Visit: Guided tour by Laura Hanssens: The Imagined Collection

Anton Herbert, Raas van Gaverestraat 106, 1989

“We were attracted by those people who were ‘outside the norm’. They led us to radical points of view. We were interested in extreme directions.”

(Anton Herbert, in gesprek met Annick Herbert en Sophie Richard, Gent, 15 november 2004, in ‘Time Extended / 1964-1978. Works and Documents from the Herbert Foundation’, 2016)
 
 

Laura Hanssens, director of Herbert Foundation, will lead a tour of the collection presentation at the Raas van Gaverestraat 106 building on Saturday February 1st. The tour will reflect on what the Herberts described as their ‘imagined’ or imaginary collection. Their archives, which are essential to the collection, will also be visited as part of this tour.

During the summer of 1973, Annick and Anton Herbert received an invitation to attend the opening of an exhibition organised by Fernand Spillemaeckers at the Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens in Deurle. The front side of the invitation featured an alphabetical list of the artists whose ‘works and documents’ would be shown as part of this exhibition. Until that moment, the Herberts had followed the ongoing, new developments in international art from the side-lines. They underlined the names of the artists who in particular had attracted their attention.

The Herberts made Spillemaeckers’ acquaintance at the vernissage, which mostly featured documents and few works due to circumstances. His MTL gallery in Brussels offered a generation of young national and international artists a platform to show their work. Shortly after meeting Spillemaeckers, the Herberts acquired their first works by Sol LeWitt, Marcel Broodthaers and Carl Andre.

Anton Herbert had the following to say about the invitation: “It gave a first expression to our imaginary collection. The boundaries were already drawn, even if we owned no works at that point.”
 

Practical details

Sunday 1 February 2025, 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

• Language: Dutch
• Entrance via Coupure Links 627 A
• Minimum age: 12 years old
   

• Places are limited.
• Admisson fee: € 15 – Buy your ticket here
• We kindly ask to be present 15 minutes before the start of the tour.