for visual artists, who are given time and space to develop and realise new projects.

Ghent

Ghent is no longer the most important Flemish city for contemporary art, yet it does remain the most famous. The city largely owes this to the figure Jan Hoet who, as director of S.M.A.K. until 2003, headed this institution for roughly twenty-five years. S.M.A.K.'s collection begins with World War I and covers the entire twentieth century, from CoBRA to the most recent tendencies, and focuses on major groups of work by Marcel Broodthaers, Joseph Beuys, Arte Povera and Panamarenko. By way of several high-profile exhibitions, such as Chambres d'amis, and his artistic directorship of Documenta IX in 1992, Hoet gave his museum a worldwide reputation. Now at the helm is artistic director Philippe Van Cauteren, who has plans for expanding the museum as he implements an intensive exhibition policy that bears relevance to the times.

Also based in Ghent is the HISK, where Belgian and international artists can do a two-year postgraduate programme. Croxhapox is a small but dynamic arts centre which mainly serves as a forum for younger artists. Existentie (X=10C) is a comparable platform, where young curators, art historians and artists can collaborate on exhibitions, debates and publications. Furthermore, the Witte Zaal, an exhibition space affiliated with the art academy Sint-Lucas, offers a varied program that is often conceived by guest curators. The art school KASK in Ghent invites younger local artists for a specific presentation at KIOSK, a kind of greenhouse near the school building. The policy carried out by the organisation Zebrastraat is very broad, on the other hand, sometimes including fascinating historical and media-art exhibitions. Occasionally, the Caermersklooster provides high quality exhibitions of contemporary art.

Despite the presence of S.M.A.K. and HISK, Ghent's gallery scene is rather modest in scope. Hoet-Bekaert Gallery and Tatjana Pieters/OneTwenty are, though young, the city's leading galleries. Located in the vicinity of Ghent, in the province of East Flanders, are a few other interesting institutions. The Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens can be found in Deurle; this has developed around a private collection of primarily Flemish modern art, more specifically the first and second generations of the Latem School. This museum has moreover acquired a reputation as a place for the display of contemporary art, keeping close watch on new forms of painting, sculpture and installation art. Nearby, the Roger Raveel Museum tries to create a dialogue between the work of Roger Raveel and other artists. The centre for contemporary art Netwerk is situated in Aalst and invests in the younger generation of artists, both Belgians and emerging artists from abroad. At Netwerk they are given the opportunity to create new work, to reside there and to compile evening programmes involving other disciplines as well.

In the province of West Flanders, the new elan of the Kunstmuseum aan zee in Ostend is beginning to take shape with its new artistic director Phillip Van den Bossche, who wants to bridge the gap between modern art (with such Ostend figures as James Ensor, Léon Spilliaert and Constant Permeke) and contemporary art. The museum owns a major collection of Belgian art spanning the entire twentieth century. In Waregem BE-PART is a centre for contemporary art and an artists' residence, which works with guest curators and moreover shows concern for artists from the region. And DEWEER gallery, in Otegem, can be considered one of the most important established galleries in Belgium. To conclude, the cosmopolitan seaside town of Knokke offers dozens of commercial galleries selling the big international names. The best-known of these are the galleries of Guy Pieters, Patrick de Brock, Mulier Mulier, André Simoens and Stephane Simoens.

 

#3 The Artists

By Marc Ruyters

From the 1960s to the 80s, a strong generation of artists emerged in Flanders and in Brussels, yet any real breakthrough to the international top remained difficult for them during that period. For many, recognition came only later, when the local and international climate became more favourable. Brilliantly unimaginable contraptions of Panamarenko, socially critical interventions by Jef Geys, fragile compositions of Guy Mees, well-considered videos and sculptures by Lili Dujourie, sculptures by Bernd Lohaus, the paintings of Fred Bervoets, Raoul de Keyser and Roger Raveel: these would not appear in biennials and/or documentas until the artists had reached a certain age.

Not until the late 1980s/early 90s, when the beginnings of a museum structure could be discerned in Flanders and the Flemish government started implementing an active art policy (e.g. by way of its presence at the Sao Paulo Biennial and Flemish 'fringe' exhibitions during the various editions of the Venice Biennial) did a number of artists gain international recognition. Aside from the artists mentioned above, from Panamarenko and Bernd Lohaus to Jef Geys, a whole succession of others acquired international reputations. Jan Fabre gave shape to an environment of his own via nearly obsessive visual and stage-oriented work. Guillaume Bijl would produce a singular blend of installation, performance, sculpture and concept art, in which reality is given a subtle twist time and again. Through sculptures, drawings and paintings Thierry De Cordier seeks his own intimate place of refuge where he cultivates his Flemish roots and subjects the organic aspect of this world to an investigation which is both artistic and 'mystical'. Jan Vercruysse reflects on the meaning of the (self-) portrait and the position of art (and the artist) in such a pointed manner that he arrives at solitary yet extremely precise photographic works and sculptures. With his very broad interpretation of the notion 'pedestal', Didier Vermeiren would give new dimension to the very idea 'sculptural'. The paintings and installations of Philippe Van Snick, Narcisse Tordoir and Walter Swennen, which strip down and criticise the achievements of painting, later prove to be a thriving breeding ground for the next generation of artists.

