Martien Coppens Pop-up Museum

Thanks to the cooperation of local entrepreneurs and the efforts of enthusiastic volunteers, a vacant office space has been transformed over the past few months into a contemporary museum café featuring a small-scale, multifunctional exhibition space.

The exhibition ‘Seeing the Essential’ is dedicated to the work and life of Martien Coppens, the talented photographer from Lieshout who has been immortalizing the surroundings with his camera since the early 1920s. Coppens has always had a strong fascination with the regional inhabitants, their activities, and their living conditions. Particularly characteristic of his oeuvre are the black-and-white photographs of the harsh farming life, with their weathered portraits and austere interiors, which take the viewer by the hand towards Brabant's past. The exhibition features, among other things, over forty photo prints and a series of ‘vintage prints’ created by Coppens himself.

Because the layout of De Heuvel and the immediate surroundings has not yet been definitively determined, the museum has a ‘pop-up status’. At least until the plans are concrete, Lieshout has gained an inspiring initiative. With the combination of an exhibition and a museum café, the Martien Coppens Museum makes a cultural and social contribution to the central objective of the Lieshout-C Foundation: revitalizing the center of Lieshout.