M

I’m not really sure how Stéphane Beel sleeps at night. I’m sure I’d be wide awake in the wee hours of the morning tossing and turning and worrying about when exactly the right time would be to hang up all the pictures and if the paint will be dry on time and whether the frontage would look presentable enough to welcome all the visitors. I dare say he might just feel the same way that I did when I had left the writing of my Master’s thesis a tad too late and as a consequence spent four nights awake writing up the final pages in order to meet the deadline. When I had finally handed it in I was so relieved that I laughed hysterically for about half an hour at a “knock knock” joke that someone happened to tell me. Will Beel do the same I wonder on 21 September 2009 when the whole shebang is over and “M” can finally be declared officially open? Laugh at a knock knock joke that is?

On the other hand if Architect Beel is as cool a cucumber as his buildings are I’m sure he’ll pull the show off with aplomb. And speaking from a personal point of view I have to admit that I loooove what he’s done. The building is amazing and sits comfortably in the heart of historic Leuven – what’s even more exciting is the fact that little ‘ol Leuven will be the proud owner of such a swanky cultural museum. “Do you think it’ll have a café?” K.M. asked me yesterday when we walked past the building site. She’s obviously heard me ask that question quite a lot over the past year. I hope the planners thought of a drinking hole since I rather like the idea of “hanging out” in such a cool space with so much natural light. But then again this is Belgium not the UK where every attraction, be it the indoor play park in Bexhill-on-sea or the National Academy in London serves up refreshments to visitors in the form of flapjacks and a cup of tea. There certainly won’t be any flapjacks on offer and if there is a café (which I hope there is but I’m not sure about) I have no doubt that it will not serve up PG Tips but only the finest variety of delicatly flavoured organic tea from Japan. Oh I so love the idea of this “M”.

“I don’t know K.M.” I answered “but the building looks great doesn’t it – as though is should belong in Paris or Moscow rather than Leuven.” Anyway 20 September is the official opening of “M” – only seventeen days to go! Yet, every time I walk past what is still effectively a building site I wonder how on earth it’s all going to be finished on time. Doors need to be installed, facades painted, windows put in place, the tills installed etc. etc. On the other hand Stad Leuven has probably credible building contractors not like some of the clowns we had to chase up all the time when we were dolling up Maria Callas. Still, I wonder when on earth they are going to find the time to hang up all those amazing Rogier Van der Weyden pictures that are about to arrive in Leuven from across the globe – the Flemish primitive artist (1400 -1464) that is going to launch M onto the cultural map of Europe.

Well, good luck Mr Beel – the VC-G’s wish you all the best and sure hope that you meet your deadline on time. It would be great if I could get an invite to the opening party of M – I promise I won’t make any comments about unfinished finishing touches, nor will I make any snide comments about Van der Weyden’s Madonna hanging a bit wonky, nor will I make any silly knock knock jokes that might just make you loose your cool on the evening when you want to show-case your amazing creation to Leuven’s illustrious burghers – because I really, really do believe that M is going to be a great asset to Leuven and I can’t wait to hang out there.