Genius Loci Ambassadors are expert heritage professionals accredited by Genius Loci. In your region, they are on hand to carry out your heritage enhancement projects.
An art historian (Université Libre de Bruxelles, 2012), I specialised in the study of Belgian modern art and Surrealism.
From 2013 to 2016, I worked as a researcher and scientific collaborator at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, where my responsibilities included the day-to-day management of the Magritte Museum. In the years that followed, I worked as an independent art historian. The author of several books on Surrealism and René Magritte, I have also curated a number of exhibitions, among them Magritte. Life Line, shown at MASI in Lugano and Amos Rex in Helsinki (2018-2019), Inside Magritte, which travelled to Milan, Florence and Seoul (2018-2020), and Magritte. A Lab of Ideas at the Nordiska akvarellmuseet in Sweden (2022).
I also served as a historical consultant for the documentary René Magritte. Le maître du mystère (Seven Doc Productions, France, 2023). In 2019, I became a member of the international cultural organisation SALOON. Between May 2019 and June 2020, I held the position of scientific director of the Marcel Mariën Foundation, contributing notably to the digitisation and online publication of the artist’s catalogue raisonné.
In 2020, I co-founded Retrace, a heritage enhancement agency, with Annabelle Oliva, also a Genius Loci ambassador. Together, we work with any individual or community wishing to safeguard, showcase and share historical, artistic or archaeological heritage. We offer tailored services that combine scientific research with the design and production of content.
Since its creation, Retrace has written and produced catalogues of private collections, biographies and fine books devoted to architectural heritage. With a keen interest in new technologies, it has also helped develop an online catalogue raisonné service and offers aerial drone imagery to photograph natural or historical heritage. Today its clients include non-profit organisations, foundations, businesses and families, whom it supports from the moment they define their needs through to the completion of their projects.
Since 2023, I have also been a cultural columnist for Belgium’s national broadcaster RTBF.
Why Genius Loci?
Meaning “the spirit of place”, the name Genius Loci echoes the professional mission I devote myself to every day at Retrace: “telling the story of heritage to bring it back to life”.
Genius Loci medals help pass on the knowledge of a heritage site in an original way, thanks to qualities I particularly value:
- Their participatory dimension and the chance for everyone to share their own secret about the history of a place
- Their hosting on a user-friendly platform and content in many forms: audio, photo, video and more
- The instant translation of written content into many languages
- The option to obtain visitor statistics for public or private authorities
Specialities
- Enhancement of private and public heritage
- Research in history and art history
- Cultural content creation
- Production of books and exhibitions
- Aerial photography
Region
Based in Brussels. My work for Retrace currently takes me across Belgium, France and Switzerland.
