M receives works by six Belgian artists

The Flemish Community has placed seven artworks by six Belgian artists on long-term loan to M Leuven. Recent works in a range of media by Martin Belou, Koenraad Dedobbeleer, Ann Veronica Janssens & Michel François, Meg Stuart and Jan Van Imschoot are now part of the collection. The works were all acquired in 2022.

“M offers a unique mix of ancient and contemporary art. You will find both historical masterpieces and works by the talent of today in our collections. With these loans, the Flemish Community is not only supporting M as a museum, but also an important sector within the Belgian arts field,” says Bert Cornillie, Alderman for Culture and Chairman of M’s Board of Directors. “This is an important investment in artists who currently play a significant role in our contemporary cultural landscape, and an appreciation of their practice within the wider world of our artistic heritage.”

New in the collection

Martin Belou (b. 1986) is represented in the collection for the first time. Working in both Brussels and Marseille, he creates sculptures and collages from diverse materials, such as wood, pottery, copper and found objects. The elements – fire, water, earth and air – play a key role in his practice and leave their mark behind on the final artworks. His visual language borders on that of ritual or shamanic objects. The central question in Belou’s oeuvre is how materials, techniques and forms can coalesce into a coherent whole and reconnect with both the world and the viewer.

Meg Stuart (b. 1965) is also new to the collection. She works in Brussels and Berlin, including with her performance company Damaged Goods. When making her work, which treads a line between performance and theatre, Stuart takes a multidisciplinary approach, often collaborating with dancers, audio-visual specialists and visual artists. In spring 2020, she made four videos that examine our changing relationship with time: ‘The Lobby’, ‘Intermission’, ‘Overtime’ and ‘The Clock’. In the video that was purchased, ‘The Lobby’, five dancers enter into a dialogue with the vast spaces and stylised interiors of Berlin’s iconic HKW building, normally brimming with nervous expectations but now eerily deserted.

Thanks to M’s management of the Cera collection, some of the loans are by artists whose work is already represented in the museum. Koenraad Dedobbeleer’s (b. 1975) life-size sculptural installation ‘Laymen’ from 2019, for example, has been added to the collection. In his sculptures, installations, photographs and multimedia projects, Koenraad Dedobbeleer offers us new perspectives on our everyday environment and makes numerous references to domestic space and objects. Two watercolours by contemporary painter Jan Van Imschoot (b. 1963) and an edition by artists Ann Veronica Janssens (b. 1956) and Michel François (b. 1956) complete the group of acquisitions.

Complete list of acquisitions

‘Constellation’, Martin Belou, 2022, Collectie Vlaamse Gemeenschap bij M Leuven, foto: de kunstenaar‘Laymen’, Koenraad Dedobbeleer, Collectie Vlaamse Gemeenschap bij M Leuven, foto: de kunstenaar & courtesy Clearing Brussel

‘The Lobby’ (still), Meg Stuart, 2020, Collectie Vlaamse Gemeenschap bij M Leuven, foto: de kunstenaar

‘La Courtisane Intellectuelle’, Jan Van Imschoot, 2012, Collectie Vlaamse Gemeenschap bij M Leuven, foto: de kunstenaar‘Artemisia. Allegory of Painting’, Jan Van Imschoot, 2011, Collectie Vlaamse Gemeenschap bij M Leuven, foto: de kunstenaar‘Ship’, Martin Belou, 2022, Collectie Vlaamse Gemeenschap bij M Leuven, foto: de kunstenaar