After a year of nomadism, which began in June 2022 with the total renovation of its infrastructure, and more than 70 Hors-Les-Murs and co-programs – since then – in Paris and France, the Centre Wallonie Bruxelles in Paris reopened its glass doors in October 2023 in a space restored to its primal edifice and stripped of all ornament.

Our programmes have been repositioned there with the same desire to remain unconfined, to avoid becoming entrenched or crystallised, while at the same time continuing to go viral in physical spaces and cyberspace. They have been reinfiltrated, contaminated by a number of alliances, including a collaboration with Albert Baronian, the first outside curator to be invited to design a group exhibition there.

In the field of contemporary art, Albert Baronian is a rebellious, mischievous, original and idiosyncratic figure. He is the founder of one of Brussels’ first contemporary art galleries – his gallery celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023 – and is undoubtedly a trailblazer who has taken risky bets by committing himself both to his work as a gallery owner and curator.

He is the first curator to be invited to the Centre in his capacity as a rebellious visionary – above and beyond the status he has been assigned.

The artists he has brought together under the banner of HÉRÉTIQUES are obviously not exclusive to his gallery, but are the bearers of approaches that have caught the eye of this privateer of contemporary art.

– Stéphanie Pécourt