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Leading artists have raised their voices in protest against what they label as an “arbitrary reshaping” of the nation’s cultural scene, as the Flanders government seek to reduce expenditures by dismantling the operations of the nation’s most historic modern art institution and relocating its entire collection to a different urban center.

Leaders Condemn ‘Flagrant Illegalities’ 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 “blatant violations” of the cultural institution reorganization, a plan scheduled for debated in the national legislature on Friday.

“Antwerp is the largest city in Flanders, with a legacy as a home of the avant-garde in Belgium,” said renowned painter Luc Tuymans, an Antwerp-based painter broadly regarded as Belgium’s foremost living artist.

“To degrade a museum to an exhibition space is utterly irrational. You cannot simply take a collection of artworks and transplant it into another ecosystem, because such an ecosystem does not exist,” Tuymans continued.

Unexpected Decision Scraps €80m Project, Moves Collection

In last autumn, the cultural affairs minister of the Flemish government cancelled the proposed development of a specially designed €80m high-rise building to accommodate the museum, and announced plans to relocate its collection of some 8,000 artworks to Ghent’s Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art (Smak). This unexpected decision will in effect strip the Antwerp museum of its museum status.

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

“I cannot accept that my works might be taken away from M HKA or otherwise put at risk as part of any structural reshuffling,” said artist Anish Kapoor in a message to the ministry.

Financial Constraints Motivate Cost-Cutting in Arts Sector

Belgium faces a fiscal shortfall of 5.4% of GDP, among the highest in the eurozone. The cultural domain specifically is confronting dramatic cuts, with budget-tightening policies also implying an uncertain future for Brussels’ new Kanal museum.

According to the plans of Flanders’ socialist culture minister, the museum landscape would be consolidated so that art collections in the Flanders region are concentrated at three flagship institutions for historical, modern and contemporary art.

Flanders has a plethora 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 Cost-Saving Rationale

Whether the planned reorganization would actually reduce expenses has been questioned by the national audit office. In a report sent to Gennez in October, it issued a negative assessment on the plans, indicating their impact on the budget would be “partial and incomplete”.

Although transplanting the museum’s permanent collection could cut operating costs from around €8m to €5m, it is understood that in future the Antwerp institution would have to allocate funds to borrow works or purchase touring shows to draw audiences.

The Smak museum in Ghent, situated roughly an hour by train from the M HKA, is also thought to presently lack enough space to adequately store M HKA’s holdings, and would need investment to expand its storage capacity.