Sticking around for 42 years
Derickx was involved with the university from its earliest days. “As a student at the art academy, I used to come to UM for the infamous parties,” she says with a laugh. After graduating, she found an office job at the university. “At the time, I was happy to have any job at all. I started working at the medical faculty, conducting in-depth interviews about a rehabilitation programme.” Her boss, Professor Riet Drop, suggested that she could end up staying on for two years. At the time, that sounded like an eternity. “In the end I stuck around for 42 years,” she laughs.
Looking back, Derickx vividly remembers how she and her colleagues carried out statistical analyses using punch cards. “You fed them into a machine and the results would only come out a day later.”
A move into the art world
Thanks to her artistic background, after a few years Derickx was invited to join the faculty’s art committee. “They were passionately committed to developing the faculty’s collection,” she says. “We acquired artworks, organised exhibitions and produced publications on art.” When she considered leaving UM for a curator’s position elsewhere, the university offered her a newly created role as UM-wide curator. “I was the first person to hold the position.”
First and foremost, the role involved mapping the university’s entire art collection. What kind of work was it? Was it displayed in a suitable location? Did it require restoration? “We also set up a website so people could see what the artworks were and where they came from. It still exists today.” Another part of the job was making art accessible, for example through exhibitions. But what Derickx enjoyed most was finding new artworks for the university buildings. “Often that happened during renovation projects. We’d bring together a group of people to help identify a work that suited the space.”
