Unveiling the Archives of Adrien van der Burch
The 2025–2026 research seminar History of Photography launches a new collaboration with the LUCA School of Arts in Brussels. Initiated by Professor Marie Auger and Professor Liesbeth Decan, it brings together master’s students from Ghent University and LUCA in a shared research and artistic process. Both groups studied the photographic work of Adrien van der Burch (1877–1954), preserved at the Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH).
Van der Burch was a Belgian aristocrat and amateur photographer who played a key role in the restoration of the Château d’Écaussinnes‑Lalaing, a medieval castle located in the town of Écaussinnes‑Lalaing in the province of Hainaut, Wallonia, Belgium, and later helped transform it into a public cultural site. His photographs document family life, travel, and major events such as the 1935 Brussels World’s Fair. Together, they form a visual archive poised between private memory and public history. The seminar focused in particular on his glass plate negatives, combining close visual analysis with an exploration of multiple historical and theoretical issues related to gaze, mobile photography, and amateurism.
Ghent students were responsible for historical contextualisation and image analysis, while LUCA School of Arts students developed artistic projects inspired by the archive. Four LUCA students further extended this work, resulting in a physical exhibition at VANDENHOVE, where research and artistic practice intersect, as well as a virtual exhibition presenting the research in a more conventional format. Together, these exhibitions revisit the historical material and reinterpret it through contemporary perspectives. The accompanying texts draw on formal and contextual analyses of the images, translating research insights into both critical and curatorial writing.
For details, see below.
Vandenhove exhibition
A pop-up exhibition will take place at the Vandenhove inter-faculty Study Center, Ghent University, Rozier 1, 9000 Gent.
It will interpret the photographic work of Adrien van der Burch, in a dialogue between artistic interpretation and historical research that extends the seminar’s central tension between digital and physical space.
-
Save the dates :
📅 Wednesday, May 7
Join us for a small reception to celebrate the opening — starting at 5:00 PM.
📅 Thursday, May 7 – Friday, May 9
Exhibition open to visitors from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM.
Virtual exhibition
The content presented here was created individually and in pairs. The participating students demonstrate their ability to conduct academic research on heritage objects, communicate scientific knowledge to broader audiences, and engage thoughtfully with visual material. They also highlight their appreciation for collaboration with art students and of the diverse methodologies used in art schools.
This year, the website was designed by Prof. Marie Auger and Davy Verbeke, historian and research fellow at the Ghent Centre for Digital Humanities. The project, developed within the limited timeframe of the photography seminar, reflects a collective effort. To explore the results, you can browse the thematic sections as well as the bibliographic references that underpin this work.
Discover all glass plates
Colophon
Students of the Master's program
Art History, Musicology, and Theater Studies
Led by Dr. Marie Auger (Assistant Prof./FED-tWIN) :
Kaat Baelen
Jelena Boydens
Elian Coussement
Theodora Dantchouk
Myrte De Vidts
Darién Maslov Lescrauwaet
Siri Piron
Kirsten Russo
Marie Schoemans
Jona Schraepen
Pieter Janssens
Cosette Dutry
Research basis:
This project builds on the Master’s thesis by Zanna Van Balen, Through two lenses: An exploration of Adrien van der Burch’s (UGent, 2024–2025), as well as the inventory work carried out by Rebecca Debeerst (internship RMAH, 2024–2025). Bowi Quibus, curator in the Department of Non-European Civilizations at the Royal Museums of Art and History, also assisted in identifying the locations.
Illustrations:
Adrien Van der Bruch (1877–1954), from the photographic collection of the Royal Museums of Art and History (Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire / Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis), reproduced with the assistance of Greet Van Deuren, Quentin Mertens, and Danny Veys.
Outline and technical support:
Davy Verbeke | Ghent Centre for Digital Humanities
Frederic Lamsens | Ghent Centre for Digital Humanities