Hugo Roelandt

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“My name is Lydia van Loock. Hugo Roelandt was my photography teacher at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and later became my partner.

He was an advocate for breaking down the strict separations between disciplines within the academy. He offered his photography students, both in day and evening programs, the opportunity to work interdisciplinarily. For instance, he encouraged exploring photography in combination with or even shifting towards other disciplines like performance, costume design, or installation art. This approach caused conflicts with colleagues at the time, but today, the academy fortunately embraces this perspective.

I greatly appreciated how, as a teacher, he involved everyone in the process. Discussing exhibitions, works by different artists, or photographs made by fellow students, he fostered an open and democratic environment. When a student presented their work, feedback was not only given by the teacher, but also by fellow students — if the student was open to it. He was very supportive of students who struggled to find their path, encouraging them with suggestions for new approaches or connections. Hugo helped students view their work from a broader perspective, motivating them to visit exhibitions both locally and internationally. Another significant strength was his wealth of experience as an artist, which he shared whenever it was relevant, though he never flaunted it. I deeply admired this democratic, flexible, and hands-on pedagogical style.

Hugo was deeply fascinated by his surroundings and everything within them. He avoided driving himself, preferring to be a passenger so he could observe the environment more attentively. He collected things that intrigued him, studied them, manipulated them. For example, every empty box we had at home — small boxes for medicines or chocolate — was disassembled so he could study its template. Then he would create small cards from them, on which he drew, sketched, or jotted down words and ideas. As a result, his purchased sketchbooks remained unused, while his archive now contains heaps of these cards.

One of his ideas, for which there are several sketches in the archive, was to construct a concrete sky just before the entrance of the M HKA. He researched the feasibility of such ideas and was never easily satisfied. Sometimes it took years before he would say, “Okay, this is it; I’ll execute it.”

Interview with Lydia Van Loock (fragments), partner of Hugo Roelandt, conducted by Joanna Zielińska in 2024.