The Fifth Estate: On Museums, Public Imagination, and the Vanishing Space for Collectivity (A Report from Flanders, Belgium), Part 2

In this wide ranging essay, written in the context of the Flemish government's announcement to redraw the Flemish museological landscape, curators Philippe Pirotte and Els Silvrants-Barclay reflect on the status of the museum in today's political climate. Lamenting the current appetite for managerialism and efficiency they call for a recognition of the vital and generative relations between collections, contemporary art, place and collective imagination. The essay was written by Pirotte in conversation with Silvrants-Barclay. The Dutch text was translated to English by Charles Esche.