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Prominent creators have voiced strong opposition against what they describe as an “arbitrary reshaping” of Belgium’s museum landscape, as regional authorities seek to reduce expenditures by dismantling the nation’s oldest modern art institution and transplanting its entire collection to a different urban center.

Leaders Condemn ‘Flagrant Illegalities’ in Sector Shake-up

At a recent press conference in Antwerp, the directors of the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art (M HKA), founded in 1985, decried what they termed the “blatant violations” of the cultural institution reorganization, a move scheduled for discussed in Belgium’s parliament on Friday.

“Antwerp represents Flanders’ biggest city, with a legacy as a hub of the avant-garde in Belgium,” said renowned painter Luc Tuymans, an Antwerp resident painter broadly regarded as Belgium’s most influential living artist.

“To demote a museum to an arts centre is simply insane. You cannot just take a collection of artworks and transplant it into another ecosystem, because that specific context is not present,” he added.

Unexpected Decision Scraps €80m Project, Relocates Collection

In October, the cultural affairs minister of the Flemish government cancelled the planned construction of a specially designed €80m tower to house the institution, and revealed intentions to move its holdings of approximately 8,000 artworks to Ghent’s Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art (Smak). This unexpected decision will effectively deprive the Antwerp museum of its museum status.

The M HKA’s holdings also includes works by globally renowned creators such as Kerry James Marshall, Anish Kapoor and Marina Abramović.

“I cannot accept that they might be removed from M HKA or otherwise put at risk as part of any structural reshuffling,” stated British artist Kapoor in a message to the ministry.

Financial Constraints Drive Austerity in Arts Sector

The country is confronting a fiscal shortfall of 5.4% of GDP, one of the largest in the eurozone. The arts sector specifically is facing dramatic cuts, with budget-tightening policies also implying an unclear fate for Brussels’ new Kanal museum.

According to the plans of Minister Caroline Gennez, 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.

Flanders has a multitude of modern art institutions: besides M HKA in Antwerp and Smak in Ghent, there is Musea Brugge in Bruges and Museum M in Leuven.

Financial Inspectorate Questions Savings Rationale

If the planned reorganization would truly reduce expenses has been questioned by Belgium’s financial inspectorate. In a memorandum sent to the minister in October, it gave an unfavourable opinion on the proposals, indicating their effect on the budget would be “partial and incomplete”.

While transplanting the institution’s core holdings could reduce running expenses from approximately €8m to €5m, it is believed that going forward the Antwerp institution would have to allocate funds to borrow works or buy in exhibitions to draw audiences.

The Smak museum in Ghent, situated roughly an hour’s train ride from the Antwerp museum, is also thought to currently not have enough space to properly house M HKA’s collection, and would need investment to expand its storage facilities.