Brussels’ Kanal-Pompidou museum − a major new arts complex built around a modernist former Citroen showroom – has unveiled its inaugural programme this week, 300 days before it is set to open to the public.
Billed as the largest new arts development in Europe, the museum will host 10 modern and contemporary exhibitions across five floors for its launch planned on November 28 − thanks in part to loans from key partner the Pompidou Centre in Paris.
Director-general Yves Goldstein told reporters it would be “a kind of patchwork of the questions a 21st-century museum should be taking on” − with a keynote inaugural exhibition about trade and migration entitled Truly Immense Journey.
Located on the bank of the Brussels canal, the museum aims to bridge what is generally viewed as a dividing line between the Belgian capitals prosperous southern districts and poorer, post-industrial neighbourhoods to the north.
“The dream is to attract people who never go to museums,” Goldstein said, as well as give the EU’s capital a modern and contemporary art museum, which it lacked until now despite its “thriving and dynamic arts scene”.
The size of six football pitches − making it almost as large as its Paris namesake − the complex will house a performance hall, a children’s play area, a bakery, a brasserie with canal-side terrace, a fine-dining restaurant and a rooftop with panoramic views of Brussels, as well as an architectural archive.
“The dream is to attract people who never go to museums”
A key feature is its use of the former Citroen garage, an emblematic example of 1930s architecture used by the carmaker as a vast showroom and acquired by museum developers in 2015.
According to spokesperson David Salomonowicz, the Kanal project represents an investment of €230 million, of which 80% to 90% has already been spent on construction works.
But a question mark hangs over its operational budget, with key backer the Brussels-Capital region bogged down in a political crisis ever since elections in mid-2024.
Coalition talks to form a regional government remain deadlocked, with a caretaker government in charge of current affairs and no parliamentary majority to pass a budget.
Kanal estimates it will need €30 million annually to operate the site, from staging exhibitions to staff costs, but it is far from clear whether that will get a political sign off − and developers are currently seeking additional private partners.
