M HKA - Chantal Akerman: Too Far, Too Close

Chantal Akerman
Too Far, Too Close
10 February - 20 May 2012

The M HKA is holding the very first large-scale retrospective of the Belgian film-maker and artist Chantal Akerman, who has now lived in Paris for many years. It is also the first time her work has been shown in Belgium since her exhibition at the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels in 1995. Akerman is one of the most influential film-makers of her generation and has long been a feminist icon. She was able to establish this reputation with her early masterpiece Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. Since the mid-nineties, however, she has also been increasingly active as an artist, and her film and video installations have been shown at the Venice Biennale, Documenta 11 and elsewhere. The exhibition at the M HKA will focus mainly on this latter aspect of her work and will be accompanied by an ambitious monograph.

Image: Chantal Akerman, La Chambre, 1972 film still, courtesy of the artist

Spirits of Internationalism
6 European Collections 1956-1986
20 January - 6 May 2012

Spirits of Internationalism is on simultaneously at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and the M HKA – the two museums will for the duration be considered as a single physical entity, but the two parts can also be viewed independently of each other. The exhibition is a reflection of the tension between the international and various regional and local art scenes. It will reassess the sometimes ambiguous relationship between the Belgian/Flemish and Dutch art scenes in the 60s and 70s in contrast to the hegemony of international art and the art that had become part of the canon.

Lonely At The Top
New Art in Antwerp 1958-1962 #1
10 February - 18 March 2012

In 2005 the M HKA held an exhibition called 'Dear ICC. Aspects of contemporary art in Belgium 1970-1985', which resulted from research into this period by the art historian Johan Pas. This research is now being extended in a new series of LATT exhibitions on the situation of contemporary art – meaning the avant-garde and new art – in Antwerp in the 50s and 60s. This series revolves around the G58 group of avant-garde artists (the 'G' stands for 'group' and the 58 refers to the year they held their first exhibition) and consists of five instalments covering the period when G58 played a part in contemporary art in Antwerp – their titles refer to five of G58's exhibitions and the accompanying catalogues. Each instalment includes a number of works of art from the exhibitions concerned, combined with such documentation as photos of installations, catalogues and other printed matter, press articles and so on. Each instalment is also linked to the work of a young Belgian artist whose work fits in with it.

More info: www.muhka.be