ANTWERP.- The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp is presenting the exhibition What's the Story? In the new expo, renowned contemporary artists engage in a dialogue with modern and ancient art from the KMSKA's collection. It is a daring encounter, sometimes direct and evident, sometimes rather veiled.

What's the Story? consists of two editions, each telling three different stories. Part I deals with the universal themes of space, time and power. Small-scale paintings by Jean Brusselmans are the point of departure in gallery Space. His work is an enduring inspiration to sculptor Mark Manders. Raoul De Keyser explores the picture plane with lines, colours, planes and patterns. In this way, he delineates and fragments space. He in turn inspires Koen van den Broek who depicts the urban landscape on canvas using road paint. In the second gallery, everything revolves around time: finite, infinite, real and manipulated time. Round about Léon Spilliaert's Woman by the Sea and Rik Wouters' Woman Resting we will show intimate video works by Chantal Akerman and David Claerbout in which they both toy with the slow experiencing of time.

Starting from the Portrait of Norbertus van Couwerven by Katharina Pepijn, the exhibition concludes with a reflection on power and the gender inequality. In the 17th century, it was exceptional for a female artist to have the opportunity to paint a portrait of an eminent cleric. Pepijn painted a masterful portrait, but subsequently disappeared from the historical record. The fact that the KMSKA owns no other painting by Pepijn illustrates the extent to which the artist suffered discrimination. We are displaying this painting alongside works by Thomas Houseago, Matthias Dornfeld and George Condo, works in which they clearly question male power.

‘We deliberately chose to work with various themes. This way, each gallery will have its own character, its own mode of conversation, its own story. Together with co-curator Erno Vroonen, we composed the thematic ensembles in a free, associative way. This means that the interpretation of the works of art is not set in stone. We invite visitors to establish their own associations and discover the stories behind the works of art by themselves." - Nico Van Hout, head of collections KMSKA.

Part II of the expo will open on 23 November. It will feature three other themes: life and death, seduction and storytelling. Works by Jacob Jordaens, Jan Massijs and Constant Permeke from the museum's collection will then enter into dialogue with Evelyne Axell, Maen Florin, Kati Heck, Jozef Legrand, Rinus Van de Velde, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven and Liliane Vertessen.