Crossing
Borders
Connecting contemporary art: Benelux and Rhineland
Bart De Baere
Director, M HKA, Antwerp
It is in actual fact impossible to draw a border between the Benelux and the Rhineland. They are
part of a single region. Take the post-war avantgarde. At the time there was a network of museums, institutions, galleries and collectors. It was
a single area, where approaches to art developed
that were only later accepted in other places. You
can also see the same coherence at a socio-economic
level; there is one large ‘Eurocore’. It is, in effect, a
single metropolitan region at the heart of Europe,
bigger than the political entities that underlie it.
Within this region there are all sorts of overlapping
sub-regions that are all interesting and some of which
also have political responsibilities, like the Duchy of
Brabant, the Dutch Language Union, and so forth.
I call it ‘multi-regionalism’. It is out of this context
that the Roosendaal Committee grew, an informal
collaboration between the M HKA and Extra City
in Antwerp, the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven,
Witte de With in Rotterdam and De Appel in
Amsterdam, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, the
Bundekunsthalle in Bonn, the Kunstverein für die
Rheinlande und Westfalen in Düsseldorf, Wiels in
Brussels and the Mudam in Luxembourg.
That notion of multi-regionalism also undergirds
a project like ‘Spirits of Internationalism’, an exhibition that was organized as a single show and
where the M HKA and Van Abbemuseum formed a
single structure. Charles Esche opened the exhibition in Antwerp, I opened the show in Eindhoven.
What we have to remember about this Eurocore
from a historical point of view is that the localization of art has always been international. There was
a genuine exchange. From the perspective of that
multi-regionalism I do not see a closed identity, but
an identity that is open and that constantly enters
into new relationships.
Prospect 1968, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (Lohaus, Ruthenbeck, Beuys, Palermo, Panamerenko, Broodthaers...) courtesy by
Anny De Decker
Dr Markus Heinzelmann
Director, Morsbroich Museum, Leverkusen
The Morsbroich Museum has a long tradition of
working with Belgian artists. Our latest exhibition
– the presentation of a collection – featured work
by such artists as Vic Gentils, Paul van Hoeydonck
and Jef Verheyen. Verheyen came to the Rhineland
in the early 1960s thanks to the Morsbroich
Museum. Our current exhibition, ‘Propaganda of
Reality’, includes work by Michaël Borremans,
Marcel Broodthaers and David Claerbout. I even
put together a solo exhibition by Ann Veronica
Janssens when I started in Leverkusen. An ambition that I cherish is one day to organize an exhibition of Belgian art from the 1960s to today. But
in Belgium petty disagreements between Flanders
and Wallonia often crop up. This is a great pity.
I would in fact like to have more support from
Belgium. I hope that collaboration will improve in
the future.
Christian Nagel
Gallery owner, Cologne/Berlin
I do not think there is in fact all that much cooperation between Flanders and the Rhineland,
although there are all sorts of exchanges. Belgian
artists are shown in Germany, and Germans in
Belgium. Curators work in institutions in both
Germany and Belgium. But I think that a lot more
contacts could be made and that there is still a lot
to discover in both countries. It is important to
keep an open mind and to work with one another.
However, my experience at Art Brussels and Art
Cologne gave me the impression that gallery owners in Brussels are not very keen on working with
those of us from the Rhineland, or with Germans in
general. We could do so much more for the region
if the cultural world in Belgium was more willing to
work with us!
Luk Lambrecht
Visual art programmer, CC Strombeek
In the 1980s I often visited Cologne, Düsseldorf,
Essen, Bonn and Krefeld. Back then the Rhineland
really were the crossroads of contemporary art in
Europe. Then there was De Appel in Amsterdam,
with Saskia Bos, and in Ghent there was Joost
Declercq’s Gewad, although that was more of a gallery. And Suzanne Pagé was organizing museum
exhibitions at the ARC in Paris. To have visited
those places was basically to have seen everything
there was to see. The Kunsthalle in Düsseldorf was
especially important. It was where you could see
everything that was happening in New York at
the time: Haim Steinbach, James Welling, Donald
Judd, you name it, but also Gerhard Richter. You
could also see wonderful modern art exhibitions
without having to queue. The pop art collection of
the Ludwig Museum in Cologne was a revelation
for a lot of people. And all of it within a two or three
hour drive! There were also a lot of collectors in the
‘Gold Rein’ who sometimes financed the production
of new work. Carl Andre, for instance, was sponsored by steel magnates in the region.
