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preamble


For forty years, Antwerp had been dreaming of a museum for modern/contemporary art before the M HKA finally opened its doors.

The success of the Biennale for Sculpture in Middelheim Park undoubtedly contributed to this desire. In 1947, Lode Craeybeckx wanted to establish a polyvalent building for cultural activities: he proposed building a Liberation Palace in the municipal park, a site for concerts and other events, but in particular for contemporary art. However, because of the precarious financial situation of post-war Antwerp these plans were soon put to one side. Three years later, he did open the Middelheim Open Air Museum.
In the early Sixties, Craeybeckx as the mayor made a second attempt to build a (state) museum for contemporary art and this time he had the property opposite the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in mind, the site where the Hippodrome Theatre was falling into disrepair. Once again, the estimated costs put a stop to the plans.
However, the idea was not abandoned any more and various parties started to work hard for the establishment of a museum of modern art in Antwerp. In 1966 the architect Leo Stijnen submitted a proposal to build a museum on pillars near the Steen castle, at the end of one of the city's most important tourist routes. This project was not accepted since it was feared that it would interfere with the harbour activities.
In 1970, Stijnen submitted a second proposal: on the Left Bank, he wanted to realise a never executed project by Le Corbusier, the ‘Musée à Croissance Illimitée’. This design from 1939 for a spiral-shaped building with unlimited expansion possibilities would lend Antwerp international acclaim. The prestigious project was received favourably and it was decided to site it in Middelheim Park. The first stone was laid on 12 September 1970, but very soon the building work had to be stopped since the park was declared a protected green area.

a start: the I.C.C.
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 Joseph Kosuth,
ICC in 1976, privite collection Luxemburg

Meanwhile, there was an increasing need in Antwerp for a museum for modern/contemporary art – a public space where art can develop and be shown outside the secrecy of a private collection and without the pressure of a commercial circuit. The flourishing and fascinating art scene with an extensive gallery circuit, many collectors of contemporary art and not in the least a large number of important artists felt more and more the necessity of such a public space.
On the initiative of the Ministry of Dutch Culture, the International Cultural Centre (I.C.C.) was established in the former Royal Palace on the Meir in Antwerp in 1970. This I.C.C. was the first public institute for contemporary art in Flanders, followed five years later by the Museum for Contemporary Art in Gent. According to Ludo Bekkers, the first director of the centre, it should become a space where anything is possible, from more traditional events such as exhibitions and concerts to happenings and ‘theatre workshops’ for children and adults. The focus was on contemporary art, but because the idea had developed from the notion of a cultural centre, there was – as is appropriate in that context – also room for concerts, poetry, all kinds of courses, etc. Especially in the period from 1972 to 1981, under the direction of Flor Bex, the centre evolved into a dynamic meeting place for art(ists) and public. Therefore, this initial period of the I.C.C. may be considered to be the immediate forerunner of the M HKA. The M HKA is actually the official heir of the I.C.C. The latter's important documentation centre, the library and videotheque were incorporated in the M HKA. In addition, the I.C.C. period was the basis for the collection.

Gordon Matta-Clark
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The American artist Gordon Matta-Clark (1943-78), who trained as an architect, used the urban environment and more specifically buildings as material. He arranged empty premises by, among other things, cutting out fragments. With his interventions he transformed architecture into sculpture, he exposed the soul of a building: to convert a place into a state of mind.
In 1977, Matta-Clark was invited by Flor Bex to exhibit in the I.C.C. He was given the opportunity to work on empty premises on the Ernest Van Dijckkaai, near the Steen. In honour of the four hundredth birthday of the Antwerp Baroque painter Rubens, the artist called this work ‘Office Baroque’.
Soon after his death in 1978, Flor Bex suggested keeping the Office Baroque as a homage to the artist and to integrate it as the core in a museum for contemporary art to be built on the surrounding plots. This idea was received positively and the Gordon Matta-Clark Foundation was established to gather the necessary funds. Numerous artists at home and abroad donated a work in an attempt to secure the Office Baroque or, should this fail, to serve as the basic collection for the new museum for contemporary art, which – as its advocates were convinced – would come now any way.
In spite of the efforts of many, the Office Baroque, the only remaining architectural-sculptural work by Gordon Matta-Clark after his death, was demolished just before the definitive agreement (there are, however, photographs of the Office Baroque in the M HKA collection).

