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Leading creators have raised their voices in protest against what they label as an “arbitrary reshaping” of Belgium’s museum landscape, as the Flanders government aim to cut public spending by dismantling the country’s most historic contemporary art gallery and transplanting its complete holdings to a different urban center.

Leaders Condemn ‘Blatant Violations’ in Museum Overhaul

At a recent press conference in Antwerp, the directors of the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art (M HKA), established in 1985, decried what they called the “blatant violations” of the cultural institution reorganization, a plan due to be discussed in the national legislature this Friday.

“Antwerp is the largest city in Flanders, with a legacy as a hub of the cutting-edge in Belgium,” said Luc Tuymans, an Antwerp-based artist widely seen as Belgium’s most influential living artist.

“To degrade a cultural institution to an arts centre is utterly irrational. You cannot simply move a collection of artworks and transplant it into a different environment, because such an ecosystem is not present,” he added.

Surprise Move Scraps €80m Project, Relocates Collection

In last autumn, the cultural affairs minister of the Flanders region scrapped the proposed development of a new, purpose-built €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 effectively strip the Antwerp museum of its official museum designation.

The Antwerp museum’s collection features pieces by globally renowned creators such as Kerry James Marshall, Anish Kapoor and Marina Abramović.

“I cannot accept that my works could be removed from M HKA or otherwise put at risk as part of any institutional reorganisation,” said artist Anish Kapoor in a message to the culture ministry.

Financial Constraints Motivate Austerity in Cultural Field

Belgium faces a fiscal shortfall of 5.4% of GDP, among the highest in the eurozone. The arts sector in particular is confronting significant reductions, with austerity measures also suggesting an unclear fate for Brussels’ new Kanal museum.

Under the proposals of Flanders’ socialist culture minister, the museum landscape would be consolidated so that cultural holdings in the Flanders region are concentrated at three beacon museums for historical, modern and contemporary art.

Flanders has a plethora of contemporary art museums: besides M HKA in Antwerp and Smak in Ghent, there is the Bruges museums in Bruges and Museum M in Leuven.

Auditors Questions Savings Logic

Whether the proposed shake-up would truly reduce expenses has been challenged by Belgium’s financial inspectorate. In a memorandum addressed to the minister in October, it issued a negative assessment on the proposals, suggesting their effect on the budget would be “partial and incomplete”.

While transplanting the institution’s core holdings could cut operating costs from approximately €8m to €5m, it is understood that in future the Antwerp museum would have to allocate funds to borrow works or purchase touring shows to attract visitors.

Ghent’s Smak, situated roughly an hour’s train ride from the M HKA, is also believed to currently not have enough space to properly house M HKA’s holdings, and would need investment to increase its storage capacity.