We have a lot of first-class artists in Belgium.
Some have shown their work in the Rhineland,
like Anne-Marie Van Kerckhoven at the Neuer
Aachener Kunstverein or Luc Tuymans and Ana
Torfs at K21, but it is not always easy to get their
work across the border. These collaborations cannot be forced. There has to be a certain affinity. But
I am convinced that it is possible.
Bart De Baere, Spirits of Internationalism, 6 European Collections: 1956-86, 2012
© M HKA & Van Abbemuseum, https://mediabank.vanabbemuseum.nl
Ana Torfs, ‘Displacement’, installation view, K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen,
2010 © photo: Ana Torfs
Installation view Propaganda für die Wirklichkeit. Museum Morsbroich
Leverkusen, 2014. (Barbara Bloom, Broken Round Vase, 2001. Cieslik und
Schenk, A Note on the Entscheidungsproblem, 2012. Photo: Achim Kukulies)
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Dirk Snauwaert Director, Wiels, Brussels
Christina Végh
Director, Bonner Kunstverein
As regards decision-makers, you have to conclude
that there is hardly any reciprocal interest or that
there can be any talk of cross-pollination. It is illustrative of the widening gap between close regions.
Even though there has been greater collaboration
between the Benelux and the Rhineland since the
fall of the Wall. The agreements are now all distributed between Art Rotterdam, Art Brussels and
Art Cologne. Beyond that there are no other major
agreements. Of course you cannot forget that you
have three different languages, three different national centres of gravity, and three different public
opinions. In Belgium you have another three micro
public opinions in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels.
It is a complex region. I think there are still important barriers. The institutions are located close to
one another, so they are as much competitors as
colleagues. There is so much art in the Rhineland
that you can hardly talk of a problem, except perhaps in terms of a surplus.
The first structure that I got to know and that
was focused on collaboration across the region
was ‘Cahier’, a newsletter published here in the
Rhineland that lists exhibitions in Belgium and the
Netherlands. It is a small initiative but I think it
works. Clearly the Rhineland art scene does not
stop at the German border. A lot of artists used
to come to Germany, but I hear that these days
they have been moving to Brussels. This development can strengthen the connection between both
regions. At the end of this year we are organizing
an exhibition by Jana Euler, who lives in Brussels.
We have already twice shown work by Monika
Stricker, who is currently in residence in Wiels.
I understand that Art Brussels and Art Cologne
are going to collaborate more and coordinate their
timing. That shows that efforts are already being
made. But there should be curatorial projects to
strengthen the exchange. The bond between the
two regions is not yet as strong as it should be. But
it is in any case better than in the past.
Especially in comparison with Germany, which
was a lot more sober after the war. There was a
difference as regards mentality.”
Germann: “In Belgium not many options and opportunities have been developed for exchanges
between collectors and museums. Collectors have
in fact been involved in art longer than museums.
Things are different in Germany. That could be
developed further here. That is why we are busy
at S.M.A.K. developing a new format where we
work with private collectors.”
Were Belgian artists also shown in the Rhineland?
De Decker: “Panamarenko was taken up immediately in the Academy in Düsseldorf. His
work was also shown in the Kunsthalle. And in
the Kunsthalle you also had ‘In Between’. Small
shows would be held in between two major exhibitions. Broodthaers’ work was presented
in that context on at least two occasions. A bit
later he had a very important exhibition in the
Kunsthalle, ‘Der Adler vom Oligozän bis heute’.
It was an ambitious installation with all sorts of
representations of eagles. It drew a lot of visitors.
That is not something you could compare to the
situation in Belgium. Broodthaers, poor fellow,
had declared his own home a museum, not least
because there was nothing here.”
Anny De Decker (Wide White Space) and Martin Germann (S.M.A.K.) in conversation
‘In fact everything happened through
­personal contacts at the time’
Martin, do you notice a longing for closer col­
laboration among fellow curators?
