Ghent

_For the third year in a row, planopli is exploring the art and architecture landscape of Ghent. In 2024, the focus was on practices in which art and architecture are closely intertwined. Last year, we visited five artists’ studios, where we experienced how the architecture of a studio influences the (form of) art, and vice versa. On 30 May 2026, we will once again take to the city, this time with the question: how do young artists and architects start their professional practice without significant resources, and which places and initiatives support them in this challenging quest? We will visit a mix of studios, institutions and projects where art and architecture meet and reinforce each other. _
 
Herbert Foundation
Annick and Anton Herbert are among Belgium’s best-known collectors, with a collection that has its roots in the 1960s and 1970s. They deliberately bought work by young artists because, for them, collecting was a commitment to art in the making. They did not want to secure canonised oeuvres, but to support artists at a time when their position was still uncertain.
In the 1980s, they presented these works in strictly private exhibitions in a former factory building in Ghent, where context, space and concentration were central. Much of the art in the Herbert collection explores space and architecture. Minimal Art by Carl Andre and Donald Judd, Conceptual Art by Sol LeWitt, and interventions by Arte Povera, as well as works by Dan Graham and Marcel Broodthaers, show how art gives meaning to space itself.
With the establishment of the Herbert Foundation in 2013, the collection became accessible to the public. The building combines light, spacious exhibition rooms with the intimacy of the original private installations, offering a unique insight into the start and development of artists’ careers.
 
Henri B Defauw (1993-2022)
How do you become an artist? This question was central to Henri B Defauw’s short but intense artistic career. From his studies in interior design and architecture, he developed a practice in which architecture, form and space are tangible. His fascination with structure and packaging culminated in the central motif of his oeuvre: the box. Just as Didier Vermeiren devoted himself to the plinth, Defauw saw the box as an autonomous entity in which content, form and meaning come together.
His work is an ongoing dialogue with artists such as John Baldessari, Raoul De Keyser, Ellsworth Kelly, Gilbert & George, On Kawara, Jan Schoonhoven, Edward Ruscha and Didier Vermeiren. Many of them belong to the Herbert Foundation collection, which was an important reference for Defauw. In his boxes and paintings, he combines irony, poetry and social criticism, from artistic quotations and logos of multinationals to references to contemporary culture and music.
Defauw actively sought recognition, experimented with sales strategies, Instagram and exhibitions, and showed that seriousness and playfulness, social criticism and aesthetics can go hand in hand. His work remains a powerful exploration of artistry, space and meaning.
 
Radar 20a
Radar 20a is an exhibition space created by architect Trice Hofkens. It will showcase work by Henri B Defauw. Radar 20a is a unique platform that gives young artists the opportunity to show their work: Trice opens up part of her own home and offers space, support and visibility to promising creators, ‘a commitment to put promising artists on the radar by offering space and support.’
The house itself tells a story of idealism and inventiveness. When Trice and Jan De Vylder had just graduated, they had no resources, but they did have a dream. They bought an old factory building and renovated it with industrial materials. Economical but poetic, without losing the spaciousness. Later, they adapted the house flexibly to the seasons, with a changeable interior that combines sustainability and experience.
Today, Radar 20a is a place where creative ambition and innovative spatial experience come together. It is an ideal setting to discover the experimental and poetic work of Henri B Defauw, which questions the world in a playful yet critical way.
 
The other names and locations of the full day programme will be gradually released via our website and on social media…
This day trip to Ghent is part of the annual art triptych: in March, Mallorca and Menorca will delight many artistic hearts as European destinations; and in December, we will travel to Mexico to delve into the architectural depths of art.