Erfgoedcell Leuven

Erfgoedcell Leuven

Participation Prayer Project –
to Heike Schmidt

Dear Heike,

We are excited to welcome you in Leuven for the Prayer Project in September 2009. 2009 is a special year for Leuven. The new- look municipal museum ‘M’ opens to the public and starts with an enormous exhibition about the master painter Rogier Van der Weyden, one of the greatest Flemish Primitives with an extraordinary talent when it comes to portraying emotions. Rogier Van der Weyden (1400-1464). Master of passions will reveal more than 100 international masterpieces. To accentuate this special and prestigious cultural event, the city of Leuven welcomes artists and organisations to work on the international theme of passion and emotions.
That’s why STUK and we thought your idea about the Prayer project – to make a kind of portrait (or portraits) about the personal ways of religious life- is a very interesting project to fit in this “cultural year of passion and emotion”.
Religion is a universal theme, but the ways to experience it is a very personal and intimate affair. In that way the Prayer Project also interests us for his inherited element of diversity: diversity of religion, diversity of people and their story and experiences. The Prayer Project is a cultural project with social relevance and that is interesting for everyone. For us being concerned about cultural heritage in general and the way people think about it, deal with it and experience it the Prayer Project can set a focus on the issue of religious heritage. At this point, we see an opportunity to cooperate with the many religious institutes and organisations, which are located here in Leuven and are concerned about the diverse aspects of religion and religious life. For us, our cooperation to the Prayer Project, is valid in the way we can help to make the bridge between heritage, history, people and their meanings, the presence and the future. And you Heike, will, as an artist, play a crucial part in all this. Your ambition is to make an artistic translation of a whole process and that is where art and heritage meet, effect and reinforce each other. We are looking forward to it!

Tiny T’Seyen
Heritage Cell Leuven, Belgium