Germann: “I think there has always been a desire at the level of cultural policy. That is nice and
of course everyone loves collaboration. But it is
especially important that projects grow out of a
joint commitment to art that opens new perspectives. My colleagues in Düsseldorf and Cologne
do look to Belgium. Because museums here, not
least also thanks to artists like Broodthaers, are
less institutionalized and there is more freedom.”
What happens when Anny De Decker of the former Wide White Space gallery sits down with curator Martin Germann of
S.M.A.K.? A lively discussion that moves between the Benelux and the Rhineland, Antwerp and Düsseldorf, the present
and the past.
Sam STEVERLYNCK
Together with her husband Bernd Lohaus, Anny
De Decker managed the legendary Wide White
Space gallery in Antwerp. Between 1966 and
1976 they organized exhibitions of leading artists
such as Marcel Broodthaers, Carl Andre, Bruce
Nauman, James Lee Byars and many others.
Martin Germann, a Rhinelander by birth, is the
curator of S.M.A.K. in Ghent. Both are therefore well placed to discuss the various challenges
these regions face, and both are familiar with
the area’s historical background. The conversation took place in De Decker’s flat in Antwerp.
While Anny fished out some old black-and-white
photographs of Joseph Beuys and a very young
Panamarenko, we started talking.
How did your gallery come about?
Anny De Decker: “Around 1964 I was writing on
contemporary art for a number of papers. I already had a vague idea about opening a gallery,
but I did not yet quite know how it was to be done.
At the time a lot of happenings were taking place
in Antwerp, on the Groenplaats and the Meir.
You could never really see what their intention
was, however, because the police would chase the
artists away or haul them down to the police station. [laughs] So I rented a cheap space behind
the Royal Museum of Fine Arts where these happenings could take place as they should, and without any police interference. Once I had the space
we had to do something with it. I then started organizing exhibitions without any fixed plan. The
gallery opened with a show by Panamarenko and
Hugo Heyrman – who were working together at
the time – and Bernd Lohaus, my husband, who
moved to Antwerp in 1965.”
Did you have an international programme from
the start?
De Decker: “I presented foreign artists from the
very start. Bernd was from Düsseldorf. We considered inviting his teacher, Joseph Beuys, but
he preferred to wait a while. We showed Gerhard
Richter, Gotthard Graubner and Blinky Palermo,
who was a friend of Bernd’s. It was easy to make
contacts at the time. We visited Düsseldorf
at least once a month and we went by way of
Cologne because there was no direct connection
in those days. We used to visit all the galleries.”
17.04 2014
How important was the Rhineland at the time?
De Decker: “It was a lot more progressive than
Belgium. Or than Paris, which we visited once in
a while. It was clear that it was all happening in
the Rhineland. We used to take artists we knew
on our little excursions, like Broodthaers. We also
introduced Panamarenko to Beuys. He was very
enthusiastic and straightaway wanted to appoint
him as a professor at the Academy. That didn’t
work out. But he did show a large aeroplane of his
in the corridors of the Academy.”
Perhaps not much was happening at an institu­
tional level in Belgium in those days?
De Decker: “No. The museum in Antwerp was
hopelessly antiquated. They only really showed
Flemish expressionists. And there was no museum for contemporary art in Brussels either. You
could say there was nothing here in the 1960s. The
ICC on the Meir was only founded in 1969. The
Contemporary Art Museum Association in Ghent
[the precursor of S.M.A.K., ed.] did already exist. Karel Geirlandt played an important role in
its emergence. He also often went to Düsseldorf
with people from the Association to buy works.”
Did the reverse movement also take place? Did
people travel from the Rhineland to Antwerp or
Brussels?
De Decker: “Oh yes. Bernd knew everyone at the
Academy. Like Konrad Fischer, who started his
gallery six months later. These people also came
to Antwerp, where they saw Panamarenko’s work
and Broodthaers’ pot of mussels. In fact every­
thing happened through personal contacts at the
time. We all wanted a new kind of art. It was on
a smaller scale in those days but it was already
international. Fischer exhibited work by Carl
Andre and Sol LeWitt. Andre then also visited
Antwerp. Later the MTL gallery in Brussels presented conceptual artists like Stanley Brouwn
and Arte Povera, which we did not show. We
couldn’t do everything. You nevertheless got a
full picture of contemporary art in both cities.”
