RENÉ HEYVAERT

Heyvaert remained unknown for most of his life. Nevertheless, after his death in 1984, his work had a posthumous recognition by a fringe of the art world, and the sharp but marginal critics. Since then, the confidential heritage of the artist and architect is cherished by a small circle of initiates. Recently, a new form of notoriety was finally granted - among others, by an ambitious retrospective at the M Museum of Leuven and by several publications that interrogate a singular facet of the character and its work that intertwines with his personal history.

René Heyvaert explores architectural questions between 1953 and 1969 in Belgium as well as in the United States. Then, between 1969 and 1984, he develops an artistic approach through small constructions made of daily objects and materials that he realizes at home, along with a large amount of graphic experiments on simple and daily supports, witnesses of a domestic practice of art - school notebooks, tablecloths, recycled cardboard. Intrinsically linked to his private life as well as deeply engraved in his work, postcards he sent to friends and family also exists.

To (re)discover the work of this man whose renown is strongly increasing since his death, this is what we've got lined up on 26 June at Kanal-Centre Pompidou (HOUSE 3):

BOOK LAUNCH of four books

— René Heyvaert (Peter Swinnen, Eva Wittocx - MER. Borgerhoff & Lamberigts )

— René Heyvaert - Mail Art 1964-1984 (Olivier Vandervliet - Triangle Books)

— René Heyvaert - House for his brother (Jan De Vylder - Koenig Books, London)

— Littleton Tiles (Wim Goossens, Arnaud Hendrickx, Joris Kritis & Richard Venlet)

TALK with the authors / publishers

— Peter Swinnen — Jan De Vylder — Olivier Vandervliet — Arnaud Hendrickx

DOCUMENTARY SCREENING

« Het koninkrijk van René Heyvaert »  (Pieter Verbiest & Bertrand Lafontaine, CANVAS - VRT)

In Dutch (french subtitles)