Highlights 2026 at M HKA
In 2026, M HKA focuses on the museum’s long-standing commitment to artist-centred thinking, contemporary urgency, and public encounter. This summer marks Nicola L. first retrospective exhibition in Belgium. In autumn, we turn our focus to Lee Bul, with a major retrospective of one of the most influential artists in Asia. Spring opens with the group exhibition we refuse_d on censorship, refusal and action — urgent themes in today’s world.
Artists at the centre
Most major European art museums grew out of patronage, prestige or collecting passion. M HKA is different: it was founded on donations by artists. That is why, since its opening in 1987, the museum has consistently placed the artist at its core. We continue this tradition with major exhibitions by Nicola L. and Lee Bul, and presentations by, among others, Stef Van Looveren, Jean Katambayi Mukendi and Carla Arocha & Stéphane Schraenen.
A critical view of the world
At the same time, M HKA reflects on urgent social issues. The group exhibition we refuse_d focuses on tensions around artistic freedom: censorship, inequality and the limits of political imagination. During the monthly Front Row talks, artists reflect on art and society.
Exhibitions 2026
Spring, summer and autumn. Each season features one major exhibition and several smaller presentations. Every season is launched festively with a free nocturne.
SPRING:
we refuse_d
13.03 – 07.06.2026
A group exhibition bringing together fifteen artists whose practices examine refusal, endurance and action under conditions shaped by censorship, silencing and erasure. Developed through ongoing dialogue between artists and curators, we refuse_d is positioned both as a collective statement and a space for solidarity.
SUMMER:
Nicola L. — When the Earth Turned the Other Way
25.06 – 11.10.2026
M HKA presents the first major retrospective in Belgium dedicated to Nicola L., whose multidisciplinary practice spans sculpture, performance, film, painting and design. Featuring around 90 works, including the iconic Penetrables, the exhibition revisits her radical participatory aesthetics and her gender-conscious politics, situating her within international post-war avant-garde networks (including Fluxus and connections to Marcel Broodthaers).
AUTUMN:
Lee Bul — From 1998 to Now
12.11.2026 – 14.02.2027
A major survey of one of the most influential artists to emerge from Asia in recent decades. Premiered in 2025 at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, the exhibition travels via Hong Kong before arriving in Antwerp. With a consistent curatorial core but site-responsive scenography, the show traces Lee Bul’s critical engagement with modernity, technology, gender and utopia – from the seminal Cyborg and Anagram series to monumental installations exploring utopian aspiration and inevitable collapse.
IN SITU
Stef Van Looveren — COSMIC BODY. First Incision
24.01 – 17.05.2026
A new site-specific installation and performance in which the museum becomes a hybrid of temple, body and alchemical laboratory. Van Looveren foregrounds material transformation, melting, mirroring, reconfiguration, as a ritual and embodied approach to change, identity and queer non-binary imaginaries.
Jean Katambayi Mukendi — RATIO
06.06 – 20.09.2026
Combining recent drawings with large-scale sculptures, RATIO addresses structural global inequalities in resource extraction and power distribution. Mukendi’s speculative constructions draw on technological systems – from agriculture to military applications and robotics – and propose alternative ecological and political imaginaries through reuse and reconfiguration.
Collection presentations
The Situation is Fluid
Collection | Until 03.01.2027
In the collection wing, we present a long-term selection from the M HKA collection. The current display starts from the post-war avant-garde in Antwerp and uses the past to understand the multipolar world of today and tomorrow. The guiding framework consists of the three collection perspectives: image, action and society.
Carla Arocha & Stéphane Schraenen — 20 Years and More
Collection presentation | 24.01 – 24.05.2026
Throughout 2026, M HKA will stage multiple collection presentations that resist fixed canonisation, instead treating the collection as an evolving field of inquiry. A focused presentation of the artist duo’s work in M HKA’s collection, culminating in a new 2026 installation, Landscape (Antwerp), translating the chromatic structure of the city into immersive colour fields and reflective architectural elements.
Nueva Visión. Print as Artistic Practice, 1940–1976
Archival presentation | 24.01 – 24.05.2026
Designer Jelle Jespers examines graphic design and print as artistic practices in Argentina between 1940 and 1976. In this period, print culture became a vital space for ideas. Designers, artists and thinkers used printed matter to experiment with form, language, politics and society. The catalogues, magazines, publications and posters gathered in this archival presentation show how graphic design evolved from a craft into a professional discipline.
Encounters and other activities
Contemporary art can also be experienced without fully understanding it. Starting from your own questions, at your own pace. Audience engagement therefore lies at the heart of the museum’s work. There is a wide range of activities for both first-time visitors and seasoned art lovers.
Three festive seasonal openings
Each M HKA season kicks off with a festive opening. On three Thursday evenings, you can visit the new exhibitions free of charge, with the galleries open until 11 pm. The evening programme at the M HKAFE continues until 1 am.
- 12.03.2026
- 25.06.2026
- 12.11.2026
FRONT ROW
Every last Thursday of the month, M HKA and NICC invite an artist for a public conversation. Meet today’s artists and reflect together on art, culture and society.
Guided tours
- Join-in tours, every second Saturday of the month
- Avant-garde walk, every first Saturday of the month
- M HKADEE Toddler Tour, a guided tour for toddlers, every second Sunday of the month
Activities for families
- Creative Sundays in the Salon, on Sundays between 2 and 4 pm
- Panamarenko Junior, every last Wednesday of the month
- Family Days
More encounters
M HKA takes part in accessible public events such as Schatten van Vlieg, Museumnacht and Kunstendag voor Kinderen. The museum also serves as the central hub during Antwerp Art Weekend.
