MuHKA (Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp)
MuHKAshows
MuHKA is the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp, a dynamic centre that focuses on contemporary art and visual culture. Every year the museum organises several major exhibitions. They may concentrate on the work of a single artist, a particular medium, or a social or geographic issue. It is not only national and international but also local artists who are invited to participate in these projects. The museum’s permanent collection is exhibited extensively in displays that change every few months. Moreover, the MuHKA also regularly invites artists to make an intervention in the collection. This can give rise to surprising insights and connections and both the collection and the artist’s own work are put in a new light.
MuHKA_media also puts two cinemas at the museum’s disposal – in the Museum of Photography [FotoMuseum, Waalsekaai 47]. MuHKA_media organizes daily screenings of historical films, art house films, cult films, experimental films and so on. They are always the original versions and are grouped into monthly thematic programmes and film specials. Where possible films are preceded or followed by a talk with the director. MuHKA_media is also the place to be for media art and visual culture in its broadest sense.
MuHKAcollects
If you are looking for more information on art from 1970 to the present or on the use of film and new media, try the MuHKA_library. Admission is free not only for art professionals and experts, but the layman too. Its collection of monographs, exhibition catalogues, periodicals, audiovisual material and theoretical works concentrates on the art from 1970 to the present. It also includes books, catalogues and cuttings files on film, video and new media. In addition, the MuHKA administers the library and archives of the former ICC [International Cultural Centre].
The basis of the MuHKA collection starts in 1987 with about a hundred and fifty works from the Gordon Matta-Clark Foundation, which dated from the times of the ICC. Other important additional funds are the works it has acquired by itself and the works on permanent loan from the Flemish Community. For its purchases, MuHKA follows the national and international development in contemporary art and focuses on audiovisual art and artist ensembles. Additionally, the MuHKA administers the collection Vrielynck, a collection of precinema and film hardware of international importance.
MuHKAreflects
In addition to its exhibitions, MuHKA has a varied programme of lectures, performances, concerts, symposia, panel discussions and book launches. Where possible the major exhibition projects are coupled with talks in which artists explain their concept in depth. In addition MuHKA, together with the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in Londen and the School of Art of the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles, publishes the English art magazine Afterall.
MuHKAwelcomes
The exhibitions are accompanied by extensive information in the form of essays, quotations and questions, and also discussion tours and guided tours organised with experienced guides. Information for the displays of the permanent collection is to be found on cards for each individual work. There is a special children’s activity called MUST, with its ‘gallery of lost objects’, a museum game that forms a playful introduction to the collection. MuHKA and educational institutions are also natural partners: pupils, students and teachers can expect a tailor-made visit to the museum.
MuHKA
Leuvenstraat 32
2000 Antwerp
Belgium
MuHKA_media
Waalsekaai 47
2000 Antwerp
Belgium
T +32 (0)3 260 99 99 / F +32 (0)3 216 24 86
www.muhka.be
