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23Apr2026

Cultuurvuur Biennale 2026

In Art, exhibitions, painting by AnV / 23/04/2026 / No Comments
Werkfoto : de eerste lagen

The ‘calm before the storm’ is now officially over; here is the first invitation of the year:

Welcome to the Cultuurvuur 2026 Biennale at the Meise Botanical Garden.
As the winner of the previous edition, I am participating once again by invitation. Following the scale of my previous installation, this time I deliberately opted for a more concentrated arrangement, originally starting from a single painting, which eventually grew into a limited ensemble of works.

For this edition of the Cultuurvuur Biennale, 38 artists worked around a central theme:

Chemistry of Light: Photosynthesis

My work will be on display in the Castle, in the top room of the left-hand tower (accessible via stairs).

I took as my starting point the moment when photosynthesis takes place: when CO₂ and water, under the influence of light, are converted into oxygen and glucose. The visual language draws, alongside my coal—which is the starting and ending point of photosynthesis—on the chemical symbols: the hexagon refers to glucose, the circles to oxygen.

In the photo you can see the construction of the largest painting; the final result will be on display at the Biennale from 1 May!

Cultuurvuur Biennale
1 May to 31 August – daily from 10am to 6pm

Website Cultuurvuur Biennial : https://cultuurvuur.be/
Website Meise Botanical Garden : https://www.plantentuinmeise.be/

19Sep2024

The Light Wins

In Art, exhibitions, painting by AnV / 19/09/2024 / Comments are closed

7 paintings, each 80×200 cm, 2024
Coalpaint and coal on canvas

Untill september 30  – Biënnale Cultuurvuur – Botanical Garden of Meise (B)
Location 51 / AV – Friendship temple

 

This is the accompanying text on site:

“Come in, stand in the center of the circle, and look around. You have now stepped not only into the world of the artist, but also into that of Freemasonry.

The temple you are now standing in was founded in 1818 for the elevation of master in Freemasonry of Baron Emmanuel Vanderlinden d’Hoogvorst. That intrigued An Vanderlinden. She researched symbols in Freemasonry, and used them as building blocks in this installation. So it is by no means a coincidence that they have just become 7 paintings.

Symbols form a universal language, allowing people with different backgrounds and characters to communicate about the same topics. There is no absolute explanation for this, everyone can interpret the meaning in their own way.

In Freemasonry, the rough stone is a symbol for man, the soul. It is edited and processed in different ways in this series of paintings. The square that you find in each painting represents the cubic stone that the Freemason strives for. “The purpose is to shape the rough stone into a cubic stone, so that it can serve in the symbolic construction of the Temple.” In other words: the goal is to become the best version of yourself, so that you can contribute to a better world.

If you stand in the middle of the temple and turn around your axis, you can compare the stones in the squares. Do you see that the stones in the outermost paintings (closest to the door) are rougher, and lighter in color, than the more finely worked stones that fill the square of the painting on the opposite side of the temple?

Directly opposite the outside world, the door, is the darkest painting. While in the outer paintings the light on the coal comes from outside, in the darkest painting the light comes from within, from the finely ground coal.

Do you also see the movement the square makes? It goes through a cycle, like the sun. After all, the path to self-knowledge is not a straight line.

The rays of light in the paintings go around in 2 directions: from the west, the outer world, to the inner light, and from the inner light back to the outer world. Each painting is also a fully-fledged painting independently of the others. Because every step in the
cycle is important.

VISITA INTERIORA TERRAE RECTIFICANDO INVENIES OCCULTUM LAPIDEM

7 words. 7 paintings. Each word is the title of a painting.
This Latin proverb freely translated says : ‘Go into the depths of the earth in search of the darkest stone’.
Abbreviated: V.I.T.R.I.O.L.
Do you find these letters in the paintings?

Biënnale Cultuurvuur – untill september 30 – Botanical Garden Meise
info : www.naturainspiratus.be

Friendship Temple, location 51 / AV on the hiking map.
The temple is near “Meise Dorp” entrance, hidden in the greenery.
With your back to entrance Meise Dorp: turn right, then 100 metres further
follow the ‘KUNST ROUTE’ arrow to the left into the bush.

04Jul2024

“Research and work by An Vanderlinden. The blackest black from Beringen.”

In Art, painting by AnV / 04/07/2024 / Comments are closed

I recently had the pleasure of hosting the authors of the story series ‘Bodem en Kunst’*, which appears in the Dutch professional journal Bodem, in Belgium.
Day 1, Joop Okx and Theo Edelman visited my studio in Diest, where I told them about my work and working methods. Day 2 we visited Mining Museum Beringen together, where we were given an expert tour. The article they wrote about my work has now been published.