For that generation combined, and still combines, greater self-awareness with a more favourable media climate, and painter Luc Tuymans has been its key figure. He would create a new and internationally influential combination of painting, concept and social/political commentary that gave rise to the term 'interim image', the phase between image and depiction. Tuymans began to analyse the ideology of visual language in order to approach that language with his own involvement, so as to 'manipulate the manipulator'. Several years later, painters such as Jan Van Imschoot and Michaël Borremans rose to the challenge, each in his own way, and caused the long-suppressed term 'aesthetics' to acquire a new dimension. While Tuymans resolutely dismissed any reference to a 'school' or a 'style', a group of painters nonetheless took shape around the idea of 'the pictorial'. Here painting was done from a photograph, not necessarily taken by the artist: Guy Van Bossche, Bert De Beul, Eddy De Vos, Patrick Vanden Eynde, Joris Ghekiere, Ronny Delrue and many others triggered a real boom. At times it seemed as though the Flemish contemporary art scene was also internationally dominated by this 'new painting'.

At the same time, another group of artists began to draw attention due to their strong individualism. With the apparent decline in ideologies, ideas such as 'style' and 'genre' seemed to lose meaning as well, to the benefit of a more personal artistic realm. Ultimately, it would become evident that a sense of the universal can even lie in the personal. Berlinde De Bruyckere began to produce sculptural installations in which humanity, in its fragile and vulnerable state, undergoes abuse, death and suffocating existence. Honoré δ'O makes his own world of thought visible by transforming rapid mental processes into a world of found and reworked materials. Ria Pacquée uses herself as a nameless role model in order to deconstruct the banality of her social environment. The expressive universe of Patrick Van Caeckenbergh is situated somewhere between the Milky Way and a dark little mouse hole, half-hidden behind a baseboard. Wim Delvoye deals with the make-believe world of marketing, pop culture and mediatisation by producing a treacherous copy of it. Franky DC examines, almost in an obsessive way, how the colour orange frequently crops up in advertising and design, announcing a new period of false cheer each time. Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven takes on a quest for the role of perversion, sexual oppression and the mythical image of women throughout the centuries. Dora Garcia explores situations or contexts that question the traditional relationship between the artist, the artwork and the viewer. In his video work Koen Theys comments on icons from the art world, combining images in such a way that new connotations arise.

Even so, the formal would surface once again - not with noncommittal form, but form as a means of personal exchange. That also appeared in the work of a few artists who had close links with architecture. Luc Deleu began to conceive of utopian urban environments ('orbanism', a contraction of 'orbis' and 'urbis', world and city) based on the virtually traditional language of architectural symbols. Aglaia Konrad intervenes in human (living) spaces by introducing small, obstinate shifts. Richard Venlet leaves behind nearly invisible traces in a space, yet these are almost entirely redrawn. Christoph Fink ventures to travel in the world, and the dimensions of space and time are riveted together in a three-dimensional rendering of indicated times and geographical coordinates.

With a number of artists, the medium of photography also took on the confrontation with architecture. In the work of Niels Donckers and Bert Danckaert, for instance, traces of human presence in a domesticated world are pointed out (or obscured) to varying extents; each has his own way of doing this. The work of Dirk Braeckman is very different on the other hand: his photographs opt for the seemingly fleeting moment and for suggestiveness. Just as he himself seems to climb right into the 'skins' of his subjects, the surface (or 'skin') of his images is shrouded in a unique, recognisable, darkly matte, silver-grey haze. Once again, the idea of 'aesthetics' emerges here; after an absence of several decades, this is gradually finding its way back into visual art. After the concept, after social/political involvement, it's time for aesthetics to demand rights again. We also see it in the sculptures of Philip Aguirre y Otegui, in the images of Paul Casaer and in the miniature paintings of Robert Devriendt.

