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Prominent artists have voiced strong opposition against what they label as an “arbitrary reshaping” of Belgium’s cultural scene, as the Flanders government aim to cut public spending by dismantling the country’s most historic modern art institution and transplanting its entire collection to a different urban center.

Directors Decry ‘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, denounced what they called the “flagrant illegalities” of the museum sector shake-up, a plan scheduled for discussed in the national legislature on Friday.

“Antwerp is Flanders’ biggest city, with a legacy as a home of the cutting-edge in Belgium,” stated Luc Tuymans, an Antwerp resident artist broadly regarded as Belgium’s most influential contemporary creator.

“To demote a cultural institution to an arts centre is simply insane. You cannot simply take a collection of pieces and transfer it into another ecosystem, because that specific context does not exist,” Tuymans continued.

Unexpected Decision Scraps New Building, Relocates Collection

In October, the culture minister of the Flanders region cancelled the planned construction of a new, purpose-built €80m tower to accommodate the museum, and revealed intentions 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 M HKA’s collection also includes pieces by international artists such as Kerry James Marshall, Anish Kapoor and Marina Abramović.

“I cannot accept that they could be removed from M HKA or potentially endangered as part of any institutional reorganisation,” stated British artist Kapoor in a communication to the culture ministry.

Financial Constraints Drive Cost-Cutting in Arts Sector

The country is confronting a fiscal shortfall of 5.4 percent of its economic output, among the highest in the eurozone. The cultural domain specifically is facing significant reductions, with austerity measures also implying an uncertain future for Brussels’ new Kanal museum.

Under the proposals of Minister Caroline Gennez, the museum landscape would be streamlined so that art collections in the region are housed within three beacon museums for historical, modern and contemporary art.

Flanders has a plethora of modern art institutions: in addition to M HKA in Antwerp and Smak in Ghent, there is the Bruges museums in Bruges and Museum M in Leuven.

Auditors Questions Savings Rationale

Whether the planned reorganization would actually reduce expenses has been challenged by Belgium’s financial inspectorate. In a report sent to the minister in October, it issued a negative assessment on the proposals, indicating their impact on the budget would be “fragmentary”.

While transplanting the institution’s core holdings could reduce running expenses from approximately €8m to €5m, it is believed that in future the Antwerp museum would have to allocate funds to loan artworks or purchase touring shows to draw audiences.

The Smak museum in Ghent, situated roughly an hour by train from the M HKA, is also believed to currently not have enough space to properly house M HKA’s holdings, and would require funding to increase its storage facilities.