You can read it / download it here (pdf, dutch)

* Previous articles in this series have appeared on Otobong Nkanga, Monica Rotgans, Atelier NL and Jos de Putter, among others

17Nov2023

New paint tests of “new” coal = new project. Exciting!

In Art, painting by AnV / 17/11/2023 / Comments are closed

 

It’s been a long time since I wrote anything here. Reason: I’m too busy to sit in front of my computer. And when I do take some rest, sitting behind my computer is not exactly my idea of relaxation. In short: personal point of improvement ;-)

What I have done so far besides renovating our house during the weekends and days off, move twice, and clean up the incessant stream of rain that continues to pour in as long as the roofer doesn’t get here to do his job…
painting in my amazing new studio. And rushing outside every time the sun wants to shine for a moment, to wash, grind and sift coal.

I am testing “new” coal: coal from Eisden, the easternmost coal mine of Belgium. In preparation for a new project that is very exciting for me. I will hopefully tell you a lot more about it soon.

Update 17/11: o ooooh. I told the whole story on instagram, but I still have to add it here. On its way!

04Nov2018

Start of the largest painting I ever made, in a hidden corner of the coal preparation plant: Artist Residency week 5

In Art, Artist Residency, painting by AnV / 04/11/2018 / Comments are closed

April 31, mo

Today I can start my first “really big” painting. I never had the chance before to make such a large painting, but I wanted this for years. Happy! This one is 2m x 2m50.

I moved to the other side of the shaft tower. Over here the floor is flat, that’s good because now I can walk backwards without stumbling over the train rails.
The view is also (more then) suberb, and…. No one can see me 😁. I’m hidden now for all visitors, love it!

May 1, tue

People often ask: how do you start with a painting like this? Simple: I just take paint and a brush :-). And in this particular case: curse a bit in the inside because I made my paint a little bit too dark.

 

May 2, we

May, 6° C …. Damn cold! This is the first day that I actually took a break at noon to go the sauna. (There’s a swiming pool with sauna here in be-MINE).
My back hurts sooo much, it needed to warm up. Luckily the sun came through in the afternoon.

This is the fast forward version of today…

versus the slow truth

May 3, thu

Did I already mentioned that I’m working in a really HUGE building? 😉All of the sudden, that large canvas doesn’t seems to be so large at all.
#puttingthingsinperspective

Putting things in perspective seems to be today’s theme ;-)

May 4, fri

I worked late last night. It’s going well, I have a clear picture of this painting in my head.

Also today was a productive day :-)

Roundup Artist Residency Week 5

I finally started my first really big painting, and it goes well: I’m happy! The format suits me, and I am completely at ease in this new place. Nice :-)

29Oct2018

About letting go of fear and moving out: this was my Artist Residency week 4

In Art, Artist Residency, painting by AnV / 29/10/2018 / Comments are closed

April 23, mo

Today I ‘ve let go of fear, and I simply painted. Man it felt great! I kept it modest and not worked opaque, but still, I feel that I have finally painted again, phew!

An Vnderlinden schilderij in opbouw tijdens Artist Residency week 4

April 24, tue

I have worked really well today. My first large painting is “restored”. I had messed it up yesterday, it’s OK now. It is a lot darker now, finally! Almost finished.
Charbon de Beringen, An Vanderlinden

Today I have also (finally) really taken care of the 3 small paintings that I am working on. I hope it is dry enough tomorrow, it looks promising.
3 kleine schilderijtjes in opbouw tijdens An V's Artist Residency week 4

April 25, wed

The next days, a film crew will be shooting a soap at this location. I promised them to pack my things. I had not really thought about how to move that carpet … :-D :-D
Once at home I still had the feeling that I was eating dust. I’ve put all my clothes directly in the washing machine, and myself in the shower for an hour.

April 26, thu

So this is my home for a few days. As I expected, I’m feeling comfortable inside my “paint office”. Look, I even have a nice carpet in here :-D.

The film crew of the Flemish television soap “Familie” is working nearby. To be honest: I never saw even one episode, so I don’t have any clue who the f**ck “NIKO” is, and why somebody is desperately screaming to find him. I do know they had to shoot that particular scene many, many, many times 😜
I looked it up yesterday: it was on view the first week of september.

