M HKA gaat digitaal

Met M HKA Ensembles zetten we onze eerste échte stappen in het digitale landschap. Ons doel is met behulp van nieuwe media de kunstwerken nog beter te kaderen dan we tot nu toe hebben kunnen doen.

We geven momenteel prioriteit aan smartphones en tablets, m.a.w. de in-museum-ervaring. Maar we zijn evenzeer hard aan het werk aan een veelzijdige desktop-versie. Tot het zover is vind je hier deze tussenversie.

M HKA goes digital

Embracing the possibilities of new media, M HKA is making a particular effort to share its knowledge and give art the framework it deserves.

We are currently focusing on the experience in the museum with this application for smartphones and tablets. In the future this will also lead to a versatile desktop version, which is now still in its construction phase.

Exhibition: A NON-U-MENTAL HISTORY OF M HKA – Part 2: What must be heard

M HKA, Antwerp

11 September 2021 - 09 January 2022

image: © Laurie Anderson

As part of an ongoing reflection on the origins and identity of the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA), a series of exhibitions brings to light different aspects of its history, particularly around its predecessor institution, the International Cultural Centre (ICC). The ICC, founded in 1969 and closed in 1998, was the first institution for contemporary art in Flanders, housed in the imposing Royal Palace in the centre of Antwerp. At a time when traditional museums did not meet the needs of contemporary art in the 1970s and 1980s, the ICC offered a platform for the production and presentation of various disciplines and crossovers between different art forms. The program focused on local and international contemporary artists, and many conceptual artists and their installations were exhibited there.

 

The second part of this programme is devoted to sound art. In performances and concerts at ICC, artists have explored the possibilities of sound as a complement to their visual practices. Here, these experiments are presented in an installation that includes musical instruments, sound recordings, video recordings, and documentation by artists such as Vito Acconci, Laurie Anderson, Connie Beckley, Jacques Charlier, Maurizio Nannucci, Charlemagne Palestine, George Smits, Ben Vautier, and Bernard Villers.

 

Our interest in sound and its manipulation is as old as humanity itself. Before the appearance of the first recording devices (the phonograph was invented in the 19th century), it was impossible to record a sound and play it back. In order to transmit or replay their pieces, composers signed annotated scores and poets wrote their texts according to a series of rules, producing a certain cadence. Now, decades later, we present works from our collection by some of the avant-garde who used typography to represent rhythm, tone, and intonation. These artists pioneered a discipline that skillfully combines multiple media, where the use of sound resides within the world of visual art more than music.

 

"My hope for a project in Antwerp would be to make a 'non-u-mental' work that the city could enjoy for some time after its completion."

(Gordon Matta-Clark in a letter to Flor Bex, 1976)

 

This presentation is part of a larger programme highlighting artists associated with ICC via their works, which now belong to the M HKA collection. We revisit ICC programming through the centre’s archives— currently managed by M HKA—in a series that continues to reflect upon the museum in a "non-u-mental" way. Concerned less with monumentality than with deepening our understanding of the infinitesimal, this “non-u-mental” method also provides a constant potential for (re)discovery.

 

3D Scan:
Please enjoy the 3D scan of the presentation here.


First presentation: A NON-U-MENTAL HISTORY OF M HKA – Part 1: Foundation Gordon Matta-Clark
Third presentation: A NON-U-MENTAL HISTORY OF M HKA – Part 3: Classical Rewind - M HKA Ensembles

Hide this description

Media

>Laurie Anderson, performance at the ICC Antwerp, May 8th 1979

>View of the exhibition

>View of the exhibition

>View of the exhibition

>Postcard A NON-U-MENTAL HISTORY OF M HKA – Part 2: What must be heard

>Floor plan

>Floor plan

ArtistsShow works

> Paul De Vree.

> Vito Acconci.

> Jacques Charlier.

> Henri Chopin.

> Maurizio Nannucci.

> Alain Arias-Misson.

> Luciano Ori.

> Bernard Villers.

> Laurie Anderson.

Storytelling (recounting your day over dinner), putting on play

> Ian Hamilton Finlay.

> Charlemagne Palestine.

> Ben.

Ben Vautier: C’est le coura

> Hans Clavin.

> George Smits.

> Christina Kubisch.

> Connie Beckley.

> Giuseppe Chiari.

> Jana Haimsohn.