Collecting fragility and time: A dialogue of decay and female spirituality

This is not a collection was the provocative title of an exhibition (2019) with religious objects in the repurposed Park Abbey in Leuven, Belgium. We were intrigued by a collection of relic holders with aged textile inside them. The gentle care for these fragile objects and their delicate and breakable holders are like metaphors for their changing meaning and interiorized expression. We noticed a similar relationship between vulnerability and careful preservation during the exhibition (2018) It almost seemed a Lily : featuring a unique dialogue between seven recently restored sixteenth century 'Enclosed Gardens' with work of contemporary artist Berlinde De Bruyckere (°1964). Both her work and the original Enclosed Gardens are based on concepts of fragility, texture, the body, and decay. Figure 1 Expo It almost seemed a lily in Museum Hof van Busleyden, Mechelen, Belgium (2018-2019). The Enclosed Gardens are part of the permanent collection of the museum. During the temporary exposition work of Berlinde De Bruyckere dialogues with the centuries-old retables 1 . @ Museum Hof van Busleyden Mechelen (long-term borrower) and Foundation De beata vita OLV-Waver (owner).