“A lot of foreign artists and galleries are currently moving to Brussels. But in the early 1970s
everything was happening in Düsseldorf. Robert
Filliou and Dieter Roth were there. Marcel
Broodthaers lived there for a while and Daniel
Spoerri opened a restaurant there. The city was
teeming with foreign artists.”
Were visitors to your gallery local or interna­
tional?
De Decker: “There were practically no locals.
Our first support was Isi Fiszman, who was immediately interested. But he later turned to politics. There were also a number of frequent visitors from the Netherlands. Like Martin and Mia
Visser and Frits Becht. We also had clients from
the Rhineland. Some of them were headed to the
coast but passed through Antwerp.”
Marcel Broodthaers. Photo Philippe De Gobert, courtesy by Anny
De Decker
How do you see the relation between both regions
today?
Martin Germann: “I think it has been growing
stronger in recent times. Berlin’s position as an
arts city has somewhat faded over the past couple of years. Belgium and the Rhineland have a
sort of natural relationship. The roots of conceptual art in the 1960s and 1970s grew organically.
There is now a sort of longing for collaboration.
Catholicism and the relation to pictures are also
important for the Rhineland. And so is the destruction of pictures, as in conceptual art. There
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17.04 2014
How would you say collaboration can be im­
proved?
Germann: “It could be important to trace the
birth of conceptual art in these regions as part
of a historical trajectory. It would be very interesting to see what happened, to research it and
then present the results. That is a contemporary
way of looking at the past. We are currently
preparing a project involving our collection and
Reinhard Mucha, who comes from Düsseldorf.
For our next show on Thomas Ruff we are working with Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. But we are also
collaborating with a large science centre in the
Rhineland. Ruff is using special computers from
the research centre to make work there. That is a
pioneering form of collaboration between institutions in various domains.”
Galerie Nagel, Köln,1990, courtesy by Galerie Nagel Draxler
are also a lot of collectors in the Rhineland, as
there are in Belgium.”
De Decker: “Eindhoven is also very important in
that story. It was located between the two. Jean
Leering of the Van Abbemuseum presented pop
artists like Lichtenstein and Oldenburg at the
time. An important exhibition was also ‘Three
Blind Mice’. Three collectors – Dr Peeters from
Bruges, Visser and Becht – showed work from
their collections in the Van Abbemuseum. And
there was also Amsterdam of course. There was
the Art & Project gallery, for instance. We went
to see every show at the Stedelijk Museum. We
drove there and back in a day. Or sometimes we
would go to Cologne in the morning and be back
in Antwerp in the afternoon.”
Anny, how do you look back on this whole period?
De Decker: “I wonder whether artists today can
be as closely connected as we were then. We were
defending something new. Most people did not
understand it, or were even opposed to it. But we
couldn’t have cared less. We just did what we believed in. And we kept on doing.”
Unlike the Rhineland, Belgium is less well off at
an institutional level…
Germann: “The museums here are a lot younger.
You cannot really compare things with Germany,
where there is more of a museum tradition. In
Belgium museums are effectively still in their
puberty. In the Netherlands and Germany they
are older. The interest in art that emerged in
Belgium in the 1960s and 1970s primarily came
from private initiatives.”
De Decker: “We always had the feeling that
everything was done a lot more seriously in
Germany. Museums were recognized and were
managed by people with doctorates in art history.
Collectors in Belgium were also a lot worldlier.
2.
Martin Germann and Anny De Decker, photo: Jean-Pierre Stoop
Panamarenko op Prospect 68 Düsseldorf, courtesy Anny De Decker
3.
Joseph Beuys op Prospect 68 Düsseldorf, Wide White Space, courtesy Anny De Decker
17.04 2014
Brussels Cologne
Contemporaries (BCC)
builds bridges
Courtesy by Galerie Waldburger, Brussels
BCC, an exchange between about 20 emerging
galleries and non-profit spaces in Cologne and
Brussels, was founded three years ago. The event
takes places alternately in Cologne and Brussels.