foundation


By then the call for a museum of contemporary art had become too loud in Antwerp to be ignored and was eventually heard at the highest competent political level. After the restructuring of the state in 1980 this had become the Flemish Community, which decided in 1982 to establish the M HKA. Since the Office Baroque had been demolished and many other plans had failed, a new location had to be sought at that time. Because of the fact that the new Flemish government had only limited finances and the fact that he wanted to see the museum have a solid start within his legislature, the competent minister opted for conversion and extension of existing premises instead of a new building. link naar architectuur
The 'Zuid' (South) seemed to be the ideal location for the new museum: the presence of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts and the plans of the province to establish a Photography Museum there too, the extensive parking possibilities on the filled up Southern Docks, the presence of important galleries, and the proximity of the Scheldt. After some searching, a grain silo in the Leuvenstraat was acquired in 1985 and work could be started.
On 20 September 1985 the M HKA was officially founded (published in the Staatsblad [Belgian Statute Book] of 18 June 1986) and on 20 June 1987 the museum was inaugurated with around 150 works of the Gordon Matta-Clark Foundation as the starting point for the collection and the I.C.C. inheritance as the basis for the vision and the policy. The first director of the M HKA was also the former inspirer of the I.C.C.: Flor Bex. The first exhibition in the M HKA was devoted to Gordon Matta-Clark's oeuvre.
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 Gordon Matta-Clark "Office Baroque", 1977
Florent Bex and M HKA

structure


In the end, the M HKA was established as an initiative of the Flemish Community. The necessary decrees date from the time of the term of office (1981-85) of Karel Poma as Federal Minister of Culture and a great protagonist of a museum of contemporary art in Antwerp. The museum was realised during Patrick Dewael's term of office.
The statute of a vzw (not-for-profit organisation) was opted for in order to keep the new museum as flexible and versatile as possible. Yet there is a very close relationship with the Flemish Community: in addition to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts and the Kasteel van Gaasbeek (Gaasbeek Castle), the M HKA is one of the three museums of the Flemish Community and is virtually completely subsidised by that authority. Furthermore, the Flemish Community is the owner of the buildings and the collection of the M HKA.

1987- 2002: the first 15 years
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 Florent Bex

Under the leadership of Flor Bex the M HKA evolved into a dynamic museum with attention for contemporary artists from the region in an international context. Exhibitions are organised at a great pace and, in spite of the tight budget, the collection is extended substantially every year (after 15 years the museum has around seven hundred works of art in its collection). The collection policy is oriented on the period from 1970. The works in the collection dating to the Seventies virtually all originate from the Gordon Matta-Clark Foundation. Now and again, the museum has the financial means to acquire a work from that period, but the acquisition policy generally follows in the footsteps of contemporary art and mainly brand-new work from the Eighties and Nineties is acquired. In addition, for Flanders the M HKA is the guideline for the development of museum public relations and it develops a carefully composed range of educational activities and other supporting activities for young and old.
With the M HKA as one of the driving forces, next to the also new Photography Museum and the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, the Zuid (South area) is reviving. In addition, neighbourhood is evolving into one of the most "in" and artistic places in Antwerp. It is the place to be, live, work, eat, and go to enjoy art. Several new galleries have set up there, and in the period August 1992 – June 1993 the museum was substantially extended.

today
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 Bart De Baere

In February 2002, Bart De Baere became the new director of the M HKA. At the end of 2002, the museum presented its new approach. Now every season, the M HKA organises a large temporary exhibition on the ground floor and an ever-changing collection presentation on the upper floors; in these collection presentations, space is made for small interventions by artists. They are thus given the opportunity to experiment in and with a museum context.
The new policy plays down the emphasis on Belgian art(ists) in favour of a wider international perspective and questioning of developments in contemporary art. Belgian art occupies and will continue to occupy an important place, but more explicitly as part of a greater whole. The M HKA itself has actually 'entered into a relationship'. In 2003, the merger with the Centrum voor Beeldcultuur (Centre for ImageCulture) was finalised, so that the the scope will go beyond the visual arts and encompass image culture.