The Association of Belgian Modern and Contemporary Art Galleries (BUP) has written an open letter to Flemish Minister of Culture Jan Jambon. It is a response to “persistent rumors and signals” about a possible merger of three Flemish museums. Artists Luc Tuymans and Rinus Van de Velde and gallery owners Adriaan Raemdonck (Galerie De Zwarte Panter) and Tim Van Laere, among others, signed this letter.
The reason for the open letter is a presentation that Luc Delrue, head of the Culture Department, gave at the beginning of the summer about a possible collaboration or even merger of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA), the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA) and the Museum of Modern Art Ostend (Mu.ZEE). The minister’s cabinet confirmed those plans, De Standaard wrote in mid-July. It turned out then that the museums were not ready for such a collaboration or merger.
The sector – museums, galleries, arts centers and artists – reacted in the open letter, dated Wednesday, “somewhat perplexed” to the “persistent rumors and signals” that the Antwerp museum of contemporary art would merge with the Antwerp museum of fine arts. and even with the Ostend Museum of Modern Art. “Antwerp, and by extension Flanders, deserves a permanent, independent, museum place for contemporary visual art”, say the letter writers.
In their view, contemporary art museums are primarily art institutions. They are gathering places for the permanent collection and the archive, exhibition places where artists can take decisive steps in their career and meeting places between artists and the public. But they are also places for experimentation and debate. The signatories do not recognize this dynamic in the KMSKA, which “displays, conserves, collects and studies” art with an eye for history, aesthetics and research.
“No added value”
“Sliding two such settings together offers no added value,” it sounds. The museums, on the other hand, must preserve their individuality, according to the letter writers and signatories. They refer to the Flemish Coalition Agreement from 2019 and the strategic vision memorandum on cultural heritage Flanders from 2021. “The new way of thinking of the Flemish Community is disturbing the sector”, it sounds. According to the sector, this line of thinking points to “creeping bureaucratization and not a dynamic policy”.
“A shadowy relationship between KMSKA and M HKA is by no means desirable,” the letter concludes. “Give them the trump cards to each build their own profile and their own skills from their own position, with which they can reinforce each other afterwards.”
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