The twenty-fourth annual congress of CODART was officially opened this afternoon in the recently restored City Hall of Antwerp with a festive reception offered by the City of Antwerp. Paul Cordy, District Mayor of Antwerp, welcomed 140 members of CODART to the city. During the next two days, the congress participants will attend lectures and excursions in and around Antwerp. The congress was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (KMSKA), the Flemish Government, the Friends of CODART Foundation and the City of Antwerp.
The newly restored KMSKA will host the plenary program of the congress on both days. Monday includes several lectures, discussions, and case studies on the congress theme: Flemish Art: Local and Global. In the afternoon, participants are offered a selection of in-depth study visits to locations elsewhere in the city where Flemish art can be studied and admired in its local surroundings. In addition to special visits to the KMSKA itself, participants have the opportunity to visit Museum Mayer van den Bergh, the Rubens House, St. James’s Church and DIVA – Museum for Diamonds, Jewelry and Silver.
During the plenary program on Tuesday, curators are given the floor for very brief presentations on current issues in the Speakers’ Corner, which is followed a by a ‘Room for Debate’ session. The afternoon excursions will bring participants to St. Paul’s Church, the Maagdenhuismuseum, Museum Plantin-Moretus, the Snijders&Rockoxhuis, and the conservation studio and storage rooms of the The Phoebus Foundation.
Two optional excursions take place on Wednesday. One group of participants will travel to Ghent to see the Ghent Altarpiece in St. Bavo’s Cathedral and to visit the exhibition Theodoor Rombouts: Virtuoso of Flemish Caravaggism at the Museum of Fine Arts. Another group will tour to the small cities of Zoutleeuw and Geel to see highlights of Flemish sculpture in St. Leonard’s Church and the Church of St. Dymphna.
See the event page for more information about CODART 24.
We are grateful to all the partners and hosting institutions for their hospitality and kind cooperation during CODART 24. In particular our thanks goes out to:
