Experttour Roger D’Hondt (NL)

View Hugo Roelandt’s artistic practice through a different pair of eyes: Roger D’Hondt, the founder of the art space New Reform in Aalst and a per formance art curator, shares his experience of working with Hugo Roelandt for many years, the Performance Art Festival in Brussels and his participation with Roelandt in Documenta 6 in Kassel.

Roger D’Hondt (NL)
Sun 16.02.2025, 14:00 

M HKA, 2nd floor
free with a valid museum ticket. Reserve your spot here.

Roger D’Hondt founded New Reform in Aalst in 1970, a centre specialising in performance, installations and other experimental art forms. Early on, he offered a platform to his fellow Aalst resident Hugo Roelandt, which led to a collaboration that would last for ten years. The highlights of this collaboration were ‘Performance Art’ in Kassel city archive during Documenta 6 (1977) and the ‘Performance Art Festival’ in the Beursschouwburg in Brussel (1978), both curated by Roger D’Hondt. Together, they contributed to raising the profile of performance art in Belgium and gaining international recognition for it.

Biography of Roger D’Hondt
Roger D’Hondt is the founder of the avant-garde arts centre New Reform (Aalst, 1970-1979) and a winner of the European Robert Schuman prize for culture (1978 Metz, France). He worked at the UIA arts centre in Antwerp (1973-1975) and curated more than 200 projects in the fields of performance, installation art and multimedia. His work as a curator included projects such as ‘Theorie/informatie/praktijk’ (exhibition, performances and video art) in Ghent city academy (1976), ‘Performance Art’ in the Stadsarchiv Kassel during Documenta 6 (1977), the ‘Performance Art Festival’ at the Beursschouwburg in Brussels (1978), the conference ‘Performance in Vlaanderen 1969 – 1979’ on behalf of the Nieuwe Workshop Brussel, ‘Van Provo tot Nu, kunst in een sociaal politieke context’ (Aalst City Museum, 2008), ‘Facades et Interieurs’ (an in-situ project in Paraza, France, 2010), and a tribute to his friend, ‘Hugo Roelandt – Post(ume) Getuigenis’, Netwerk Aalst (2016). Publicist in newspapers, magazines, books and digital network.

>>Sign up for the Expert Tour by Marc Holthof (NL) as well.

Marc Holthof, formerly Hugo Roelandt’s assistant, and Joanna Zielińska, curator and performance expert at M HKA, discuss the challenges of archiving ephemeral art.