Opening
Feminist Perspectives 1980 - 1990 looks back at Flanders in the 1980s, when the struggle for gender equality also reached the architecture sector. Join us at the opening on 2 April and meet some of the voices featured in the exhibition: Danie Staut, Els Huigens, Gerd Van Limbergen and Leen De Becker. That same evening, PAF (Platform for Architecture & Feminism) will reflect on the contemporary relevance of feminism in architecture.
Unfolding the Archives #9: Feminist Perspectives 1980–1990 looks back at Flanders in the 1980s, when the battle for gender equality also reached the architecture sector. In 1981, architect Danie Staut established the ‘Women and Housing’ working group. Together with designers and educators, such as Els Huigens, Gerd Van Limbergen and Leen De Becker, she organized study days and workshops in search of alternatives to patriarchal society. The exhibition is based on their archival material and explores feminist perspectives on architecture. It makes connections between contemporary developments and the historical precedents that are often overlooked.
20:00 Video: In dialogue with Danie Staut, Els Huigens, Gerd Van Limbergen and Leen De Becker
20:15 Historical context by Bart Decroos (VAi)
20:35 Contemporary reflection by Evelien Pieters (PAF)
21:00 End
At the heart of the exhibition are four voices from the women’s movement of the 1980s, each linking architecture with feminism: Danie Staut, Els Huigens, Gerd Van Limbergen and Leen De Becker. Video interviews were recorded for this exhibition, in which they reflect on their activism, their networks, and their vision of the built environment. We begin the evening programme by screening the video interviews with several of the subjects. The films can also be viewed later in the exhibition itself.
Next, curator Bart Decroos (VAi) discusses the archival research that forms the basis of this exhibition. How do you reconstruct a story that is missing from conventional historiography? And how do you deal with events for which there are largely no material traces?
Finally, Evelien Pieters (PAF, Platform for Architecture & Feminism) reflects on the significance of this story for a new generation of architects and activists. What can we learn from the Vrouwen en Wonen [Women and Housing] working group and related stories? And how are contemporary initiatives continuing this conversation?
02.04.2026
20.00u - 21.00u
DE SINGEL ( music studio)
Desguinlei 25
2018 Antwerp
Dutch
Free, upon registration
Register via the ticket link
Flanders Architecture Institute
the Government of Flanders
