The same is often true of journals as it is of certain love affairs. They are born with a heart stopping shared love at first sight, are initially nurtured by the enthusiasm of their founders and then,  with the helping hand of weariness setting in and difficulties encountered – notably financial – little by little die out. That is not the case of the journal that bears the name of Art&fact, whose 31st issue – published on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the association of ULg history of art, archaeology and musicology graduates – is devoted to the Liège of the 1980s. It is an understatement to say that it is plainly maintaining its form.

2010 saw the publication of the collective work Le tournant des années 1970. Liège en effervescence (The 1970s as a Turning Point: Liège in Ferment), published under the editorship of Nancy Delhalle and Jacques Dubois, with the help of Jean-Marie Klinkenberg (read the article). It revisited an epoch when May 1968 was still fresh in everyone’s memories and where, stimulated by a readily militant fervour, the prospect of a sparkling future pollinated creativeness across every genre. Those with more years on the clock will certainly remember these years of cultural ferment with nostalgia.

Did the ‘Passionate City’ nod off during the following decade? That is not the impression which comes across on reading this historical issue of the Art&fact not for profit association, born in 1982. In it we certainly do not rediscover the fervour, even euphoria, of the preceding era, where no economic obstacle seemed to hobble cultural initiatives. On the other hand, even if in the words of Julie Bawin, ‘these 1980s are subject to assessments which are as diverse as they are contradictory’ and certainly constitute a period of transition, we do not fail to detect amongst their representatives a cocktail made up of lucidity and scepticism, characteristic signposts of this time of crisis or social breakdown which has become our postmodernity, in Liège quite particularly. There existed a widespread state of mind which led the creators of the period to understand clearly not only the relative nature of things but also the value of rediscovering without preconceived prejudices the legacy of their precursors. Because the future certainly no longer promised to be a bright one and as disseminating a new work proved difficult, people gathered together here and there, the better to support each other. And so much the better if it proved a vexatious irritant to official culture!

The visual design arts

The pathways across the Liège creative field which the journal’s retrospective issue offers us opens with a series of interviews related to the visual arts. Within it there takes shape, in the area concerned, thanks to interviews ballasted with the density of experience, a cultural cartography which bears witness to the abundance of the Liège avant-garde in the chronological phase under consideration. Jacques Charlier, Patrick Corrillon, Alain Denis, Jean-Pierre Ransonnet, Jacques Lizène and Léon Wuidar thus conjure up their memories one after the other. We are thus, and it is a considerable privilege, placed into ‘live’ contact with the sensibilities of each of these artists.

But where would these visual multi-media artists be without locations for both creation and promotion? The main sites dedicated to the visual arts and innovative initiatives in reality owe much to the dynamism of the 1970s. And the ones which stand out are the Vega gallery, founded by Manette Repriels in 1972 and whose international character was not long in being recognised, as well as the Cirque Divers, established in Rue Roture in 1977 and given life and shaped by Michel Antaki. Even if the galleries were to a large extent the poor relations of the 1980s, they all the same saw the setting up by young artists of new centres for the flowering of talent and exhibitions: that was the case for L'A, founded by Jean-Pierre Ransonnet, Marie-Henriette Nassogne, Guy Vandeloise and Juliette Rousseff; it was also true for Espace 251 Nord, installed in the administrative headquarters of a former colliery in Rue Vivegnis, and which came into being thanks to Laurent Jacob and Johan Muyle. Undertakings to which should be added that of Daniel Dutrieux, the main initiator of an urban public art, and La Châtaigneraie, a Flémalle building dating from the 19th century which was now appointed to art promotion and exhibitions.

The same desire to open up to society fed the creation of the Sart Tilman estate’s Open Air Museum, which owes much to the architect Claude Strebelle as well as its curator Jean Housen. The general philosophy of this out of the ordinary museum institution was already to be found in its statutes, dating back to 1977: ‘The [not for profit] association aims to promote the visual arts and stimulating related cultural activity for the widest possible public in the university Sart Tilman estate.’ Today a little over a hundred works, all of which meet the constant aim of integrating the visual arts and architecture, have been installed on this wooded site. There is nothing finer for rural strolling and other solitary reveries...