The museum status of the Antwerp M HKA "is not up for discussion" and, even after the current transition process, which runs until 2028, the M HKA will remain a museum, Flemish Minister of Culture Caroline Gennez (Vooruit) told the Flemish Parliament on Thursday.
The Antwerp Museum of Contemporary Art (M HKA) has been on a remarkable rollercoaster for months. A long-planned new building was suddenly scrapped, and within Gennez's broader museum reform, the museum was set to lose its museum function and be transformed into an arts centre.
However, following protests, the minister left the door ajar for the preservation of that museum function. A transition process running until 2028 was intended to explore in what form an M HKA 2.0 might be possible.
That did not allay all concerns. On the contrary, a group of gallery owners recently served Gennez with a formal notice urging her to reverse the decisions regarding the M HKA.
A week later, a group of gallery owners filed a summons demanding that the M HKA remain a museum and that construction for the new museum building be restarted. The artists' association Museum@Risk and the neighbourhood interest group TeamZuid are also joining the gallery owners' action.
Minister Gennez said she "regrets" those legal proceedings and that her door remains open for consultation. The intention is also to sit down with the gallery owners. The minister acknowledged that there was a "bumpy start," but that the plans for the M HKA fit into the broader "positive narrative" of the reform of the museum landscape.
Gennez wants to remove all ambiguity. "The M HKA will remain a museum. That is a given," she stated firmly. The museum status of the M HKA will therefore "not be tampered with," she said. However, the intention is for the museum to "grow into an institution with added value for the broader field."
MPs An Hermans (N-VA), Katrien Partyka (CD&V), and Bram Jaques (Groen), who questioned Gennez in the parliament, were left satisfied that she confirmed the museum status of the M HKA loud and clear.
Partyka has urged the minister to make that message clear to the stakeholders as well, because, according to her, there is still uncertainty among them regarding the future.
