600 years of KU Leuven: M joins the celebrations

The University of Leuven is celebrating its 600th anniversary with a range of projects and activities, and M is participating. This autumn, we are planning two extraordinary exhibitions, while one is currently on display in the university library. Starting in May, a permanent art and science trail will weave its way through the city.

The route leads past eight new works of visual art and eight new poems at places connected to KU Leuven. It starts beside ‘Wandering Garden' by Gijs Van Vaerenbergh – a steel construction on the Arenberg Campus that is slowly becoming overgrown with climbing plants and transforming into a green maze – and that runs via the Great Beguinage to the centre. Three curators were selected by the university to oversee this initiative. Stéphane Symons is a professor of philosophy; Heidi Ballet earned her stripes at the Beaufort Triennale, among other things; and poet Maud Vanhauwaert is curating the poetry part. Eva Wittocx, Head of Contemporary Art at M, supported the project with expert advice.

Kunst- en wetenschapsroute KU Leuven — © Jelle Jespers

Stéphane Symons: “Science is undeniably important to KU Leuven, but art is just as crucial. To mark our anniversary, we’re fostering a conversation between these two fields. We also found that the process of creating the works is just as important as the result.”

Heidi Ballet: “We didn’t just ask artists to create a piece for KU Leuven’s 600th anniversary. We invited artists, writers, and scientists to have a dialogue, sparking new ideas. They each had their own perspective, but used each other as sounding boards. The resulting project is quite unique.”

Stéphane: “The university has sixteen faculties. We visited each one, asking the same three questions: what is the faculty’s mission? Which of your research questions resonates with other disciplines, and how can we connect these topics to the pressing social issues of our time? We whittled all this down to a series of themes that are relevant both to the university and to wider society.”

“For each theme, we brought together scientists from different disciplines and an artist in a ‘research lab’. The labs met regularly to exchange knowledge and experiences.”

Secrets of a woman’s heart

Heidi: “Forty-five scientists participated, including a neuropsychologist to a specialist in scientific communication, from an astronomist to an economist who is conducting research into affordable medicines in developing countries.”

Eva Wittocx: “There is a good balance among the artists, with a mix of emerging talents, established names, men and women, and those from home and abroad.”

Stéphane: “The conversations in the labs were eye-opening for both parties. Artists have a keen sense of broader issues that hyperspecialized scientists may overlook, but they can sometimes be too pessimistic. The scientists were then able to counter them with hopeful research results.”

Eva: “Only one artist – Al i cja Kwade – is featured both in the art and science route, and in the museum. This autumn, she’s having a solo show at M, and in the city park she’s creating an installation on the theme ‘The Poetics of Not Knowing’. There’s still a lot that science doesn’t know.”

Alicja Kwade, ParaPivot on the roof terrace of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2019

Heidi: “Clara Spilliaert was selected for the theme of ‘Medicine for All’. While conducting research in the lab, she heard a heart surgeon say that not enough research had been done on the female heart. This served as direct inspiration for the work that she will make. It will be located in the Great Beguinage, where for centuries only women lived.”

“We are thrilled that Berlinde De Bruyckere agreed to work with us. Her chosen topic is ‘Resilience’, which she connects to vulnerability. She created a sculpture reminiscent of the angelic statues she showed at the 2024 Venice Biennale. The work will be exhibited beside the Pieter De Somer Lecture Hall.”

No end

Stéphane: “Our knowledge changes constantly, and society changes with it. Therefore, we named the path ‘And So, Change Comes in Waves’. Science is an ever-evolving human discipline, meaning that it is never complete and can always be improved. Or as the KU Leuven slogan puts it: knowledge knows no end.”