{"id":260863,"date":"2026-01-31T10:51:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T10:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/260863\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T10:51:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T10:51:18","slug":"inside-europes-new-art-gallery-taking-on-the-tate-and-the-guggenheim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/260863\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Europe\u2019s new art gallery taking on the Tate and the Guggenheim"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bigger than London\u2019s Tate Modern or Bilbao\u2019s Guggenheim, the long-awaited Kanal-Centre Pompidou is on track to put Brussels on the map for modern and contemporary art when it opens in November.<\/p>\n

True to its modernist spirit, however, the museum is not without controversy. <\/p>\n

Housed in a former Citro\u00ebn car showroom and factory in one of the Belgian capital\u2019s roughest districts, the new arts complex will cover 40,000 square metres (430,560 sq ft) in a giant building of soaring steel, glass and light. <\/p>\n

The financial scale is what has prompted an outcry. The bill for the Belgian taxpayer is \u20ac230 million (\u00a3199 million) and the museum\u2019s future was threatened by political rows over whether art \u2014 and modern art in particular \u2014 was worth the cost.<\/p>\n

Yves Goldstein, the museum\u2019s director, is convinced that it is. \u201cKanal is a win, win, win, win, win project,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The museum will save an architectural art-deco landmark from 1934, conserving the \u201clegacy and heritage\u201d of modernist Brussels, Goldstein said. Located next to an industrial canal, it will be a jewel in the city\u2019s northern quarter which is scarred by \u201cBrusselisation\u201d, a blight caused by the city\u2019s planners who have recklessly destroyed old buildings for ugly new edifices such as those in the EU district.<\/p>\n

\u201cArt is the most exceptional force of emancipation,\u201d Goldstein, 48, who is Brussels-born and bred, said. And, while many thought the museum\u2019s creation was a quixotic battle against the odds, his view has prevailed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a project of this scale didn\u2019t create some polemic, criticism and discussions it would be much more negative than positive. Since the very beginning, I like the idea that this project has to be discussed. It\u2019s public funding. It\u2019s a democratic debate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Inside Kanal-Centre Pompidou<\/p>\n

ERIC DE MILDT FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

In an age of unhinged geopolitics and poisonous identity politics where screens and AI seem omnipresent, Goldstein asked: \u201cWhat is the point of Kanal?\u201d <\/p>\n

The answer? \u201cEverything and nothing,\u201d he wrote in a statement reminiscent of the modernist manifestos of the last century. \u201cEverything because the world needs imagination, dreams and escape, now more than ever. Nothing, if this is not defended.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kanal is not a mere offshoot of the Paris Pompidou Centre but is leaning on the expertise and loans from the established modern art museum with a five-year partnership while it builds up its own collection.<\/p>\n

It will open with ten exhibitions. A highlight will be A truly immense journey, with 350 works, mainly from the Pompidou, including Piet Mondrian<\/a>\u2019s 1937 painting Composition in red, white and blue II.<\/p>\n

\"Piet<\/p>\n

Piet Mondrian, \u201cComposition en rouge, bleu et blanc II\u201d<\/p>\n

ALAMY<\/p>\n

It will also show Danse serpentine, a film from 1899, as well as Henri Cartier-Bresson<\/a>\u2019s playful 1961 photograph of Alberto Giacometti, whose sculptures will also be included.<\/p>\n

A host of works by Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Kader Attia, Lygia Clark, Marcel Broodthaers, Sonia Delaunay and others will, it is expected, pull in the crowds when Kanal opens on November 28.<\/p>\n

Another exhibition, An infinite woman, will explore the images and legacy of La Croisi\u00e8re Noire, or Black Cruise, a motoring expedition, sponsored by Citro\u00ebn, that crossed the African continent in 1925.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

Henri Cartier-Bresson\u2019s photograph of Alberto Giacometti, the Swiss sculptor<\/p>\n

ALAMY<\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/p>\n

Femme nue au bonnet turc, by Pablo Picasso<\/p>\n

ALAMY<\/p>\n

Princess Nobosodrou, a Mangbetu woman from northeastern Congo, photographed topless and in profile, became the campaign image of the car tour, an \u201cethnographic fetish\u201d, according to the museum\u2019s programme, that became a \u201cpre-internet meme\u201d through postcards, magazines and films of the day.<\/p>\n

Unusually for a continental museum, 20,000 sq m of Kanal will be free to access as a public space, including a 700 sq m indoor children\u2019s playground designed by the Turner prize-winning British architecture collective Assemble.<\/a> It will also include a bakery, brasserie, a rooftop bar and restaurant.<\/p>\n

The former Citro\u00ebn showroom, transformed by architects from Brussels, Zurich and London\u2019s Sergison Bates, is almost certain to become a cultural mecca for modernists, like the Tate Modern\u2019s former power station.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

The Sitter by Barbara Walker is being lent by Tate Modern<\/p>\n

ALAMY<\/p>\n

True to its retro-modern approach there will be no digital or electronic screens in the museum unless artists are using film or other digital media. Instead there will be a big print room, also used to train school children in writing and design, that will produce all Kanal\u2019s signage, flyers, posters, booklets and museum guides.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is, for me, one of the most important things,\u201d Goldstein said. \u201cHow do we get the young generation back to paper and a pen instead of screens?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bigger than London\u2019s Tate Modern or Bilbao\u2019s Guggenheim, the long-awaited Kanal-Centre Pompidou is on track to put Brussels…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-260863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}