De Gentse Collectie
Group exhibition
21 July – 16 September 1984
Vleeshal (Map)
Middelburg Abbey (Map)
Curator: Jan Hoet
A selection from the collection of the Ghent Museum of Contemporary Art in the Vleeshal and the Abbey of Middelburg. Met Pierre Alechinsky, Arman, Francis Bacon, Robert Barry, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Joseph Beuys, Bram Bogart, Marcel Broodthaers, Michael Buthe, Louis Cane, Christo, Francesco Clemente, Chuck Close, Hanne Darboven, Ad Dekkers, Jan Dibbets, Braco Dimitrijevic Jim Jou, Miklos Erdely, Luciano Fabro, Lucio Fontana, David Hockney, Tatsumi Kudo, Bernd Lohaus, Lucassen, Marc Mendelson, Francois Morellet, Bruce Nauman, Giulio Paolini, Martial Raysse, Ettore Spalletti, Villéglé, Lawrence Weiner, Gilberto Zorio & Hugo Claus, Leo Copers, Amadée Cortier, Jan Cox, Raoul de Keyser, Roel D'Haese, Étienne Elias, Danny Matthys, Antoine Mortier, Roger Raveel, Dan Vanseveren, Phillipe Vansnick, Jan Vercruysse.
With a forum discussion: "The private and governmental collective policy", including: Andreas Oosthoek, Leendert Couprie, Karel Geirlandt, Hein van Haaren, Jan Hoet, Eric Schutijzer, Marinus Boezem.
Persons
Series
Vleeshal is a unique center for contemporary art, not only because of its atypical exhibition space and exciting programming, but also because it has a collection. In the 1990s, under the impetus of then director Lex ter Braak, an ambitious collection of contemporary visual art was begun. This collection was intended for a newly envisioned museum in Middelburg, designed by Aldo and Hannie van Eyck. In 1995 it became clear that, unfortunately, there was insufficient political support for this museum. The impetus of collection building had therefore lost its possible context and visibility and encumbered Vleeshal. The collection had become a storage cost and management issue.
In 2005, the collection was given on a long-term loan to M HKA in Antwerp. M HKA was chosen because of the close historical ties between Middelburg and Antwerp, the museum's collection profile, and the fact that M HKA's director, Bart De Baere, was a member of the committee that purchased artworks for the yet-to-be-built museum in Middelburg in the 1990s.
The collection consists of two parts. One part includes national and local art from the BKR arrangement (the Dutch abbreviation BKR stands for Beeldende Kunstenaars Regeling, an arrangement, which from 1949 to 1987 provided artists with a temporary income in exchange for works of art or other artistic quid pro quo). The other part consists of artworks by international contemporary artists (including Jimmie Durham, Nedko Solakov, Suchan Kinoshita, Cameron Jamie, Pipilotti Rist, and Job Koelewijn).
There has been no active acquisition policy for years. The collection is expanded here and there with sporadic purchases and donations from artists who are part of the Vleeshal program.