Transhistoric exhibitions and collection-arrangements are an important theme at the Frans Hals Museum. Not only do we stage these kinds of presentations, we also consider the topic carefully. Together with M – Museum in Louvain, we initiated the international research project The Transhistorical Museum: Objects, Narratives and Temporalities in 2015. In this context, two conferences, a workshop and a lecture have already taken place. The second conference, The Transhistorical Exhibition, took place in Louvain in May 2016.

The recent merger of the Frans Hals Museum and De Hallen Haarlem into one museum is partly inspired by the transhistoric project. Our visitors will therefore increasingly be surprised with combinations of old and new art, both at the Hof (Groot Heiligland) and at the Hal (Grote Markt) locations.

After an introduction by Eva Wittocx (Curator & Head of Contemporary Art at M-Museum, Louvain), Nicola Setari (research associate KU Louvain and independent curator) held a lecture about the status quaestionis of the transhistorical and two keynote lectures took place by Ruth Noack (lecturer at DAI Arnhem and former head of Curating Contemporary Art Program, Royal College of Art, London) and Hendrik Folkerts (art historican and curator).

In the afternoon the programme was filled with case studies by:

Penelope Curtis (director Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon)

Emilie Gordenker (director Mauritshuis, The Hague)

Ronald Van de Sompel (research and symposium associate at Oslo Pilot)

Kate Forde (head of exhibitions Wellcome Collection, London)

Hilde Van Gelder (associate professor History of Art KU Louvain and Director of the Lieven Gevaert Research Centre for Photography, Art and Visual Culture, Louvain)

Xander Karskens (former curator contemporary art at Frans Hals Museum | De Hallen Haarlem)

Furthermore, two round table discussions took place, moderated by Ann Demeester (director of the Frans Hals Museum). The first was with Penelope Curtis, Emilie Gordenker, Ronald Van de Sompel and Nicola Setari; the second with Kate Forde, Hilde Van Gelder, Xander Karskens, and Nicola Setari.

Here you can read a report of the day by Anik Fournier.