Thierry Vanlancker
You are also the Chairman of the Board of the AkzoNobel Art Foundation; what is your personal connection to art?
When I was a student, I often walked into the Smak in Ghent, from the legendary director Jan Hoet, who my father knew well. I now know more and more about art and I enjoy going on studio visits, galleries, graduation exhibitions and various art fairs, such as Art Rotterdam, together with my wife.
In 2016, the public Art Space on the ground floor of our main office on the Zuidas opened…
That was certainly a highlight since the opening of our head office! The Art Space is the connecting bridge towards the outside world; more than 130K visitors! The Art Space facilitates encounters between art. Not only between our own colleagues, but also for schools, people from the neighborhood and our interntional guests and clients, who greatly appreciate it. There are guided tours in the Art Space every day. Art is seen as a source of innovation and facilitates creative reflection within the workspace.
Do you find it important that the Art Space is there?
We wanted to share the collection with the general public. It is our business card, a wonderful way to show the outside world who we are, what we stand for, what we find important. The collection, of course, also has interesting interfaces with the company itself. The art is not only displayed on our office walls, but also presented in a kind of museum context: the Art Space, which makes dialogue between the viewer and the art more accessible.
What kind of reactions does art evoke among employees or relations?
It lives more than ever, there are really only very positive reactions, from young to old. Although not all works are equally accessible. People do not have to like everything, art is and remains personal, it is precisely these contradictions that lead to fantastic discussions! The public Art Space has really become an icon, a kind of cultural hotspot. People can recharge for a while between art, it is connecting and inspiring.
