The Situation is Fluid
25 Jan 2025 - 3 Jan 2027
Collection display
The Muhka collection is always in motion, and we live in times of change.
In 2025, Muhka presents a renewed, concise collection display that, through around thirty key works, features Flemish artists: artists who live and work here, now or in the past – including Marcel Broodthaers, Panamarenko, Luc Tuymans, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Otobong Nkanga and Laure Prouvost – as well as artists with a connection to Flanders, such as Marlene Dumas, Jimmie Durham, Gordon Matta-Clark and Nicola L. They are placed in dialogue with international artists from the collection of the Flemish Community, including Cady Noland, Barbara Kruger, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Taus Makhacheva and Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin. The collection display starts from the post-war avant-garde in Antwerp and uses the past as a platform for understanding the multipolar world of today and the future, with the three collection perspectives – image, action and society – as its guide.
The freely accessible permanent collection display features work by Marina Abramović, Chantal Akerman, Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin, Marcel Broodthaers, David Claerbout, Lili Dujourie, Marlene Dumas, Jimmie Durham, Andrea Fraser, Anna-Bella Geiger, Craigie Horsfield, Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, Nikita Kadan, Barbara Kruger, Nicola L., Taus Makhacheva, Gordon Matta-Clark, Cady Noland, Otobong Nkanga, Panamarenko, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Laure Prouvost, Ayman Ramadam, Chris Reinecke, Oksana Shachko, Nancy Spero, Walter Swennen, Luc Tuymans and Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven.
Freely accessible collection wing
The permanent collection display is located in the museum’s freely accessible collection wing. To keep pace with developments in contemporary art, respond to current events and show recent acquisitions, the permanent collection display is accompanied by a programme of changing collection displays in two adjacent rooms.
In addition, the collection also extends into the equally freely accessible reading room. Among the books, you will find work by Koen van den Broek, Marlow Moss, Luc Deleu, Els Dietvorst and Jacqueline Mesmaeker, among others.
Finally, several artworks are literally inseparable from the museum building: work by Robert Filliou, Hugo Duchateau, Keith Haring, James Turrell, Christophe Terlinden, Enrico David and, of course, the Panamarenko House in the Seefhoek.
About the Muhka collection
The Muhka collection comprises around 8,000 works. Its backbone consists of works purchased by the museum and works acquired by the Flemish Community, as well as by the City of Antwerp. It also includes donations and several other public holdings that Muhka makes accessible, such as that of De Vleeshal in Middelburg. The collection narrative starts from the post-war avant-garde in Antwerp and Flanders, and uses this past as a point of departure for understanding the multipolar world of today and the future.
The Muhka collection develops around three ways of approaching art: image, action and society. Although no single work falls exclusively under one of these headings, they are useful perspectives for exploring the character and complementarity of our collection. Image, action and society can be understood as three axes that together define the space of a work: every performative artwork has an image quality, looking is an action, and every artwork relates to society. This division is therefore primarily intended as an invitation for visitors to interact with the works and make new connections.
Practical info
Date: 25 January 2025 – 3 January 2027
Location: Muhka, Leuvenstraat 32, 2000 Antwerp
Floor: ground floor, collection wing
Admission: free admission
