Why Minister Gennez should employ an artist
14 January 2026 - 6:00 am – OpinionDanny Devos calls on Flemish Minister of Culture Caroline Gennez to actively involve artists in the future vision for Flemish museums.
The redesign of the landscape of museum institutions and the visual arts, announced by Minister of Culture Caroline Gennez on 3 October 2025, is not progressing. The draft memorandum states that the minister would submit a detailed project plan to the Flemish Government for approval on 15 December 2025. This has not happened. Approval has been postponed time and again, with the next attempt scheduled for 16 January 2026.
Since the launch of the draft memorandum on 3 October 2025, there has been a barrage of negative reactions from virtually all quarters of the visual arts community in Flanders. In countless opinions, interviews and open letters, artists, curators, museum directors, art historians, art critics and art connoisseurs have undermined both the content of the draft memorandum and the way in which it was dropped like a bomb on the contemporary art scene from above, without any consultation or discussion.
Apart from courtesy visits to or by the soldiers of Team Gennez, there has been no serious consultation to date. Everyone in the sector is being bombarded with a “transition project”, “in which much is still possible”. What is still possible remains a matter of speculation, as not a single word has been changed in the draft memorandum. One important step taken by Team Gennez is already irrevocable: the suspension of the new building for the M_HKA, which has been in the works for seven years and on which millions have been spent. Public opinion also accepts as quasi-truth the downgrading of the Museum of Contemporary Art to an arts centre – alongside the existing arts centres. The same applies to the transfer of the complex collection of artworks currently managed by the M_HKA to the SMAK in Ghent, which is to be upgraded from municipal to Flemish level.
In order to ensure the smooth running of the transition project, a vacancy has already been advertised for a “Legal project advisor for the future vision of Flemish museums”, presumably to nip in the bud any legal action that could threaten both the M_HKA and some actors in the contemporary art scene these days.
Point 4.6 of the draft memorandum states that artists play a central role in commemorating the landscape of the visual arts. In that sense, it seems only logical to me that artists should also be guaranteed a place and be allowed to contribute ideas to that commemoration. In 1998, following the occupation by artists of another government arts centre, the ICC, an advocate for visual artists was recognised by the Flemish Community: the NICC. Under the impetus of the NICC, artists have since been part of, among other things, the assessment committees of the Flemish Community. This should also be the case in the transition project. Not in the form of an occasional working group or a lunch meeting at the cabinet, but embedded in the functioning and decision-making of the transition project.
Artists, dear Minister, have more experience than anyone else in the good or less good functioning of museums. More than directors who remain in the same position for decades, more than cabinet staff who move from one project to another, even more than flying curators who hop from one biennial to another. Artists know how museums work in Flanders, Belgium, Europe and the world like no one else. Artists work with museum directors, curators, technical teams, administrative staff, budget planners, communication specialists, collection managers, archivists and even cleaning staff. That is why it is necessary to actively involve artists in the future vision of Flemish museums.
Flanders is renowned for the large number of artists who are active there. It cannot be difficult to quickly come up with a job vacancy: “Artistic project advisor for the future vision of Flemish museums”.
Danny Devos
Artist
Danny Devos (Vilvoorde, 20 September 1959) is a Belgian artist whose work mainly revolves around body art and performances. From 1998 to 2004, he was successively “Social Commissioner” and chairman of the NICC, a Belgian interest group for visual artists.
This text appeared as an opinion piece on Knack.
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