Over the course of the past three decades Ghent-based architects Robbrecht en Daem have worked together with more than a dozen artists, ranging from Raoul De Keyser, Isa Genzken, Cristina Iglesias, Juan Muñoz, Gerhard Richter, Luc Tuymans, Franz West to Rachel Whiteread. They invited artists to make work for projects of domestic, administrative, social, cultural and even urban nature. In his talk Wouter Davidts will explore the architect Paul Robbrecht’s statement that the decision to involve artists and to make art present in their architecture grew ‚out of necessity.‘ He will present some key collaborative projects between Robbrecht en Daem and artists, while asking why the former turned to the latter in the first place. Why art? And even more crudely: why art necessarily?

Wouter Davidts lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium. He teaches at the Department of Architecture & Urban Planning and the Department of Art, Music and Theatre Studies of Ghent University (UGent). He has published widely on the museum, contemporary art and architecture.

photo: Valérie Mannaerts, Pleasure in Making, 2016, Victor Bozar Café, BOZAR, Brussels.jpg