Artful hotshots

‘It’s a real honour for me to be part of a bunch of artful hotshots who treat the museum as their playground. You get to pitch your tent in one of the hottest art collections in Europe. It’s enough to make you dance with joy.’

Lending breath

‘Whenever I’m in a museum, anywhere in the world, I always get the feeling that the paintings and sculptures are talking to me. Sometimes all at once, sometimes individually. Sometimes they scream out for attention, sometimes they whisper or even murmur. But they all have something to say. They want to live, not just to hang or stand there. I feel then that it’s up to me to lend them my breath, to give them a voice. That’s exactly what I want to do with the KMSKA collection. Help the works to speak!’

Odd habit

‘The late Jan Hoet once said in an interview that the first thing he did whenever he entered a museum was to check out the security. Where were the cameras? Because any true art-lover would obviously like to take a few of the works home. I’ve picked up that same odd little habit myself.’

Van Dyck & Van Dyck

‘Who would I like to meet up with? Let’s stick to the spirit of the museum and say Van Dyck. I’d love to know what it was like to live in his era. How it was in Rubens’ studio. It might turn out that we really are related. That would make me an heir. Which could be interesting…’