Art Brussels

Friday 24 April
2 – 2:50 PM at the Tribune

With Baptiste Delhauteur (Finance and Administrative Director, KANAL – Centre Pompidou) and Claire Leblanc (director, Museum of Ixelles), moderated by Jean-Philippe Theyskens (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium) 

This talk, Opening, Reopening, Reinventions: the new museum dynamics in Brussels, focuses on two major upcoming milestones: the opening of KANAL – Centre Pompidou on 28 November and the reopening of the Musée d’Ixelles from 19 to 21 March 2027. It reflects on what it means to open or reopen a museum today, beyond the physical transformation of the building. Claire Leblanc and Baptiste Delhauteur will discuss how these processes shape institutional identity, relevance, and long-term vision. The conversation will also explore the role of public engagement and how museums build meaningful connections with their audiences. Finally, it will highlight how artistic content is curated and redefined during such pivotal moments of transformation.

About the Speakers:

Claire Leblanc 
Doctor of Art History (ULB) and a specialist in Belgian art, Claire Leblanc has pursued a museum career for nearly three decades.  
After holding a position as a researcher at the Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Ghent (1997–1999), followed by a role as a scientific collaborator at the Royal Museums of Art and History (1999–2006), she has served as Director of the Ixelles Museum since 2006.  
Since 2018, she and her team have been leading an extensive project involving the renovation and expansion of the museum, as well as a comprehensive institutional and curatorial redevelopment.  
She has curated numerous exhibitions and is the author of essays and books devoted to Belgian art, its history, and its contemporary developments. 

Baptiste Delhauteur 
With a background in law, BaptisteDelhauteurhas been involved in the project since the creation of the Kanal Foundation. He is now its Administrative and Financial Director, leading the administrative, legal, and commercial departments. He is also responsible for coordinating operational services. As such, he has a broad perspective on the challenges surrounding the opening of the future contemporary art museum, scheduled for 28 November.

Jean-Philippe Theyskens 
Jean-Philippe Theyskens is an art historian and lecturer-guide. Affiliated with the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in the cultural mediation department, he is also a professor of modern and contemporary art history at the Academy of Fine Arts of Saint-Josse in Brussels and a lecturer for cultural associations such as Jeunesse & Arts plastiques. The constantly evolving and reinvented landscape of (contemporary) art museums is one of his main areas of interest, focus, and teaching.