Antwerp’s contemporary art museum, the M HKA will be able to remain a museum after all. The political U-turn is the outcome of talks between Flemish culture minister Gennez (Flemish socialist Vooruit) and the museum sector. The sector has also committed to collaborating more closely. ‘Sometimes you have to rub people up the wrong way to bring about change,’ the minister says.
The minister’s plan to redraw the Flemish museum landscape triggered an avalanche of criticism when it was first unveiled. Under that plan, three large thematic museum centres were created, each with a large museum as its driving force.
The contemporary art museum M HKA in Antwerp lost its role as a museum, saw its collection “transferred” to the contemporary art museum S.M.A.K in Ghent and was destined to become an arts centre. The planned new MHKA building was also to be scrapped.
This seismic shift was met with an avalanche of protest. Not only did the management of the M HKA kick up a fuss, but artists also rebelled and hired lawyers. Gennez's decision was called “illegal” and “a loss of face for Antwerp”.
A different approach...
The focus of the revised plan will now be on displaying more art in more places and to a wider audience.
M HKA too is working on a plan to launch M HKA 2.0. The aim is for M HKA 2.0 to remain a museum, but at the same time to act as a bridge between the heritage and arts sectors and to better support contemporary visual artists.
‘The M HKA must reinvent itself,’ emphasises Gennez. ‘It should not be a place that turns its back on the South, on Antwerp, on Flanders and on the world. So, I am curious to see how the M HKA 2.0 envisages its future.
The collection will not be moving either, admits Gennez. ‘We have expertise throughout Flanders to manage, research, and better present and preserve our collections. That will now gain momentum.’
Flemish museums are also committed to working together more intensively. Three clusters will be further developed in the coming months with a view to integration. For example, the Felix Art & Eco Museum and the Roger Raveel Museum will become partners of Mu.ZEE in Ostend, while Gaasbeek Castle and Museum Hof van Busleyden will join the Antwerp fine arts museum, the KMSKA. As previously planned, the S.M.A.K., currently a city museum in Ghent, will become a Flemish museum.