Tim Van Laere Gallery – Concrete, Culture and the Next Antwerp

In a city known for mixing classical bravado with contemporary edge, the Tim Van Laere Gallery makes a bold architectural punctuation mark. This is Antwerp’s future seen through a sculptural lens; minimalist, monolithic and rooted in ideas.

What began as a compact gallery space in the creative thrum of Zuid is now a standalone cultural destination in Nieuw Zuid, Antwerp’s most forward-looking neighbourhood. Founder Tim Van Laere built the original gallery on vision and patience. He represented artists like Kati Heck, Franz West, Jonathan Meese and Rinus Van De Velde long before the global art market caught up. But the space was always too tight for the kind of ideas he wanted to stage.

In 2019, the gallery moved – not just physically, but ideologically. Office KGDVS (Kersten Geers David Van Severen) designed a new building on the edge of the Scheldt River, a concrete compound that feels more like an artist’s manifesto than a conventional white cube. Five volumes, all different in size, sit like heavy blocks in dialogue with the light. Brutalism meets Belgian restraint. The aesthetic is precise, raw and fully intentional.

The gallery inside is pared back. Walls are clean and sightlines sharp. The architecture doesn’t shout. It lets the art hold the space. There’s volume and flexibility, a blank page for big work and difficult questions. But the real departure from the old townhouse format is in the airiness, the sense of expansion. Here, art doesn’t get boxed in.

There’s a sculpture garden, subtle and meditative. Concrete grounds the body. Open sky resets the mind. A rooftop terrace adds another layer,  a space to reflect, to pause, to look back at the skyline of old Antwerp and forward to what’s next.

Nieuw Zuid itself feels like a statement. This district is new but not flashy. It’s low-rise, considered and climate-conscious. There’s a rhythm to it with architecture, nature and culture coexisting without pushing for attention. The gallery sits within this slower pulse and it’s part of the conversation but not trying to dominate it.

What the Tim Van Laere Gallery offers is more than curation. It’s context. The building, the art, the place – it all speaks of care, timing and trust in form. For design lovers, collectors and cultural travellers, this is Antwerp in transition. A place where concrete softens under light. A gallery that reads like a sculpture. A destination that frames the future.