As told to Ingrid Luquet-Gad
Why I collect: Walter Vanhaerents
On the occasion of a major exhibition at Tripostal in Lille, the Belgian collector speaks about his passion for art
‘I have been collecting art since the early 1970s. I started with around 30 artworks by local artists who were based in Flanders, like me. I am a builder by trade, and I used to travel a lot with a group of architects. This gave me the opportunity to discover the new museums that were springing up at the time, especially in Germany: Museum Abteiberg in Mönchengladbach, Museum Ludwig in Cologne, MKM Museum Küppersmühle in Duisburg, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, and Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. The works I saw in these institutions were completely different to those I had already collected. I was fascinated by Gerhard Richter and Joseph Beuys, and became interested in international contemporary art from then on.
‘It used to be that I would go to see almost all of the pieces I bought in person, but the world has changed greatly with the Internet. Online viewing conditions have become exceptional. Still, I never buy something by an artist remotely if I have never seen their work in person. Direct contact with the work remains imperative, otherwise the material object has no reason to exist.
‘I have always maintained that Andy Warhol was the most important artist of the 20th century. Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger and Matt Mullican are among those I collect that I call ‘post-Warholians’. For me, the point of a collection is to buy in depth. Another of my cardinal principles is to never look back. I look towards the future. Thus, over the past four years, we have acquired a large number of works by artists connected to the Black Lives Matter movement, such as Titus Kaphar, Amoako Boafo, Emmanuel Taku, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, and Alvaro Barrington, as well as Alexandre Diop and Kennedy Yanko among the younger generation.
‘I almost always turn to galleries for new discoveries, though I have no particular allegiance. In a gallery, I can give my opinion, say why I do not like a work, ask to see a more important or better work, and so on. It is very complicated to do that with artists. In my view, artists must resist the market as best they can: If a work is not good, they should not offer it for sale. Overproduction is a big problem nowadays.
‘I am fascinated by large-scale works. That is why I always dreamed of having a space in which to show my collection. I did not want to construct a new building myself, because the hand of the architect would have been too conspicuous. In the end, in 2000, I found a 3500-4000m2 industrial building in Brussels that I really liked and in 2007 I was able to install my collection there. We now operate like a ‘viewing depot’, showing some works and storing others.
‘We had never done anything outside of this space, but in 2015, I happened to meet Martine Aubry, the Mayor of Lille, and now because of this the collection is being exhibited at the Tripostal. The exhibition brings together 75 works by 38 artists, and a major part is devoted to monumental installations. Right at the entrance, Tomàs Saraceno presents an installation composed of his aerodrome and his aerial photographs of Lille and New York. Then there is a room devoted to Ugo Rondinone, one of my favorite artists. There is also the film Matthew Barney made with Björk [Drawing Restraint 9, 2005] and a ‘Japanese room’ featuring Chiho Aoshima, Yoshitomo Nara and Mariko Mori.
‘The exhibition was produced in cooperation with Caroline David, Curator of lille3000. My children Joost and Els joined me on this adventure in 2020 and the family side of things remains important to me. Next year, we return to Venice for a third exhibition. All these projects are possible because I never collected for the house. I sometimes say that there are collectors and what I call ‘gatherers’. The latter amass objects to fill their houses. Collectors, on the other hand, have a real vision – they look further. I think I belong to this category.’
Ingrid Luquet-Gad is an art critic and PhD candidate based in Paris. She is the arts editor of Les Inrockuptibles, a contributing editor at Spike Art Magazine, and a journalist for Flash Art.
‘Au bout de mes rêves’
Tripostal, Lille
Until January 14, 2024
Published on November 23, 2023.
Captions for full-bleed images, from top to bottom: 1. Installation view of Tomas Saraceno, Cloud cities: Mise en Aerocene, 2016-2023 at Tripostal, Lille, 2023. Photograph by Joost Vanhaerents. Courtesy of the Vanhaerents Art Collection Brussels. 2. Installation view of Mark Handforth, Dark Star, 2005 at Tripostal, Lille, 2023. Photograph by Joost Vanhaerents. Courtesy of the Vanhaerents Art Collection Brussels.
