The Servais Family Collection is a private contemporary art collection based in Brussels. Exhibitions are held annually at the Loft, a dedicated exhibition space that was formerly the home of collector Alain Servais. Through an active lending policy, the collection's artworks are lent worldwide to museums, institutions, independent collectives, and curators - based on the project.

The Servais Family Collection includes contemporary artworks from all over the world with a notable focus on emerging scenes. The collection aims to gather ideas rather than objects, continuously seeking to explore a broader reality, akin to the philosophical quest to escape Plato's cave.

It features a wide array of media, including video, sculpture, installation, digital art, and photography, with a deliberate focus away from traditional painting and drawing. This reflects an ongoing commitment to transcend known realities by embracing new media and supporting artists who choose less conventional forms of expression. Artworks and artists are discovered not only through museums, biennials, and various contemporary art events but also through extensive research, following artists' trajectories, and a cultivated curiosity nourished by reading current events and analyzing their global consequences.

The collection's defining characteristic is its multiplicity of voices and its eagerness to share. This is evident in its active lending policy, which includes collaborations with major museums such as the Reina Sofia, Whitney, Palais de Tokyo, and MAK Vienna. These partnerships make significant works available at no charge, allowing these institutions to focus on creating high-quality exhibitions. Additionally, the collection supports independent projects, supporting curators with their proposals, as seen in recent collaborations with Tlön Projects in Rotterdam and House in Berlin.

The Collection organizes exhibitions at the Loft in Brussels. Each year, a curator is invited to reinterpret the collection and create new perspectives, new ways of approaching the collection. The curator is given carte blanche to innovate and experiment. The Loft also provides a residency space for young artists, further supporting the development and exposure of emerging talent.

Off-site exhibitions are also organised and notable among these is AMEXICA, dedicated to the Mexican art scene at the Institut Culturel du Mexique in Paris, curated by Marisol Rodríguez in 2023. This exhibition featured significant installations by Yoshua Okón (Canned Laughter, 2009), Naomi Rincón Gallardo (Opossum Resilience, 2019), and Andrew Roberts (The Horde, 2020).

The current exhibition, "The View," curated by Nicolaus Schafhausen, opened in March 2024 and will be on view until March 2025. The exhibition is an attempt to reflect the diversity of the Servais Family collection and ask the following question: How can we live together? It aims to offer a distinctive outlook on an uncertain future amid political turmoil and growing public dissent.

It features works by Cemile Sahin, Damian Hirst, Eloise Hawser, Hank Willis Thomas, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Icaro Zorbar, Pravdoliub Ivanov, Jean-Marc Bustamante, Josephine Meckseper, Adel Abdessemed, Ariel Orozco, Bodys Isek Kingelez, Cian Dayrit, Cildo Meireles, Hassan Sharif, Ismaël Bazri, Lungiswa Gqunta, Miguel Rio Branco, Ndayé Kouagou, Oscar Munoz, Philipp Timischl, Shilpa Gupta, Alex Burke, Anastasiya Yarovenko, Daniela Ortiz, Jenny Holzer, Kapwani Kiwanga, Kader Attia, Laurel Nakadate, Mika Rottenberg and John Kessler, Oscar Santillan, Wim Delvoye and more.

Guided tours are organised every month, upon registration. Here you can find more information about the collection.

Text written by Lorraine de Thibault, Director of the Servais Family Collection