Knowledge and art: how M collaborates with KU Leuven

Knowledge and art

How M collaborates with KU Leuven

From advice on exhibitions to study space for students: M collaborates with KU Leuven in numerous ways. We discussed this with Luc Sels, rector of the university, and Eva Wittocx, curator and head of M’s contemporary art department.

They greet one another warmly: the rector and the curator have known one another for a long time.

Eva: "We first met at the Venice Biennale in 2017. You’d just become rector at that point."

Luc: "Yes, that was right at the start of my mandate. On every foreign trip, I always try to fit in a museum visit – ideally on my own, early in the morning or just before closing time, when there are few other visitors. But the Biennale was truly a revelation."

"Dirk Braeckman designed the Belgian Pavilion at the Biennale – I’m a fan. There’s one of his works hanging in my office: ‘F.I.-I.G.-17’, created to mark the Biennale. Almost everyone thinks it’s a pencil engraving, but it’s a photo."

"Photography is my first love; when it comes to art, anyway (laughs). My father was a photography tutor at the Aarschot academy, so I pretty much grew up in his dark room. Looking at a photo, immersing myself in the details, inspires me. At difficult moments – and there have been plenty of them during my seven years as rector – it brings me peace."

Portret van Luc Sels, rector bij KU Leuven, en Eva Wittocx, curator en afdelingshoofd hedendaagse kunst bij M — © Aurélie Geurts voor M Leuven

Testing ground

But we’re here to talk about the collaboration between M and KU Leuven. This is surprisingly broad.

Eva: "Students can study at M, or take up internships. As part of the Museum Night, we recently trained students to give guided tours of M to other students. Conversely, several of our staff are writing PhDs with professors from KU Leuven as their supervisors."

"The museum itself is sometimes a testing ground for scientific experiments. Such as the eye-tracking research by Professor Wagemans and his Laboratory for Experimental Psychology. Based on our collection presentations, they have empirically tested how people view art."

Luc: "The university is also M’s scientific partner for big exhibitions: Bouts, ‘Imagining the Universe’, Arenberg… Our staff then offer advice and support – not only from the Arts and Architecture departments, but also from our Faculty of Science. I’m sometimes amazed at the number of collaborations. It’s not something we need to steer from the rectorate, it happens spontaneously."

"And then there’s the guidance policy. With the KU Leuven culture card, our students and staff can visit M free of charge. By no means everyone takes advantage of this, but you do notice that scientific and artistic excellence are often closely aligned."

Festive year

Luc: "In 2025 we’ll be celebrating KU Leuven’s 600th anniversary. At the end of that year, we hope to be ready to open our new Vesalius Museum, and M is a valuable interlocutor in this project. They can teach us a great deal about how to manage collections, or about how to exhibit valuable works."

Eva: "The two museums won’t be treading on one another’s toes, but will actually be complementary. At M you can view art, while the Vesalius Museum will chiefly revolve around science, the body and care."

Luc: "I don’t want to reveal too much about our celebratory year at this stage, but I can share that the relationship between art and science will be the common thread running through the programme. We’re working on a route that takes in permanent contemporary artworks in the city. In our celebratory year, we’ll expand it with new works in collaboration with a guest curator. We’ve recently unveiled a stunning totem pole by Jaume Plensa on the Hertogen site. The selection is partly decided upon by KU Leuven’s Contemporary Art Commission. Eva is M’s representative on the panel."

"M also contributes to the city’s cultural aura. If we want to attract international professors, they not only look at the status of the university, but also at what the city and the region have to offer. The cultural offering weighs heavily in such decisions. That’s another reason why M is so important to us."

Jaume Plensa, ‘The four elements’, 2024 © de kunstenaar, foto: KU Leuven, Rob Stevens

Keep on searching

M and KU Leuven also agree on certain common values.

Eva: "We live in an era in which many people distrust what they see and hear. At M, we challenge our visitors to view things critically. For example, for every exhibition and collection presentation we make links between contemporary and historical artworks. In order to look at art from the past through the lens of topical themes, and vice-versa: to provide a historical backdrop to what is playing out today."

Luc: "Yes, that was one aspect of the Bouts exhibition that I really enjoyed. What does the artist show, and what not? What does an image say about the ideas of the era in which it was created? This exhibition demonstrated how to deploy a historical collection to boost awareness."

"That brings me back to the connection between art and science. Both start from a place of curiosity, of an ongoing search, of recalibrating your vision time and time again. Every hypothesis can be debunked the next day. You also see that in art, I think."

Eva: "I couldn’t agree more. Many people see knowledge and art as separate worlds. In Leuven we prove that the opposite is true."