Simone Guillissen-Hoa

CIVA presents the first monographic exhibition honoring the life, work, and legacy of the Chinese-born Belgian architect Simone Guillissen-Hoa (1916–96). A proponent of modernist architecture, Guillissen-Hoa was one of the first women to establish an architecture firm in Belgium. Her career and personal life constantly defied the barriers and conventions of gender, race, and religion.

Simone Guillissen-Hoa was the architect of numerous buildings in Belgium, including La Maison de la Culture in Tournai, the sport Center of Jambes, the jewelry shop of Maison De Greef in Brussels (with Jacques Dupuis), as well as many private houses. Guillissen-Hoa formed deep and lasting connections with the Swiss avant-garde and prominent designers such as Alfred Roth and Max Bill.

Her life spanned major events of the twentieth century: the onset of the Chinese Communist Revolution, World War II, the Belgian Resistance, and postwar reconstruction. In the 1950s, she was a member of the Soroptimist Association, a women’s rights advocacy organization, and in the 1970s she became involved in the creation of the Belgian section of the International Union of Women Architects.

The exhibition both records her architectural projects and, through a wide array of archival materials, presents her reflections on architecture and her battles as a rare woman in her field.

Delving also into her artistic circles, composed of figures such as Léon Spilliaert, Enrico Castellani, Tapta, Henry van de Velde, and Nele van de Velde, the exhibition provides a captivating exploration of the influences, collaborations, and connections that shaped her artistic and intellectual journey.

A newly commissioned film, Simone (2024), by artists Eva Giolo and Aglaia Konrad takes center stage within the exhibition, showcasing the current state of several buildings designed by Guillissen-Hoa while focusing on their current adaptation, translation, and utilization of modernist forms and concepts.

With works by: Max Bill, Enrico Castellani, Pierre Cordier, Jacques Dupuis, Eva Giolo & Aglaia Konrad, Mayou Iserentant, Alfred Roth, Josine Souweine, Léon Spilliaert, and Tapta.

An extensive public program on feminism and architecture is being developed in collaboration with Apolline Vranken (research fellow at CIVA, 2023–2024). Contributors include: Beatriz Colomina, Bianca Felicori, Florencia Fernández Cardoso, Jane Hall, Sol Pérez Martínez, Lucía C. Pérez Moreno, Léa-Catherine Szacka and many others.

Artistic director: Nikolaus Hirsch / Secretary general: Jeremy Uhr / Curators: Silvia Franceschini, Yaron Pesztat / Research fellow: Apolline Vranken / Press: Valérie Roucou, v.roucou@civa.brussels.