In 2003, the M HKA acquired ‘custody’ of the Robert Vrielynck collection, the private collection of a notary from Bruges. The collection can be situated within the archaeology of the new media and illustrates part of the development of film and projection equipment on the basis of historic appliances, like the magic lantern and the camera obscura.

A collection of media appliances such as those in the Vrielynck Collection is of exceptional importance for an understanding of our visual culture. The museum likes to think of the collection as a frame of competence for researchers and artists, and in collaboration with curator Edwin Carels (KASK / HoGent), invited visual artists for interventions in the collection – and this on the 4th floor of the Fotomuseum, where visual culture determines the exhibition programme –  for three years running.

Julien Maire was the first artist. Maire straddles installation, performance and media art and has, for years, been engaged in breathing new life in old projection techniques using modern technology. His manipulations are always guided by questions regarding current visual conventions and image strategies in the digital age. For this occasion, he integrated three of his installations (Memory Stations) in the Vrielynck Collection.