April 27, fri

A very nice side-effect of that film crew being here, is that be-MINE removed the fences halfway the unloading floor. The alarm is still on so I can’t go any further then usually, but the view is so much nicer. I’ve already taken lots of pictures today, and I guess I will take some more :). Soooo beautiful.

And have a look how everything changes when the evening light kicks in. I’m so in love with this building

Losvloer kolenswasserij Beringen, april 2018, foto An Vanderlinden

Losvloer kolenswasserij Beringen, april 2018, avond, foto An Vanderlinden

April 28, sa

The evening light was also outside very beautiful yesterday :-). I went for a walk on the slagheap after work.

Schachtbok Beringen in avondlicht, foto: An Vanderlinden

 

Roundup Artist Residency Week 4

In the end: the relief :). My first big painting is finally finished. Finally! The second is completely different but that was mentally necessary. That one is not finished yet. Also worked on the 3 small paintings. Productive week eventually.

Lijm gesmeerd en steenkool gestrooid op mijn doek tijdens Artist Residency week 4

Schilderij "charbon de beringen 1" An Vanderlinden

22Oct2018

Unwanted visitors. Even twice. Artist Residency week 3.

In Art, Artist Residency, painting, project coal by AnV / 22/10/2018 / Comments are closed

April 17, tue

For the first time sunshine in the evening: this light is mesmerizing. I see things I never saw before. Suddenly colors appear in the back of the building, gorgeous! I really love this light.

losvloer be-mine

April 18, wed

Wonderful weather today. Sun and warm. Too much sun, unfortunately. The unloading floor is very nice, but it is difficult to work where I stand, I have to install me differently tomorrow. A lot of messing around today because the sun was making a difference on my canvas. But I amused myself, so blissfully without cold!

April 19, thu

Finally spring! Or will I call it summer? It is sunny, 28 ° (!) , and there is a blissful warm breeze. I had my lunch outside outside on the slag heap :).

anv terril zicht op be-MINEANV 20180419 terril Beringen

April 20, fri : unwanted visitors

I was terrified last night! Normally I have to stop working at 6 pm because from then on, I am alone on the site, the offices and the mining museum are closed. If I want to stay a little longer, I have to inform the people of be-MINE. Yesterday I did so for the very first time, I told them I would like to stay until 8 pm.
A quarter before 8, I just started packing my things, the alarm goes off. That means that there are burglars in the building. I heard stories about both copper thieves and urban explorers. From the first category I am afraid. I feel a lump in my throat from fear. What should I do? They may also think that I caused the alarm myself by entering an area where I’m not allowed to.

I send a text message: “The alarm goes off. It is not me who’s causing it, but I am still in the building.” A little while later the alarm stops, and I get a phone call: “I am looking at the camera images right now. I see people. They are just teens, 2 girls and a boy. I think the alarm scared them off, they’re probably running away.” Almost at the same time I hear outside a girl screaming “the alarm goes off!”

Pfew!
Thought to go for a swim, but only felt like a drink afterwards.

ANV 2018 04 19 losvloer be-MINE

April 20, fri

I brushed my painting clean this morning. Yesterday I scattered unsieved coal on a layer of glue, by there is not much left of it. Mostly dust actually. It was not my intention that the surface would be full of grains, but I had expected more of it. No problem, so I learn again.
anv steenkool borstelen

April 21, sa : unwanted visitors, again.

Highlight of the day (NOT): Unwanted visitors, again. This time it was a group of elderly people. One of them wanted to know if it’s Art that I am creating. I tend to ignore his question, but he really needs an answer. He asks a second time: “Is this art?” His wife, embarrassed, smiles an apology to me, and says to him: “of course it is. Mondriaan, that’s also with a lot of squares, and that’s also art.”
But the man isn’t satisfied as long as he doesn’t get an answer straight from me. “Is this art?”, he asks me for the third time. So I answer: “Yes sir, this is Art.” That’s the answer he waited for. His most disapproving gaze is my part.
“But that doesn’t mean that you have to like it.” I add, while I turn my back.
I know I shouldn’t care, but I feel like crying.

anv taking distance flat work 2018 04 20

Round up Artist Residency week 3:

I’ve worked extensively. Painted many thin layers. Still not good. I’m getting frustrated. I’ve painted during many hours the last 3 weeks, and there’s still not one painting OK.
Conclusion: I do it the wrong way. It is too complicated.
I have to try to get everything in balance. I’m thinking way too much now. I want to “just” paint, amuse myself, have fun doing it. But I’m afraid.

Schilderij CDB1 in progress, An Vanderlinden

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