M hka magazine

Anyone thinking of summer envisions pavement cafes, camping, seaside holidays, and… museums. Beyond offering a place to cool off and a roof terrace, the Muhka has much to offer this season.

The city of Antwerp has approved the preliminary design for the new spatial implementation plan (RUP) of the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA). The ambition is to create an iconic building that strengthens the cultural core of the Het Zuid district and forms a link between the Scheldt quays and the Gedempte Zuiderdokken.

With ‘Eurasia — An Atlas’ M HKA offers a unique publication offering theoretical and artistic insights into the concept of Eurasia.

The Minister of Culture has appointed six candidate designers who will be tasked with developing their proposals for the new museum building for M HKA over the course of this year. This new building marks a new era for M HKA and serves as a crucial means for further advancing the Flemish contemporary visual arts sector and enhancing its international visibility.

The city of Antwerp has approved the preliminary design for the new spatial implementation plan (RUP) of the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA). The ambition is to create an iconic building that strengthens the cultural core of the Het Zuid district and forms a link between the Scheldt quays and the Gedempte Zuiderdokken.

The Minister of Culture has appointed six candidate designers who will be tasked with developing their proposals for the new museum building for M HKA over the course of this year. This new building marks a new era for M HKA and serves as a crucial means for further advancing the Flemish contemporary visual arts sector and enhancing its international visibility.

Do you know the masterpiece by the Chinese artist Wang Du in the collection of the Flemish Community, or the groundbreaking multimedia installations that established Yang Fudong as a symbol of the Shanghai art scene? In recent years, the collection of the Flemish Community has received considerable attention, especially for its emphasis on artists from Flanders.  The fact that Flanders possesses a top collection of international contemporary art has often been overlooked until now. This is set to change.

The Flemish government has approved the updated project budget for the study and construction of a new M HKA, totalling 130 million euros. Additionally, the government has made a call for a design team for the new building.

With Superhost, M HKA partners with an artist or collective for a year. We offer our top floor, they provide the interpretation, and thus a beautiful dialogue emerges each time, in which the audience is also part of. This year’s guests are Antje Majewski and Pawel Freisler. Together, they explore the dual nature of apples both as art objects and as points of reference in discussions about biodiversity loss.

How can we consciously take care of our attention in an increasingly loud and oversaturated world? Such is the question raised during ANTENA, a year-long programme dedicated to listening. Conceived by artist and musician Céline Gillain. She talks about her practice in this conversation with the Superhost curators.

This conference took place on 7-8 July 2022 at the Academia Belgica and at the Università degli Studi ‘La Sapienza’ of Rome and was organized by Maria Elena Minuto (ULiège; KU Leuven) and Jan De Vree (M HKA Museum, Antwerp) on 7–8 July 2022.

Every year, one artist or collective is invited to be M HKA’s Superhost. Berlin based artist Hanne Lippard launches the series with a three-part programme focusing on language. As part of the first season ‘Contact’, Lippard has prepared a programme of audio works titled A CONSTANT OF FEELINGS, related to the notion of ‘contact’. The playlist is now available on Spotify and Google Podcast.

Last year, German collector Christian Kaspar Schwarm donated the work ‘Friendship of Nations: Polish’ Shi’te Showbiz’ by Slavs and Tatars to the M HKA. It is currently on display in a collection presentation. Why did he choose to donate this work to the museum? And how does the M HKA deal with donations in general? An explanation.

In the context of its solidarity activities with Ukraine, the M HKA is giving special attention to important ensembles by Ukrainian artists from the museum’s collection.

As part of the planning for the renovation of the KMSKA, the artwork ‘Quand le Ciel Bas et Lourd’ by artist David Lamelas is currently being dismantled. However, it is with a renewed commitment and enthusiasm that we are looking forward to the future relocation and reconstruction of the work.

Met deze mededeling van Bart De Baere, Algemeen directeur M HKA, willen we de huidige situatie, maar ook onze toekomstplannen, rond de herplaatsing van het werk ‘Quand le ciel bas et lourd’ van kunstenaar David Lamelas op een heldere manier met iedereen delen.