Out & aBouts

In the fall of 2023, Leuven will host its city festival, which this year highlights Flemish Master Dieric Bouts. The New Horizons | Dieric Bouts festival lasts four months and includes a host of cultural events spread throughout the city, from exhibitions in museums to photo quests or city games through the streets of Leuven. The festival doesn’t only revolve around Bouts’ works, but also gives space for young artists who get inspiration from Bouts’ paintings and give them new meaning through their own interpretation and through their own media. As part of the festival and in collaboration with Fringe, Curating The Young is organizing the open air exhibition “Out & aBouts” around the Leuven canal, an area locals like to refer to as the “Vaart”.

For this exhibition, our team searched for five young artists who were inspired by Dieric Bouts. Through the Erfgoedapp, they add an extra dimension to their work. Come take a walk around the canal between Nov. 16 and Dec. 9 and discover their works!

November 16th 2023 - January 9th 2023 Leuven

Nederlandse versie

A different way to experience art

We believe that art is for everyone and shouldn’t be something exclusive. Going to a gallery or museum can be intimidating to a lot of people. Therefore, we make it our mission to create an environment where everyone can experience art in an accessible way. That’s how we came up with the idea to organize an open air exhibition and to connect the artworks to each other by curating a walking route around them. Since the exhibition takes place in public spaces, it is entirely free to visit, no tickets or reservations needed! If you’d like to support the artists, you can buy a series of objects during the exhibition, such as prints and postcards. More info concerning sales points will follow.

Not “just a walk”

In addition to their artworks, our five artists have also each developed something extra for the Erfgoedapp. Through this app, visitors will be able to see the map of Leuven, but also experience an extra dimension of the works. In this way, we hope to make the walk more dynamic and interactive. At each work of art, there will be something to scan through the app, which will give you access to a new dimension of the work. So make sure to download the Erfgoedapp on your smartphone before coming to Out & aBouts! You can download the app through this link.

Guided tours

There are free guided tours available. You can book your guided tour here. This art expo will be outside, put on your warm clothes and enjoy!

PRACTICAL INFO

In order to have the best possible experience during the walk, we strongly recommend all visitors to download the Erfgoedapp on their smartphone. Each work has an extra dimension to it that you can only access through the app, and it would be a shame to miss out! You can download the app here.
We’d also like to point out that the exhibition mainly takes place outside, so visitors are advised to wear clothes that are Belgian weather proof.
Out & aBouts is easily accessible from Leuven train station. We recommend visitors to take OPEK (Vaartkom 4, 3000 Leuven) as starting point for their walk. You can reach OPEK from the station in about twenty minutes on foot, or five minutes by bicycle (by the way, the ride to OPEK goes downhill). Bike parking is available at the racks in front of OPEK and on the side of the building.
In case you’d rather take public transport to the expo, you can take busses 4 or 5 until the stop “Leuven Riddersstraat”, or busses 395, 651 and 652 until “Leuven Lüdenscheid”.
We don’t encourage anyone to come to our exhibition by car, but we’re also aware of the fact that some visitors may not have a choice but to come by car. If that is you case, you can easily park your car in the nearby parking lot “Parking Vaartkom”.
You can follow the tour via Google Maps.
The exhibition will be open continuously. On different days throughout the expo, there will be free guided tours. You can book your spot here.

MAP

MEET THE ARTISTS

YNNE

Ynne de Wever

Ynne de Wever (she/her) is a visual artist and poet. She calls herself a "wild collector" and finds inspiration in stuff linked to a memory.

What Ynne and Dieric Bouts share is an art practice in which everyday items are turned into art. Ynne's work for Out & aBouts can be seen at Schipvaartstraat.

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BEPPE

Beppe Geerts

Beppe is a graphic designer and illustrator with a keen interest in photography. She is currently completing her master's degree in Fine Arts (Illustration) at the LUCA School of Arts Ghent. She previously graduated as a graphic designer in 2021. Beppe steps in inspired by Flemish culture in everyday life. Her illustration work is often done in large format scale and most with oil pastels.

Her link to Bouts is an interest in everyday scenes and Flemish culture in everyday life. Her work for Out & aBouts can be seen in SluisPark.

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PINA

Pina Geyskens

Pina Geyskens (she/her) studies free graphics in Hasselt and lives in Leuven. She has a passion for graphic techniques and art history. She wants to show the world as she sees it in her art. She photographs intriguing places and landscapes that she encounters and that inspire her. She merges these with other fragments through screen printing techniques.

In Bouts' work, the Leuven of the past appears through small windows and cracks, and Pina wants to connect contemporary Leuven with the city as it shows itself in the works of Dieric Bouts. Pina's work for Out & aBouts can be seen at Schipvaartstraat.

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NEL

Nel Maertens

Nel Maertens (she/her) lives and works in Antwerp. She holds a master's degree in fashion. Besides her work in textile and costume design, she also works as an autonomous visual artist. She is also part of the FAAR artist collective in Deurne.

Nel found her inspiration in the "emotionlessness" often found in the facial expressions of Dieric Bouts' characters. Her work for Out & aBouts can be seen in the Sluispark.

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DAUWKE

Dauwke Van Kerckhove

Dauwke Van Kerckhove (she/her) is a contemporary dancer from Leuven. This year she graduated as a dancer from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds and is currently working as a freelance artist.

The earthly and realistic staging that Bouts chose for his religious works blurred the boundaries between heaven and earth - he painted with the idea of a heaven on earth or an earthly heaven. Dauwke plays with those boundaries and gives her own interpretation of heaven, earth, and everything in between. Her work for Out & aBouts can be seen at OPEK.

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