Kanal (museum)

Kanal, formerly KANAL – Centre Pompidou, is a museum for modern and contemporary art located in Brussels, Belgium, near the Brussels–Charleroi Canal, in the former Citroën Garage buildings. The opening is scheduled for 28 November 2026. During the renovations, the museum remains open at its temporary location K1, at 1, /.

History

Citroën Garage

Since 2018 Kanal has occupied the former Citroën Garage. The building was originally designed by , and , and build between 1933 and 1934, and modified in 1954 by Louis Hoebeke.

Prior to redevelopment, the garage was a was a , steel framed, glass clad building with a substantial showroom standing . The structure was roughly divided into three main areas: the Showroom, the workshops and the staff canteen and caretaker’s flat.

Founding Plans for a museum in the Citroën Garage were first proposed in 2014. The following year, on 29 October 2015 Brussels-Capital Region purchased the Citroën Garage from PSA Group for €20.5 million, with plans to transform it into a museum of modern and contemporary art. On 28 March 2017, the Urban Development Corporation (SAU-MSI) of the Brussels-Capital Region launched an international competition was launched to select an architect for the new museum. The jury selected a proposal, A Stage for Brussels by Atelier KANAL, a consortium of noAarchitecten, EM2N, and Sergison Bates architects. Their project integrated a museum of modern and contemporary art, CIVA (now Kanal Architecture), alongside and new public cultural, educational and leisure spaces.

On 29 September 2017 the KANAL Foundation was established, after receiving the go-ahead from the Brussels-Capital Region on 19 July 2017. After failing to obtain works from the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, the region negotiated a ten-year partnership with the Centre Pompidou, formally approved on 7 December 2017 and signed on 18 December 2017.

Pre-opening The site pre-opened on 5 May 2018 with an event called KANAL Brut, curated by Bernard Blistène. The fourteen-month programme included works from the Centre Pompidou collection and a film studio designed by Michel Gondry, alongside exhibitions, performances, workshops, and community events. KANAL Brut closed on 30 June 2019. From 24 September to 17 December 2020, the first part of It Never Ends, a solo exhibition by John Armleder, took place in the Showroom, followed by the second part from 4 February to 25 April 2021. During the exhibition, the rest of the building was closed as constuction works began, with planning permission obtained on 20 December 2020.

In December 2021, Kanal began leasing K1, located along the /, from the Port of Brussels. Allowing Kanal to continue it's activities on a smaller scale and maintain a public presence while the main site was closed. From 2022, the building was adapted and equipped to accommodate Kanal's activities, improving accessibility, and prepare it for the construction of the Beco Park. Kanal also began a partnership with the Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company as part of KANAL Underground, regurally exhibit works and installations at the Yser/IJzer meto station, located near the future museum.

Exhibitions

KANAL Brut From 5 May 2018 to 30 June 2019, KANAL Brut presented an experimental programme and exhibitions occupying the various spaces of the former garage. Experimentation was the guiding principle of this "brut" year. The initiative aimed to innovate, explore new ways of presenting different art forms, and discover approaches to make the space more accessible to a broader audience beyond the usual museum visitors, while simultaneously reimagining and opening up the museum environment.

Kanal (museum)

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