Why M supports emerging talent

BALANCING ACTS

It is not easy to select works of art if you are not allowed to visit a studio or if you cannot put your heads together. How did you go about it?  

Eva: “Through online meetings. We wanted to select interesting voices, with a fascinating body of work and a relevant theme. Artists also who could do with some support – who are at a point in their career where we hope we can make a difference. Each of us submitted names based on our own expertise. We discussed this and came to a longlist of about forty artists. The next step was to turn that into a shortlist, look at the works in a little more detail and delve even deeper into the background information. Finally, we looked at which works of art were suitable for acquisition.”

Valerie: “The project is about supporting artists. So we always start from oeuvres that we find relevant. Only then do we look at the individual works that are available for purchase.” 

Louis-Philippe: “You don’t necessarily have to go and see them in a studio, the four of us. There is always one of us who has seen them in real life. That is also the richness of selecting with the four of us: we each have our own network, from which we can bring things in. Conversely, we have all four become better acquainted with oeuvres and artists we were less familiar with.”

What criteria did you have to arrive at the shortlist? 

Eva: “There were almost no real formal criteria. The link with Belgium had to be there, and of course we paid attention to quality. We mainly tried to inform and convince each other. But it is always about existing works. It is not a creative assignment.”

Louis-Philippe: “There are no restrictions on the medium either. Everything is possible: painting, sculpture, film, installations... It is a very free and open project.”

Hicham: “We do take care to respect balances: people from different backgrounds, roughly equal numbers of men and women...” 

Valerie: “We also focused on what the acquisition means for M. The works will end up in the museum’s collection and Cera’s, and they will be shown in M. You make a choice at the moment, you offer financial support, but what does it mean in the longer term?”

So do the works have to fit into M’s collection?

Valerie: “M has a very diverse collection. We preserve and display the Cera art collection – mainly Belgian works from the 1950s to the present day. There are also contemporary works that the Flemish Community has loaned to the museum. Then we have the collection of M itself. It consists of 52,000 objects, mainly ancient art, including utensils, coins, printed matter... It is difficult to fit them in one by one.

Eva: “One of the core values of M is that we work directly with artists. We mainly present monographic exhibitions, with work by a single artist. We talk to them and see how we can play a role in their careers. This acquisition project fits in perfectly with our policy: we choose artists, trajectories, oeuvres...”. 

How many artists have you been able to support? 

Valerie: “Once we had made the selection, we started talking to the artists. In the end, we were able to acquire works by 19 artists, thanks in part to crowdfunding through M-LIFE.”

INVOLVMENT

How did you compose the expert committee?

Eva: “Valerie and I looked at who best complemented our knowledge and networks. Louis-Philippe has a background in the gallery business. He visits a lot of studios and knows the young Belgian generation very well. He has also made some great exhibitions around them. Hicham has a slightly more international profile and has more links with art schools – so with beginners.” 

Valerie: “We thought it was important to open up the project. We could have kept it within M, but that would not have been a good idea. As a museum, we don’ claim to have all the expertise in-house.” 

How would you describe your own profile?

Eva: “Art is more than our work, it is our life. In our free time, we visit many exhibitions and studios, we follow national and international current events, we know what is happening in art schools.... It’s kind of our biotope. That’s why we knew how hard the corona crisis had hit the artists’ world.” 

Finally, are there already concrete plans with the 19 acquired works?

Eva: “From April to September, we are running an exhibition in which we present the new works: ‘The Constant Glitch’. We hope to be able to organise a corresponding programme of lectures. That will of course depend on the circumstances.”

Valerie: “Afterwards, the works will also be shown in our collection presentations – at M, these are transhistorical: they contain old and contemporary art. So the purchase is also a commitment on our part: we will continue to show these pieces.”