Artistic production is flourishing today in Flanders and in Brussels at an uncommonly high level. A younger generation of artists is working professionally and internationally. For them, the phenomenon of networking (which has, for that matter, always existed, though the 'inner circle' used to be smaller) has become a standard and indispensable way in which to establish contacts with other artists, curators, collectors, critics, museums and centres for the arts. Both nationally and internationally, those networks sometimes seem to function in subtle ways, as commercial and artistic interests intersect with ease and equivalence, to a much greater extent than in the past. Among this generation, two artists can now consider themselves internationally recognised: Jan De Cock and David Claerbout. De Cock has already exhibited in the world's largest art institutions (Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, Tate Modern in London, MoMA in New York). In his photographs, installations and constructions, he takes on the encounter with contemporary art's dominance by juxtaposing it with the canon of modernism. De Cock literally traps highly esteemed art institutions by, for example, building wooden constructions in and around them. David Claerbout explores the distinctions between photography and film, between static and moving images, between architecture and light, between space and time. In his work photographs are set in motion. Works are 'enacted' in architectural environments that are representative of modern culture and the present-day urban context.

In this generation, too, the Flemish 'painterly tradition' goes on, though the investigation and concept gain importance over pure expression. Koen van den Broek composes strong structures by building landscapes, highways or simply segments of sidewalks, as he increasingly opts for the no-man's land between figuration and abstraction. A tension between the image as illusion and the material treatment of the paint can be found in the work of Vincent Geyskens. Recently he has been completely undermining the notion of a recognisable image, in favour of chaos 'which organises itself by coincidence, as it were'. Tina Gillen paints rigid, measured and fragmented landscapes, in which the architectural element is reduced to basic form. Karin Hanssen's subjects revert to a narrow-minded world in which harmony seems to prevail, but where life is actually routine, stifling and dismal. Maryam Najd looks at the aggressive and pornographic visual pollution in various media (film, television), interprets them in a completely non-anecdotal manner and strives for a nearly utopian world view. Where photography is concerned, a certain documentary character has been surfacing again, along with a strong sense of aesthetics. Geert Goiris produces monumental landscape photographs in which human presence is minimal yet, at the same time, crucial. Jan Kempenaers does just the opposite, seeking landscapes that have been marked and coloured by man. Anne Daems shows, in her photographs, aspects of everyday life and of initially meaningless events. At the same time, she composes different intervals of time into one whole. The spectacular quality of such photography lies precisely with the non-spectacular. Charif Benhelima explores the limits and the challenges of various cultures as well as those of the Polaroid: the result is work that deals with and reflects on anthropology. Els Opsomer sets up urban archives, where the living environment of communities affected by politics and poverty nonetheless shows respect for the inhabitants and brings out their self-respect.

A great deal of art by this generation is characterised by the hybrid and combined use of installations, performances, video, Internet and other formal conveyors of art, in order to arrive at a result in which documentary and fiction become intricately entangled with each other. That also happens to be the only common trait by which these artists can be assessed, since each of them has, for the rest, set a highly individual course. Hans Op de Beeck employs various media in order to convert the veritable roller coaster of modern-day life into a scene of vacantness, contemplation and silence. Boy & Erik Stappaerts created the B. & E.S. Institute and Associations, which produces a range of objects; this can be regarded as an ironic and utopian firm 'able and willing to tailor your own preferred needs to your own life and surroundings.' As an alert observer of social reality, Koenraad Dedobbeleer translates architecture, elements from urbanisation and human organisational systems into his multimedia works. Nico Dockx expresses his fascination with archives, inventories, memory, data management and the transfer of information in and by way of various media and methods. Stefaan Dheedene reworks photographic material from his encounters with different cultures into spatial interpretations and reconstructions. Kobe Matthys is the founder of Agency, in which he examines the practice of appropriation and the public realm. Ives Maes deals with the paternalism of western society in a revealing manner and offers the civilised westerner refuge from the supposed dangers inherent in other cultures. Gert Robijns takes minimal elements from day-to-day life and, with them, creates new constructions that unravel our pattern of thought and reorient it. Lieven De Boeck is working on his own 'Dictionary on Space', which mainly involves architectural themes related to appropriation, limits, representation and identity.

Also active in this generation are artists for whom the video or DVD plays an essential role. Manon de Boer deals intensively with the notion of time in her films and thereby manipulates mass-media clichés. Orla Barry uses her own texts, music, photographs and films to raise questions about the way in which our thoughts function. Anouk De Clercq creates 'interior landscapes' in which images, music and texts lead us into an imaginary, fascinating realm. Ana Torfs gives fragments from the history of western politics and culture a new formal and connotative interpretation. And Sven Augustijnen uses the documentary as a medium by which to arrive at a new form of fiction, which often seems more credible than so-called reality. Other artists are relentlessly seeking the significance and expressiveness of the trivial detail: Valérie Mannaerts in her drawings, Sophie Nys in her video work.

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