At Château Malou: le truc troc, a world first

At Château Malou Le truc troc A world first You own a camera, an old sewing machine or typewriter, an avant-garde sculpture, a stamp collection, a time machine or even a vintage car you have no use for? I may have an original solution to your problem (this is not a preamble to the classified ads!). Château Malou, which has more than once distinguished itself through happy initiatives, is now offering a new and exciting experiment: le truc troc. Remember: it was in this fine residence in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert that the Galerie de Prêts d'œuvres d'art was created in 1972. A very simple formula: for a 250 F registration fee and a 100 F "rent", you can borrow a work lent to the Gallery by pre-selected artists. Anyone can rent, from private individuals to companies, for a minimum of one month and a maximum of three. Grown attached to a work? Nothing stops you from buying it, and the rent already paid counts towards the price. Of the 960 works making up the Gallery's stock, gathering some three hundred artists, about forty are bought each year. Alongside this main activity, the Gallery also handles the direct promotion of artists. How? Through exhibitions organised with Passage 44 or the Woluwe Shopping Center; through international exchanges, recently with Tunisia; through events such as the 500-5000 operation, which at the end of the year allowed canvases to be acquired for between 500 and 5,000 F. Le truc troc is a new challenge. The idea is appealing, entertaining and enriching. "A wholly unexpected return to the primitive system", Valéry might have said. Until the end of August, close to two hundred young contemporary artists are exhibiting, in the green setting of the Malou, works that can be exchanged for any object. Let imagination reign! Perhaps this is the moment to list the things that no longer interest us; from the utilitarian to the creative, anything can be accepted, except banknotes. If a work appeals to you, you note its number along with your name, address and telephone number and place it in a large urn. The various proposals are passed on to the artist. If yours interests them, they will get in touch. Here there is no artist's rating, no notion of investment or commerce; your sensibility alone must guide your choice. A perhaps healthier and, in any case, original way of approaching Art. Claude MUYLS.