Architecture in Belgium: Dossier Building for Culture (A+ 306)
Lisa De Visscher (ed.)
CIAUD/ICASD Information Centre for Architecture, Urbanism and Design, 2024
€24,95
A wave of new or renovated museums and theaters, the exemplars of what we understand by ‘cultural infrastructure’, but which also includes libraries and music halls, seems to be unfurling today. The number of recent projects and projects in the pipeline cannot be counted on one hand; the restoration of the KMSKA (Kaan Architecten) and the ‘infrastructure leap’ of the MuHKA in Antwerp, the ‘duplication’ of the SMAK (51N4E and NU) and a new wing of the Design Museum (Atama) in Ghent, brand new theaters in Louvain- la-Neuve (Ouest) and in Leuven (Sergison Bates Architects), the renovations of the Museum of Fine Arts (XDGA and Barbara Van der Wee) and the Maison de la Culture (A Practice) in Tournai, the new Beer Museum in the old Stock Exchange building (Robbrecht and Daem, p. 20) and the prestigious Kanal Pompidou (noA – Sergison Bates – EM2N) in Brussels, which will open its doors in 2025. So there is no shortage of building frenzy in the cultural sector. And this urge to invest seems to be accompanied by a search for what the current social role of a cultural building could be.
Questioning and challenging the function of a museum – and by extension any cultural infrastructure – is not new. In the 20th century, art and culture experienced an identity crisis, and thus also their appropriated places. ‘The day will not be far off, I fear, when spectators will pass through the halls in droves, wearing caps and flags, singing a club song at the top of their lungs in front of their favorite painting.’ In 1987, Rudi Fuchs, Dutch, complained. art historian and then director of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, was concerned that museums were in danger of turning from pure places for presentation and contemplation into ‘experience centres’, as accessible as possible, for the broadest and most international audience possible. Cuts in arts and culture continue to force museums and theaters to focus on increasing attendance through larger blockbuster exhibitions and performances. IN DUTCH!
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