A Line Crossed: A Sector United Against the Dismantling of Culture and Heritage
25 November 2025 - 12:30 pm – MissionOn Tuesday, November 25, an intersectoral protest took place at Kon. Astridplein in Antwerp, where artists, workers, and cultural professionals stood together in resistance. During this rally, a powerful speech was delivered on behalf of M HKA and Museum at Risk, sharply criticizing the dismantling of M HKA and the undermining of the cultural sector.
Colleagues, comrades,
Today, we all stand here because a line has been crossed. Because this government is pursuing policies that do not just target our sector, but undermine the very foundations of a solidarity-based society.
I speak to you today from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp and from Museum at Risk, but in reality, I speak on behalf of an entire sector under pressure.
And we—workers, artists, museums, libraries, archives, cultural centers—will not stand idly by.
The plans of this government are not a technical adjustment. They are not an optimization. Let’s call it what it is: It is demolition. The abolition of the museum function at M HKA and its replacement with a stripped-down structure—without a scientific core, without sufficient staff or budgets—is a disgrace. What remains will not be a strengthening, but a hollowing out of a vital part of the contemporary art landscape.
Caroline Gennez claims that abolishing a museum will strengthen the museum sector, but what is sold as an ambition to improve collaboration is, in reality, nothing more than brutal austerity—the result of a divide-and-rule policy, pitting cities and cultural institutions against each other in a fight for the same scarce resources.
And while major cities worldwide with international prestige are fighting to preserve, strengthen, and establish museums, this government simply abolishes ours. Bart De Wever smiles in the press at the openings of newly built museums abroad, yet fails to support the very heritage sector in his own country.
Who pays the price? Our colleagues. Employees who have spent years building expertise. People who care for collections, research, safety, education, and accessibility. People who, year after year, do more with less. Now, they are presented with the bill: uncertainty, cuts, restructuring, job losses.
Culture is not a luxury. Culture is not a left-wing playground. Culture is a public service that connects and shapes our future.
For some time now, cultural workers and artists under the banner of Museum at Risk have been joining forces to fight the dismantling of our museum landscape. Together, they have drawn up four demands, which M HKA fully endorses and which I would like to repeat here:
1 - We want a Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp.
2 - A Museum of Contemporary Art has a Collection.
3 - A Museum of Contemporary Art of international standing requires appropriate infrastructure and funding.
4 - We demand a voice and co-decision rights in the reform of Flemish museums.
But this is not just about one institution. What is happening at M HKA today could happen anywhere else tomorrow—in libraries, archives, cultural centers, museums across Flanders. It is a signal of a broader strategy: a social and cultural dismantling that affects the entire sector.
That is why we stand here together. Because we will not be divided. As a field, as a sector, as workers, we are stronger together. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.
We demand that the government protect our heritage, respect its employees, and invest in the society it claims to serve.
We will continue to resist. For our colleagues. For our heritage. For our sector. For a society that is built up, not stripped down.
Thank you.
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