CANCELLED ‘Van Eyck. An Optical Revolution – Closing Conference’

Dear participants of the Van Eyck conference,

Dear colleagues and art lovers across the world,

In accordance with the Belgian national policy regarding the COVID-19 (Corona) virus, the joint organising committee of Ghent University, the Ghent Museum of Fine Arts and Musea Brugge has decided to cancel the closing conference ‘Van Eyck. An Optical Revolution’, 27-28 April 2020 in Ghent.

This has been a difficult decision which was not taken lightly. There have been intensive deliberations and consultations over last couple of days. However, the health of all attendants, speakers and staff is, and must always be, our number-one priority, as is our shared responsibility of virus-spread  prevention. That is why, despite not knowing what the situation will be like at the end of April, we have decided to take preventive action.

Additionally, as the exhibition itself is closed until further notice, we felt that we would not have been able to offer you the full, unique combination of art and scholarship we had planned and hoped for. Our registrants come from all over the world. Many of you had planned to combine ‘Van Eyck. An Optical Revolution’ with other scholarly activities or events in Europe, most of which have been cancelled or postponed as well. Others face travel bans in their countries or regions of origin. This certainly accounts for the recent cancellations we have received.

We realise that many of you have paid the fee upon registration for the conference. More about refunding will follow shortly: we are currently in the process, together with the Ghent University financial department, of working out the modalities for reimbursement as quick and efficiently as possible.

Finally, we are looking to the future and are already investigating options to reschedule in Autumn of 2020. We will announce any plans in this regard in due time. In the meantime, we kindly bring to your attention the symposium ‘Underdrawing and Technology in Painting’ in Bruges, 9-11 September 2020, organized by our colleagues at Catholic University Louvain-la-Neuve (UCL), Musea Brugge, Catholic University Leuven (KUL) and the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA, Brussels).

It is with a heavy heart that we cancel our conference and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience. We hope to see you all soon and wish you, your families and friends serenity and good health in these challenging times.

The organizing committee of ‘Van Eyck. An Optical Revolution – Closing Conference’.