The initiator Tim Wouters explains its creation:
“There is a historical reason for collaboration
between these two regions. Flanders is a region
with a lot of collectors. The same is true of the
Rhineland, an area with a high density of curators and institutions. Brussels and Cologne are so
close to one another that it seems to me a natural
connection”. BCC describes itself as a low-profile
event at which contacts can easily be made. And
it does not focus solely on galleries. “This year for
the first time there were also off-spaces and platforms for artists from Brussels. We want to continue in that direction in the future”. Participation
fees are deliberately kept low. But galleries are
asked to present a solo show by a young artist.
Daniel Hug
Director, Art Cologne
How do you see the relation between the Rhine­
land and Flanders/Belgium?
Daniel Hug: “Since the fall of the Berlin Wall the
centre of gravity has shifted from the Rhineland,
from Düsseldorf and Cologne, to Berlin. Then
there was the rise and fall of the art forum berlin fair. Combined with the weakened role of
Cologne, this explains how Art Brussels has filled the void. Do not forget that Berlin is quite
a long way from Cologne. The Rhineland and
Flanders have a long, shared history. When I
arrived here six years ago, I was amazed at the
lack of exchange between the art scenes in both
regions. Especially when you consider the history
of the Wide White Space, the importance of the
Rhineland and Art Cologne. I found that such a
pity. It soon became clear to me that if I wanted
to restore to Art Cologne the weight it has had in
the past, I needed the support of the Benelux.”
Koelnmesse, South Entrance
Is there then co-operation with Art Brussels?
Hug: “I have had very interesting conversations
with business director Anne Vierstraete and artistic director Katerina Gregos. Art Brussels and
Art Cologne in fact target the same public. I approached Art Brussels in 2008 when I started at
Art Cologne. One of the ideas was to have the fairs
“That way visitors can get a good impression of
the work of a specific artist. For the galleries it
is a way of showing what they stand for. BCC is
therefore also a statement fair. That contrasts
with the reality of a lot of art fairs. Here you often see art that you would normally come across
in an institution rather than at an art fair. BCC
is a place where you have to be able to discover
things.” The best stand receives a BCC Award,
a cash prize and a solo show in an institution in
Cologne or Brussels. The Award is made by an
international jury. BCC is not a classic art fair,
but is on good terms with Art Brussels and Art
Cologne. In future BCC wants to involve curators
more deeply in the selection. And it also wants
more collaboration with institutions in the host
country. “We also wish to further extend our
range by involving the Rhineland more. Perhaps
also by inviting off-spaces from the region, or galleries from Düsseldorf or Aachen”. Undoubtedly
to be continued!
www.bccontemporaries.com
fall on the same days or in the same week and to
put together a joint VIP programme. Two fairs
for the price of one! Ideas went back and forth but
we failed to reach an agreement. Katerina Gregos
is clearly open to collaboration. If Art Brussels
and Art Cologne do not work together, then other
fairs will simply become involved. Brussels and
Cologne are two interesting cities in Europe that
are only an hour-and-a-half train ride away from
one another. Why shouldn’t we be each other’s
satellite fair? Such a collaboration would enable
us to prepare a joint exhibition programme. In
that way we could invite collectors and curators
to visit both fairs. Even just contacting the top
international collectors and pointing out to them
that there are openings at the same time in – for
instance – S.M.A.K., Wiels, Museum Ludwig and
K21 is very important.”
Are there already any concrete examples of col­
laboration?
Hug: “There is clearly an on-going dialogue and
there is interest on both sides. We have set the
dates for 2014, for instance. We are now also
working on the exchange of curators. A group
of curators from Germany will be invited to Art
Brussels and they will send Belgian curators to
Art Cologne. But we want to go a lot further in
the future!”
www.artcologne.com
Katerina Gregos
Artistic director, Art Brussels
“It would make sense for two fairs with their
distinct identities, which are also complemen­
tary to each other, to collaborate and establish a
more powerful synergy. The fact that both fairs
take place in a region which is rich in institutions,
­collectors, galleries, artists and expertise, makes
it a very fertile territory for collaboration and joining forces.”
1 weergave kiezen voor ALLE toepassingen
www.artbrussels.com
Art Brussels, The Stage (structure designed by Tom Mares & Walt Van Beek 2013) Photo: Vranken
WWW.BAMART.BE
17.04 2014