Open M, as the project is called, is aimed at artists who have a link with Flemish Brabant. This edition, for the first time, has a central theme: transhistoricity. Below, Peter Carpreau from M explains the term. A little further, there is an interview with Melanie Bühler, the Swiss curator who made the selection.

Transhistoricity

M is proud to be a transhistorical museum. But what does that mean exactly? Peter Carpreau, head of the Ancient and Old Art Department.

"The first question you might ask is: what is the definition of transhistoricity? Well, there is none. It is a practice used by exhibition designers, but there is no one definition. I can give you the interpretation that we use in M."

"There are roughly two ways you can look at a work of art. An art-historical approach means that you try to explain the work from the period in which it was created. A transhistorical approach is based on the moment when the work is viewed. So today then - that means that every work of art is in fact contemporary. Because you start from the point of looking, a mutual influence of meanings is also possible. It is not a one-way street in which a work of art by definition can only be influenced by older works of art."

"Take, for example, 'Christ on the Cold Stone' by the medieval sculptor Jan Borman, and 'The Puddler' by Constantin Meunier, a sculpture from the end of the 19th century. What Meunier did is called social realism. He wanted to draw attention to the miserable living conditions of the Belgian working class. He drew on art history - which he knew well - to give his sculptures a kind of eternal status. A puddler is a metal worker who stirs in a bath of molten iron so that the impurities sink to the bottom. It's a terrible job, because you have to work next to a pool of glowing liquid metal."

"In Meunier’s sculpture, the worker is resting for a moment. Therein lies the analogy with Christ: he is waiting for them to crucify him. Thus, the puddler becomes a 19th century Christ. Only he gives his blood for the industrial revolution, not for the sins of mankind."

"This interpretation is logically and chronologically evident. Meunier knew medieval sculpture, and he referred to it quite deliberately. But in the transhistorical perspective, we start from our perception today, and that means that we also start seeing Borman's work differently because it is next to 'The Puddler'. The meaning of a medieval sculpture is thus partly determined by a work made almost five centuries later. There is more emphasis on suffering, on the human aspect. The son of God is humanised. That is how this transhistorical reciprocity arises."

"Transhistorical curation is a difficult exercise because you have to constantly reflect on yourself and your own time. Like all other time periods, we have our own paradigms and ideologies, only we do not see them so easily because we are in the middle of them. Just as a fish is unaware that it lives in the water. So you have to be active about it, because it is precisely in transhistorical exhibitions that these ideologies and paradigms will play a role. It is not easy, but worthwhile, because transhistoricity creates new connections and insights."

Melanie Bühler, curator of Open M

The Swiss curator Melanie Bühler has worked at the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem since 2017. Before that, she worked as freelance curator across the world, specialising in art and digital culture. She made the selection for this edition of Open M. Not an easy task: there were no less than 370 entries.

How did M find you? 

"The Frans Hals Museum has a contemporary and a 17th-century collection. Like M, it’s focus is transhistorical. The two museums were working together even before I started at Frans Hals. They organised, among other things, discussions and symposiums on the theme. One of the results of that collaboration was a publication - the coordination and editing of which was my first job when arriving at Frans Hals. That's how the contacts with M were made."

What was your reaction when they asked you to work with Open M?

"I immediately said yes. I am very interested in seeing how other museums work, and an open call like this always brings surprises. As a curator, you have your own history with artists and institutions. You form a certain view, a certain interest. Although you may not always be aware of it, you often end up looking for that in the same field. But contemporary art is very broad, very open. An open call opens your eyes again, and I really like that."

Won’t do at all!

It takes a while to go through 370 entries.

"It certainly was a lot of work (laughs). It shows an enormous interest in M - you could see that in the content, by the way. That is a very good thing, I think. It shows that M is a part of the community."

The participants all submitted a file with photos of three works and a text linking them to transhistoricity. How do you judge such a thing?

"I just let it come to me, without setting any criteria in advance. I looked at it, piece by piece. Does this seem innovative to me? Does it appeal to me? Does it show something that I have not seen before? Does it go beyond illustration or decoration - is there a concept behind it? Does it say something about these times that I find relevant?"

Isn't it difficult to judge works of art from a photo?

"That is something we do often, especially since the pandemic. It's not ideal, of course, but we have to do it this way for now."

Have the proposers succeeded in making a good link with transhistoricity?

"This link was very clear in some works, but less so in others. Some referred unambiguously to some period in art history, for others it was more of an inspiration, a background."

"What often recurs is that the transhistorical does not necessarily have to be about art. We immediately think of art history because we work for museums, but of course there is also general history. Nothing wrong with that broader view."

"It was also striking that there were a lot of paintings, while the competition is open to all media. This may have something to do with the transhistorical theme: in Western art history, painting is the primary medium."

Is the theme of transhistoricity close to your heart?

“Without a doubt. It's a new way of looking at images, making connections, ordering works of art... I find that very interesting, and appropriate for our times."

"Frans Hals is a portrait painter from the 17th century. His paintings where not as smooth and finished as those of his contemporaries - you can still clearly see the lines of paint. Certainly from the 18th century onwards this was seen as Won’t do at all! But at the end of the 19th century, there was a sudden, great revaluation of his work. The Impressionists saw in it something they themselves were looking for: directness, a fresh way of recording reality. A transhistorical approach to a painter who had been dead for over two hundred years."

“Today, you could provide many examples of artists who look critically at work from past centuries. Female artists who say: hey, where are the women? Artists of colour who say: hey, how are we represented here? This is how you get to necessary updates of history. Art of that time was one vision of reality, but not the only one. In a museum, you can show that."

Group exhibition

The artists you have selected will have a group exhibition at M. How many did you pick in the end?

"Twelve. I have just finished the selection. The museum is now going to inform them, and then I will contact them. I will talk to them online so that I can get to know them and their work better. We will talk about the final selection, the content of their works, and how best to show them. We will then work with that to set up the exhibition."

Good exhibitions often have a theme, a story. Will that also be the case here?

"Yes, I think it will have to do with time. How your own perception of time can differ from the objective ticking of the clock. The pandemic has changed our perception of time: the fixed points of reference have started to shift and slide. On the scale of a day, but also on the scale of a year. Time has become something that we do not easily grasp anymore. That is why it is a theme that will be relevant to many people."

Finally, when will you see the exhibition as a success?

"Difficult to answer. Normally other people say whether your work is a success or not (laughs)... I think for me a success is when I achieve a good, enthusiastic cooperation with the artists. If it leads to new insights: for me, for the artists, and for the museum. That we get something out of it that makes us look at our own work differently.”