An iconoclasm raged through the Middelheim Museum

The Middelheim open-air museum in Antwerp has received a thorough makeover over the past year and a half. Images were moved and more than ever art and nature go hand in hand.

Tens, this is where Erwin Wurm’s car used to be, diagonally against the tree. Or was that somewhere else? It was there, but it was taken away. And those metal wires between the trees. Were they already there? So no. This concerns the installation ‘Shouting Is Breathing in Circumstances’ by Honoré d’O.

This way you can walk through the renovated Middelheim Museum with some detachment. Of the more than 200 works of art, no more than 50 have retained their permanent place. The others have either been moved or taken to the depot and replaced by others.

The open-air museum has been thoroughly overhauled over the past 18 months. The result is a total makeover of the sculpture park. ‘The arrangement of the statues needed to be updated. They all stood on their island. It became increasingly difficult to give the newly acquired sculptures a good place,” says museum director Sara Weyns during the preview.

The renovation of the museum starts with a new visitors’ pavilion between the main entrance and the castle, where Erwin Wurm’s folded boat can still be admired from the street side. The visitors pavilion was designed by B-bis Architects, who won the design competition. It is divided into three islands. The information and ticket desk is central. To the right is the shop and to the left is a visitors’ area where you can relax. In terms of furniture, the two large semi-industrial racks stand out. The moody light colors in green and orange of the furniture look playful and attractive.

The building has existed for a long time, but was never really used. Now it has been conceived as an extension of the park and should become the starting point of every visit.

The open-air museum itself – cut in two by Middelheimlaan – is divided into four thematic zones, which guarantee a more coherent arrangement of the sculptures. Each image has a QR code with which you can immediately find all information about the artist and the work. The information panels were supposed to be ready, but the supplier was not able to complete his order on time. We have to wait until the beginning of May.

The most drastic change is in the hortiflora, the flowery part of the museum that borders the Nachtegalen Park on the other side of Middelheimlaan. The green department of the city of Antwerp has worked hard to smooth out some human interventions. The large asphalt surface at the entrance has disappeared in favor of more greenery and flowers.

The theme of ‘human nature’ is central to hortiflora. How humans intervene in nature and how the relationship between humans and nature evolves. In very concrete terms, this is also about the relationship between grass, flower and pedestal. ‘If it suits the work of art, we sometimes let the grass and flowers exceed the pedestal. Sometimes we do just the opposite,” says Annick Van Stevens of the urban green service.

In the hortiflora you will also discover a whole series of images that you had missed on the other side of the museum. Auguste Rodin’s ‘Balzac’, for example. Or ‘King and Queen’ by Henry Moore, which was on display last year at the MAS at the exhibition ‘Rare and indispensable.’ With a whole series of top works in a much greener environment than before, the innovation seems to work best here.

The other three themes are ‘movements’, ‘urban wilderness’ and ‘fusion’. ‘Urban wilderness’ is an interesting topic of discussion. How natural is a garden or park created by man? Should we properly maintain the urban greenery or let nature’s wilderness take its course? It ties in closely with the theme of ‘fusion’, where the coming together of man and nature is explored. There are always ‘movements’ in there. Every generation of artists and museum directors thinks differently about what art means and how it should be shown. You can say that the division into themes is a bit artificial because it is always about the triangular relationship between man, art and nature. It does provide the visitor with guidance to walk around in a more structured manner and to reflect more consciously on the works of art.

What is striking are the many empty places where statues used to stand. ‘These are zones where we hold temporary exhibitions. We are busy building the ‘Come Closer’ exhibition, which starts on June 7. It is a collaboration with deSingel, in which performances and sculptures dialogue with each other. When the exhibition is over in October, the empty spaces will be filled in again with mobile sculptures from the collection,” Weyns adds.