Julie Waseige

Art historian (Université Libre de Bruxelles, 2012), I specialize in the study of modern Belgian art and surrealism.

From 2013 to 2016, I worked as a researcher and scientific collaborator at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. I was responsible, among other things, for the daily management of the Magritte Museum. In the following years, I worked as an independent art historian. Author of several works devoted to surrealism and René Magritte, I have also curated several exhibitions, including: Magritte. Lifeline presented at MASI in Lugano and at the Amos Rex in Helsinki (2018-2019), Inside Magritte who traveled to Milan, Florence and Seoul (2018-2020), or even Magritte. A Lab of Ideas which was held at Nordic Watercolor Museum in Sweden (2022).

I also worked as a historical advisor for the documentary René Magritte. The master of mystery (Seven Doc Productions, France, 2023). In 2019, I became a member of the international cultural organization SALOON. Between May 2019 and June 2020, I served as scientific director of the Marcel Mariën Foundation and contributed in particular to the digitalization and posting online of the artist's catalog raisonné.

In 2020, I co-founded retrace, a heritage development agency, with Annabelle Oliva, also ambassador Genius Loci. Together, we are aimed at any individual or community wishing to safeguard, promote and disseminate historical, artistic or archaeological heritage. We offer personalized services combining scientific research, design and content production.

Since its creation, Retrace has written and produced catalogs of private collections, biographies and beautiful books dedicated to architectural heritage. Interested in new technologies, she also contributed to developing an online catalog raisonnés service and offers aerial imagery by drone to photograph natural or historical heritage. To date, her clients include non-profit organizations, foundations, businesses and families, whom she supports from the formulation of their needs to the realization of their projects.

Since 2023, I have also been a cultural columnist for the Belgian national channel RTBF.

Meaning “the spirit of the place,” the name Genius Loci echoes the professional mission to which I dedicate myself daily within the Retrace agency: “telling the story of heritage to bring it back to life”.

The medals Genius Loci contribute to the transmission of knowledge of a heritage place in an original way thanks to assets that I particularly appreciate:

• Their participatory dimension and the possibility for each and everyone to tell their secret about the history of a place
• Their hosting on a user-friendly platform and content of different types: audio, photo, video etc.
• Instant translation of textual content into many languages
• The possibility of obtaining statistical data on visits for public or private communities