About
Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (CGII) is a museum/art centre dedicated to printed art, located in the centre of La Louvière, in Belgium, at 40 minutes drive from Brussels.
This multipurpose venue whose missions are the conservation, exhibition, study, research, and dissemination of the printed arts, houses a collection of some 14,000 artworks, produced by more than 2000 Belgian and foreign artists. This internationally recognized collection provides a broad overview of the modern and contemporary practices in the field of printed art. It is presented alternately, whether within the temporary exhibitions developed in the Centre or within more specific projects, or extra-muros within the framework of specific travelling exhibitions.
Moreover, the CGII’s documentation centre, its conference and projection room, its engraving and typography workshops and courses allow a wide and diverse public of all generations to discover and familiarize themselves with other (practical/technical and more historical or aesthetic) aspects and facets of printed art.
The building
The current registered office of the CGII was built at the beginning of the 20th century in order to welcome a swimming pool. From 1942 onwards, the destination of the building has frequently been modified, before it was rented by the municipal administration in 1960, during the renovation works for the city hall of La Louvière. The municipal administration decided to acquire it in order to create exhibition and conference rooms in it.
As from 1979, it launched the project of creating a place dedicated to printed art. Between 1986 and 1988, architect Hubert Pourtois and interior architect Jean Glibert were asked to design the new face of the building. Since the building was inaugurated in 1988, the Center for Engravings (a non-profit organization) has been organizing exhibitions and cultural activities there.
In 2011, the museum was extended by nearly 1000 m2. The transformations associated with this extension were intended to improve the conditions for the conservation of the works, optimize the accessibility of the PSN, and create new spaces dedicated to the scenography and to the activities of our educational department.