‘Utterly Irrational’: Creatives Condemn Dismantlement of Antwerp City’s Most Historic Art Gallery.
Leading artists have raised their voices in protest against what they describe as an “capricious restructuring” of Belgium’s museum landscape, as regional authorities aim to reduce expenditures by dismantling the nation’s most historic modern art institution and relocating its entire collection to a different urban center.
Leaders Condemn ‘Blatant Violations’ in Museum Overhaul
At a recent press conference in Antwerp, the leadership of the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art (M HKA), founded in 1985, denounced what they called the “flagrant illegalities” of the cultural institution reorganization, a move scheduled for debated in Belgium’s parliament this Friday.
“Antwerp is the largest city in Flanders, with a heritage as a hub of the cutting-edge in Belgium,” said Luc Tuymans, an Antwerp-based artist widely seen as Belgium’s most influential contemporary creator.
“To demote a museum to an exhibition space is simply insane. You cannot just move a collection of artworks and transplant it into another ecosystem, because such an ecosystem does not exist,” he added.
Unexpected Decision Cancels €80m Project, Relocates Holdings
In October, the cultural affairs minister of the Flanders region cancelled the proposed development of a specially designed €80m high-rise building to accommodate the museum, and announced plans to relocate its holdings of some 8,000 pieces to Ghent’s Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art (Smak). This surprise move will in effect deprive the Antwerp museum of its museum status.
The Antwerp museum’s collection features works by globally renowned creators such as Kerry James Marshall, Anish Kapoor and Marina Abramović.
“I do not accept that they could be removed from M HKA or otherwise put at risk as part of any institutional reorganisation,” stated British artist Kapoor in a message to the ministry.
Financial Constraints Motivate Cost-Cutting in Arts Sector
The country is confronting a fiscal shortfall of 5.4% of GDP, among the highest in the eurozone. The cultural domain specifically is facing dramatic cuts, with budget-tightening policies also implying an uncertain future for the new Brussels Kanal museum.
Under the proposals of Flanders’ socialist culture minister, the museum sector would be streamlined so that art collections in the Flanders region are concentrated at three beacon museums for historical, modern and contemporary art.
The region boasts a multitude of modern art institutions: in addition to M HKA in Antwerp and Smak in Ghent, there is Musea Brugge in Bruges and Museum M in Leuven.
Financial Inspectorate Questions Cost-Saving Logic
If the proposed shake-up would actually lower costs has been challenged by Belgium’s financial inspectorate. In a memorandum sent to Gennez in October, it issued a negative assessment on the proposals, indicating their impact on the budget would be “partial and incomplete”.
While transplanting the institution’s core holdings could cut operating costs from around €8m to €5m, it is believed that going forward the Antwerp institution would have to spend money to loan artworks or purchase touring shows to attract visitors.
Ghent’s Smak, situated roughly an hour’s train ride from the Antwerp museum, is also believed to currently not have enough space to adequately store M HKA’s holdings, and would require funding to increase its storage facilities.
