The Tamesis
The government of Belgium’s Flanders region has canceled plans to close Antwerp’s M HKA and transform it into a new cultural centre, temporarily ending a months-long controversy over one of Europe’s most popular contemporary art museums.
As part of a new plan for the institution that Flanders Culture Minister Caroline Gennez calls “M HKA 2.0”, the museum’s collection will now stay in Antwerp, meaning that the collection will no longer be transferred to the SMAK Museum in Ghent, as she has previously said. In addition, M HKA can retain its status as a museum, allowing the museum to continue hosting programs.
Related articles
Under the new plan, M HKA “will be even more of a bridge between the heritage and arts fields than it is today,” Gennes said.
However, Gennes did tease one change in the Flemish cultural scene. She said she wanted to form what she called a convention that would bring together artists and other members of the region’s arts community to foster collaboration. She also said SMAK would now be run by local authorities, reshaping the region’s museum landscape as she originally envisioned, Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported.
Her initial plans to close M HKA were condemned both inside and outside Flanders. Prominent Belgian artists such as Luc Tuymans and Otobong Nkanga have passionately called for the institution to be saved, and protests are held regularly at the museum. M HKA also claimed Gennez’s scheme was illegal and hired lawyers to prove it.
M HKA did not issue a statement on Gennez’s transition, instead sending a 2026 plan to English-language media. This year, the museum will present traveling survey editions by artists such as Li Biao and Nicola L., as well as the group exhibition “We Refuse_d,” which combats censorship and was recently shown at the Mataf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar.
The museum will also have rotating displays of its permanent collection through 2026, all of which will be free and open to the public. The collection, which has long demonstrated Antwerp’s central role in the history of 20th-century avant-garde art, will be considered “an evolving area of inquiry” — a seemingly triumph for the institution, whose collections are at risk of being moved out of Antwerp.
Noting that M HKA will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2027, Artistic Director Nav Haq said: “Our program this year will provide our community with an important space to reflect not only on the role of artists and cultural institutions in society, but also on what must be done to ensure the sustainability of their practices in a volatile political climate.”
