Antichambre

“Somewhere in February 1986 I received a phone call. I had just left a cold, lonely winter in the heart of Auvergne behind me and was temporarily staying with a friend. Another acquaintance at the time, Jan Van Opstal, had managed to find my address and we made an appointment that same evening at the Vooruit. Jan was busy with festivals and light shows and had rented the enormous old factory complex Halsberge-Van Oost, of which one giant hall was still in good condition. Everything else was ruins. His question: organize something with artists on that site. An idea quickly flashed through my head and was immediately approved by that same head after a lightning-fast run through of criteria, Antichambre was born. At that time, Jan Hoet was already making a lot of noise with his international Chambre d’ Amis and the Tolstoyan antechamber fitted perfectly as a train carriage behind it. At Tolstoy’s, the antechamber was regularly used when, for example, the dissolute nephew came to beg for money while a big party was going on in the salons. A perfect match.”

From March onwards everything went fast, after a few meetings there was an organising core group with exhibition leader art historian Piet Van Robaeys. Lucas, the creator, was ill for a while during that period, which was the opportunity for idea robbers to claim the idea, even today. This was also perpetuated because Lucas’ external contribution ultimately seemed limited. He used the collapsed roof of a central building conceptually. He put the various elements and objects in cheerful colours: the colours of the new on the remains of the old. Antichambre became an overwhelming success with almost two hundred participating artists, fourteen thousand visitors.