In the very heart of Brussels, in a former industrial warehouse, lies one of the city’s most dynamic spaces for contemporary art — the Vanhaerents Art Collection. It is a kind of laboratory where ideas, risk and experimentation meet on equal terms.The story of the collection began in the 1970s, when Belgian businessman Walter Vanhaerents, active in the construction and real estate sectors, started acquiring his first artworks — pieces that at the time seemed far too radical and audacious to be considered as investments or conventional items for a collection. Over time, his children, Els and Joost, joined him, transforming a personal passion into a large-scale family project. Today, the Vanhaerents Collection is recognised as one of the most significant private collections of contemporary art in the world.
The Vanhaerents family
Within its space, painting, sculpture, installations, photography and video coexist — all the forms that shape the language of contemporary art today. Here, one can encounter works by masters such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Damien Hirst, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, James Turrell, Kara Walker, Michaël Borremans, and many others. Scattered throughout the galleries, which still house giant crates as a nod to the collection’s warehouse DNA, the artworks provoke, challenge and raise questions about the body, time, identity, and fear. Each exhibition in the Brussels Vanhaerents building is a journey along the nerves of modernity. Visitors experience engagement, moving through the floors as if traversing the circles of the contemporary art equivalent of Hell and Heaven.
I was particularly struck by Bloody Mooning (1996) by the duo Gilbert & George, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in person at BRAFA in 2019, where the British artists were guests of honour. Part of their series The Fundamental Pictures, this work is a bold and unapologetic exploration of the body, vulnerability, and human nature. The artists present themselves in provocative imagery where blood and the moon become symbols of cycles, passion, and life. The effect is at once shocking and mesmerising, forcing the viewer to see the familiar differently and to perceive the body as a space of strength, fragility, and truth. We found ourselves returning repeatedly to the two vivid red forms in the composition, created using colour photography printed on aluminium.
Once a year, as part of the ARTONOV Festival, the Vanhaerents Art Collection transforms into a stage where entire performances unfold, provoking a dialogue between architectural heritage, experimental forms of visual art, performance, music, and theatre. Inspired by the Art Nouveau style, the festival has offered an interdisciplinary programme since its inception, blending music, dance, architecture, fashion, and visual arts in unexpected locations across the city. In 2025, ARTONOV chose the theme “The Future of the Past.” It is a way to reflect on how our artistic heritage can be transformed, reinterpreted, and rediscovered through new formats and new creators. The participation of the Vanhaerents Art Collection in the festival proved to be a successful meeting point of cultural history, experimental present, and the potential of the future.
On 3 October 2025, as part of the ARTONOV Festival, an intrigued audience, guided by the music of Belgian composer Jean-Paul Dessy performed with virtuosity by the Tana Quartet, experienced the two-part ballet Hidden at two locations within the Vanhaerents Art Collection. Without exaggeration, it was a truly unique sensory experience. One scene from the ballet was deliberately chosen for the festival poster, highlighting its significance and impact.
Around 17,000 years ago, humans gathered in groups and created cave paintings that still speak to us today. They did not conquer the cave or write history; they carved their dreams into stone and understood what we are still trying to remember. Leaving a trace was not an act of power but a symbol of belonging. In the ballet Hidden, this ancient memory meets the ethical choices of the present. Dance becomes a space of memory, listening, and embodied time, where minimalist, melody-free music creates a distinctive sound environment that enhances the sense of archetypal imagery.
The action unfolds through the figure of the Minotaur wandering the labyrinths, with movements echoing ancient rituals. The mask, serving as a mediator between the human and the mythical, becomes a vessel through which memory and archetypes pass through the living body. Argentine choreographer Daniel Proietto, who also performs in the ballet, embodies the mythical creature, returning us to the ritual roots of dance, where movement was not a performance on stage but merely presence. His partner, Cuban ballerina Yolanda Correa, captivates the viewer’s gaze throughout the hour-long ballet.
Through his bodily language, Daniel Proietto explores themes of birth, life, and mortality, inviting reflection on what remains within us, what must be reclaimed, and what we carry forward.