Dear reader

In 2025, University Leuven will celebrate its 600th anniversary. Karin Borghouts has been commissioned to photograph the university's buildings, interiors and collections. There will be a lecture about a remarkable artist's house. And where can you visit 100 museums in one day?

KU Leuven 600 years

Preparations for the University of Leuven's unique anniversary are in full swing behind the scenes.

In 2025, Belgium's oldest university will look back on a rich past with a series of publications, exhibitions, lectures, conferences and other cultural events.

Karin Borghouts was asked to photograph some of the university's many iconic buildings. Also special interiors, auditoriums, laboratories and various university collections scattered across the various campuses. The assignment began in April 2023. The photographs will be published and exhibited in 2025.

Lecture on the house of Marten Melsen

Karin Borghouts has produced a photo book, A Painter's House, about the house of painter Marten Melsen in Stabroek, a polder village above Antwerp. Jan Melsen has been researching his grandfather Marten for 30 years. Together, Jan and Karin are now telling the story of the house of the painter Marten Melsen (1870-1947) in words and pictures. Marten, the Brussels-born artist decided to live among the farmers in Stabroek around 1900. After his death, his wife and daughters kept the house as it was. Today it is one of the rarest and most original artist's houses in Belgium.

Lecture on 14 March at 20:30 (Dutch)
by Jan Melsen, grandson of the painter, and Karin Borghouts, photographer.

Bib Viswater
Tongerlostraat 2
2040 Antwerpen - Berendrecht Belgium
Organised by vrijetijdscentrum de Schelde.

Order your tickets here (seats are limited)

Watch the introductory video (76 sec)

The book A Painter's House (NL, FR, ENG) can be ordered from the online store. Of particular interest is the special edition with a signed and numbered print, only 10 copies per print.

Visit 100 museums in one day

Museum to Scale 1:7 is a unique set of 109 mini-museum rooms, now on permanent display at the University of Antwerp. In addition to a series of thematic rooms on a scale of 1:7, such as Symbolism, Surrealism, Photography, the Cobra movement and the Avant-garde, 99 contemporary artists have each furnished their own room. With contributions from Dirk Braeckman, Luc Tuymans, Jan Fabre, Rinus Van de Velde, Stephan Vanfleteren, AMVK, Sofie Muller, Hans op de Beeck, Johan Tahon and many others. This overview of Belgian modern and contemporary art, with a special focus on the period from 1950 onwards, was compiled by Ronny and Jessy Van de Velde with the help of their daughter Sofie.

After exhibitions at the Royal Museums for Fine Arts in Brussels, the Baker Museum in Naples (Florida), the Kunsthal in Rotterdam and the Fondazione Ghisla in Locarno, Museum to Scale 1/7 has found a permanent home at the University of Antwerp. This extraordinary collection is now on display for all to see.

In her mini-museum, Karin Borghouts uses trompe l'oeil to simulate the effect of a 35mm lens. Her museum features highlights from her photographic oeuvre up to 2013, in which the theme is to show or not to show. There is also an art work of her in the photo museum curated by Xavier Canonne. Both on the first floor.

Museum to Scale 1/7
University of Antwerp - City Campus
Rodestraat 14 - ground and first floor
2000 Antwerp Belgium

Free admission on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (weekends and school holidays closed)

Watch the video made by student Kamiel (38 sec).

Meet Karin

Watch the the video made by Dieter Demey (9 minutes).
Choose English or Dutch subtitles.

Listen to Kaat Celis' interview with Karin Borghouts via the podcasts De Donkere Kamer (50 minutes, Dutch).

ZICHT is a monthly newsletter of Belgian artist photographer Karin Borghouts. She is working on her own projects and on commissioned assignments by museums, art and heritage institutions, architects, publishers and city councils.

www.karinborghouts.be