Hilde Van Gelder

Hilde Van Gelder is a Professor of Contemporary Art History at KU Leuven's Faculty of Arts, where she chairs the Archaeology, Art History and Musicology Research Unit. She co-founded the Lieven Gevaert Research Centre for Photography, Art and Visual Culture in 2004 and serves as its director. Her institutional roles include membership on the Council and Board of the Faculty of Arts, and leadership in the Archaeology, Art History and Musicology Programme Committee.

Her research spans photography theory, Belgian art since 1960, experimental art historical writing, and art-ecology intersections. Key projects include Immersed (2025-2026) on human-environment relationships through swamp representations, Counter-Mapping Migration (2022-2026), and Decamouflaging plant blindness (2021-2025). She explores how photography functions as an operative force for reimagining fundamental rights, particularly through hybrid photo-text practices and 'weak images' that challenge dominant visual regimes.

Her recent publications reveal strong thematic clusters: maritime emergency ethics (Moral Seascapes), entangled transnational art histories (2025 edited volume), ecological counter-narratives (Countering Ecocide), and experimental photo-text hybrids (Water Doodling). The work consistently engages with visibility politics, environmental crisis, and alternative historical representation through contemporary visual culture.

• Co-founded Lieven Gevaert Centre (2004)
• 2025 solo exhibition En Attendant at KEI rehabilitation center
• 2022-2023 sabbatical project Ring the bells that still can ring on artistic research
• Active participation in international art-theoretical debates

Her teaching includes courses on Photo Hybrids, History of Visual Arts since 1860, Art Criticism, and Art and Ecology. She maintains an active exhibition practice while leading major collaborative research initiatives that bridge academic scholarship and artistic production, particularly through the Lieven Gevaert Centre's framework.