Writes in the mid nineties for Kunstbeeld, an art magazine from the Netherlands. End 1995 he writes an article about the Ghent art scene: GENT - HISTORISCHE STAD ALS BROEDPLAATS VOOR HET ALLERNIEUWSTE. [GHENT - HISTORICAL CITY AS BREEDING GROUND FOR THE ABSOLUTELY NEW] One of the images he attaches at the end of his piece is a work by Michaël Borremans - Call to the higher consciousness - who at that moment happens to have his first solo show at croxhapox.
"The spectre Jan Hoet invoked with his 'chambre d'amis' still haunts Ghent. The enthousiasm of those days, however, or so they say in art cycles, has been dampened, also because of the economic backlash of the late '90s. Hopes for a revival are high though, when Hoet's Museum van Moderne Kunst [now SMAK] will open its doors. Already some signals can be picked up that a number of renowned Belgian galeries will eventually join the expected renewed interest for contemporary art in Ghent./ A telltale example of focused activity is Croxhapox,
starting point for the southern route. The space is situated in Sint-Amandsberg, just outside of the city centre (Aannemersstraat 54, tel.
09/228.38.65) Croxhapox vzw has been founded in 1990 by artist Hans van Heirseele, assitant professor Kristel De Buck and producer of animation movies Frank Van den Eeckhout. It offers a platform for young artists showing their quite often controversial work. Though formally a non-profit society, the organisation acts as a lively, anarchistic bunch. The dynamic and stimulating atmosphere is most important for them. The programme is multi-faceted, multi-medial and international. As an extra impulse, croxhapox started the so-called installation window project at a bookshop in the city centre in Onderstraat. One artist fills the entire shop window. At Croxhapox properly, in December, one can meet the Flemish painter Michaël Borremans. In January there will be a video installation by Patrick Baele who was inspired by a module made by Jacques 't Kindt. The music is by American artist and professor Phill Niblock. In December the installation window is by Gery De Smet, in January by Phill Niblock and german artist Jenz Brand./ It's a short walk from Sint-Amandsberg to the city -" Other initiatives Herman Hoeneveldt mentions are Opus
Operandi, de Vereniging voor het Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Fortlaan
17, S. & H. De Buck, Witte Zaal, Richard Foncke, Moving Space and galerie G. De Keulenaer. The images, 4 of them, are - apart from Borremans' - by Marcel Maeyer (Fortlaan 17), Catherine
Opie (Richard Foncke) and Wim Vanderplaetsen (S. & H. De Buck).
Errata.
1. HH erroneously mentions Kristel De Buck as one of the founding members of Croxhapox VZW, which was actually founded in 1990 by Hans van
Heirseele, Frank Van den Eeckhout and Guido De Bruyn. From 1994 till 2000 Kristel De Buck, owner of Aannemersstraat 54 and girlfriend of Hans van Heirseele, was a member of the crox-team. 2. HH mentions a project by Patrick Baele (a video based on a work by Jacques
't Kindt) but that project never happened. Patrick did participate at the end of 1996 in the Open Deuren and later on he shows his work in the media space of Lucas Munichstraat 76/82. 3. HH missed installation window location Onderstraat 26. Simultaneous with the project of Phill Niblock and Jens
Brand (spelled as Jenz by HH) there is a work by Zjuul Devens.