Paul Lagring

Paul Lagring (born in 1951) is Artistic Director of Netwerk / centre for contemporary art in Aalst (Belgium), a place where fine art is presented in dialogue with other disciplines and situated in a broad and diversified artistic and social context through exhibitions, concerts, performances, screenings, lectures, publications, residencies and a media library.

In 1988, Lagring set down the exhibition policy of Netwerk in its former incarnation as a socio-cultural centre, placing a specific focus on young and promising artists. Artists to have presented their debut solo exhibitions at Netwerk include Christoph Fink, Ronny Heiremans & Katleen Vermeir, 51N4E, and Geert Goiris. In 2001, Netwerk took up residence in a former textile factory, further expanding to become a cultural centre for fine arts. This scaling-up in turn enabled an expansion of its artistic programme by adding group exhibitions. Also, in the spirit of international collaboration, Netwerk regularly invites curators from abroad. For example, in 2010, Marie-Josée Jean (VOX, Montreal) curated Time as Activity with John Baldessari, Rodney Graham, David Lamelas, Kelly Mark, Rober Racine, Claire Savoie, Bill Vazan and Ian Wallace.

As Artistic Director of Netwerk, Paul Lagring has collaborated on a range of different projects both in Belgium and internationally. [Source: VOX, 2014]