Since summer 2007 the M HKA and the FotoMuseum have cooperated on the exhibition programme for the 4th floor of the FotoMuseum. The common thread is visual culture. In 2010 the M HKA will be running a project on Allan Sekula. One of the main themes of his work is the relationship between flows of traffic at sea and the increasing internationalisation of the worldwide industrial economy. Sekula views the sea as ‘the forgotten space’ of the modern era, where globalisation – although out of sight – is most pressingly visible. FotoMuseum 4th floor

Performance installations by Jan Fabre 2001 – 2004 - 2008
In 2008, during the exhibition “L’Ange de la métamorphose” at the Louvre in Paris, Jan Fabre carried out the performance “Art kept me out of jail”, inspired by the story of the French gangster Jacques Mesrine. The artist recently donated the video shots of the performance to M HKA. We are showing the new installation in combination with two other unforgettable performances, “Virgin/Warrior” and “Sanguis/Mantis”.

The current collection presentation which is shown alongside the work of Jan Fabre (19.03-19.09.10) and Benjamin Verdonck (25.04-20.06.10) focuses on artists working in Belgium during the last 4 decades.

Since the collapse of the USSR, the European horizon in that direction has remained limited to Russia. We know very little about what is happening in the dynamic Central Asian states and in the Caucasian countries with ancient cultures. The Russian critic and theorist Viktor Misiano has for several years been working to support the artists of this region, which has resulted in some controversial exhibitions. He selected those artistic points of reference he considered most crucial, which included key works by the artists concerned. These works are shown in ensembles and will ultimately also be incorporated into the museum’s collection.

The sixth and final presentation presents work by Rustam Khalfin (Uzbekistan) and Almagul Menlibayeva (Kazakhstan).

Artefactum was a Belgian art magazine published by Flor Bex, the former director of M HKA, from 1983 to 1994. The museum invited him to put together a presentation of works from the collection, taking Artefactum as the unifying element. The result is an outline of contemporary art in Flanders in that particular period.

The Modern Dialect exhibition brings Braem’s modernist architecture face to face with the work of contemporary artists. Their images and installations reveal a number of paradoxes and create a multifaceted view of modernism and the social utopia of its formal idiom, which still influences the world’s architecture today.

Since 1987 the M HKA has grown into one of the most important centres for contemporary art in our country and attracts increasing interest from the public.

Cinema Zuid M HKA's new film program, is on view in the theatres located at Lakenstraat 14.
The program can be viewed online or consulted in Cinema Zuid's bimonthly brochure.

On Thursdays the museum is open until nine in the evening. Activities will be regularly organised for these evenings. We shall be presenting a varied programme of talks, performances, conversations with artists, book presentations, etc.

The M HKAFE, ‘hidden’ on the 4th floor of the museum, is a good alternative to the many cafés and lunch places in the ‘South’ quarter. On the days the museum is open you can get a healthy and tasty lunch at a reasonable price. The menu includes a range of rolls and there are several hot and cold suggestions every day: soups, salads, pasta, tacos, burgers and other delights. When the weather’s fine, the M HKA roof terrace is a great place to sit down and escape the bustle of the city.
Both the M HKAFE and the roof terrace are freely accessible to everyone via a separate entrance – which also leads you past an account of the history of the museum on the walls of the staircase. The exhibitions on the floors above the M HKAFE can also be visited free of charge.