Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst

The Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, commonly abbreviated as S.M.A.K., is a museum of contemporary art in Ghent, Belgium. Located in the Citadelpark opposite the Museum of Fine Arts, it opened to the public on 7 May 1999 as the successor to earlier initiatives dating back to 1957. The museum has established itself as a significant institution for post-1945 art, known for both its permanent collection and its provocative exhibition program. Its holdings encompass major movements including Pop Art, Minimalism, Conceptual Art, and Arte Povera, with particular strength in Belgian and international contemporary art.

The origins of S.M.A.K. trace to 8 November 1957, when the Contemporary Art Museum Association (Vereniging voor het Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst) was established at the instigation of Karel Geirlandt, who became its first chairman. The association's purpose was to support the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent by acquiring and promoting contemporary art. In 1975, this led to the creation of the Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst, the first Belgian museum devoted exclusively to contemporary art, housed within the Museum of Fine Arts. Jan Hoet was appointed as its founding director.

The museum gained its own dedicated building in 1999 when it moved into a renovated casino structure in the Citadelpark, adopting the name Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst. Jan Hoet continued as director until his retirement on 1 December 2003. His successor, Peter Doroshenko, served only briefly and was dismissed after a one-year trial period, a decision that provoked considerable controversy. Artists and curators, led by Luc Tuymans, petitioned the board of directors fearing for the museum's future and independence. Though the dismissal was not reversed, organizational changes followed, including Jan Hoet relinquishing his seat on the board. Philippe Van Cauteren, who had worked alongside Hoet in 1999 and had since been active as an independent curator in Germany, was subsequently appointed artistic director. Philippe Vandenweghe serves as business director.

A major development was announced for 2025: the collection of the Antwerp museum MUHKA will move to S.M.A.K., which will become the new Flemish centre for contemporary and current art.

The S.M.A.K. collection concentrates on international developments in art after 1945, with particular emphasis on European modern art from 1950 to the present. The collection encompasses major postwar movements including CoBrA, Pop Art, Minimal Art, Conceptual Art, and Arte Povera. It holds works by internationally recognized artists such as Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Hanne Darboven, Thomas Schütte, Art & Language, David Hammons, Pascale Marthine Tayou, and Juan Muñoz, alongside significant Belgian figures including Panamarenko, Marcel Broodthaers, Thierry De Cordier, Hugo Debaere, Wim Delvoye, Jan Vercruysse, Jan Fabre, Koen Theys, Jan De Cock, Luc Tuymans, and Michaël Borremans.

The museum possesses one of the largest collections of Marcel Broodthaers, which is permanently displayed in the purpose-designed Broodthaerskabinet, opened in spring 2011, serving both exhibition and study functions. The collection has faced criticism regarding the infrequency of its display and concerns about preservation, prompting responses such as the 2010 exhibition 'Inside Installations' and subsequent collection presentations.

Among the signature works in the S.M.A.K. collection are several major installations and paintings. Joseph Beuys's Wirtschaftswerte and Ilya Kabakov's Die Toilette are significant installations in the holdings. Francis Bacon's Figure Sitting represents an important painting in the collection. Panamarenko's The Aeromodeller (1969-1971) is a notable work, and David Hammons is represented by what is described as his Hauptwerk Aeromodeller. Other significant pieces include Art & Language's Picasso's Guernica in the style of Jackson Pollock, and Marcel Broodthaers's Miroir d'epoque regency. The museum also holds works by Thomas Schütte and Juan Muñoz. On the roof of the museum building stands the sculpture De man die de wolken meet (1998) by Jan Fabre.

S.M.A.K. is housed in a building originally constructed as a casino in 1949, located in Ghent's Citadelpark. The structure was renovated and converted for museum use in 1999. Its placement directly opposite the Museum of Fine Arts creates a distinctive museum pairing within the park, a configuration that has been described as a singular binomial museum site. Since 2020, this cultural cluster has been further complemented by GUM & Plantentuin. The museum's location in the Citadelpark places it within a concentrated cultural district in Ghent.

The Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst is located in Ghent, Belgium, within the Citadelpark. Its official website is https://smak.be/, which provides information in Dutch, French, and English. The museum operates as a recognized cultural institution (Erkend museum) under the joint directorship of Philippe Van Cauteren as artistic director and Philippe Vandenweghe as business director. The museum continues to organize temporary exhibitions alongside its permanent collection displays, with past notable exhibitions including solo presentations of artists such as Jef Geys, Lili Dujourie, Larry Sultan, Joris Ghekiere, Kader Attia, Imi Knoebel, Christoph Buchel, Gerhard Richter, Raoul De Keyser, Rinus Van de Velde, and Lee Kit. In 2019, the museum marked its twentieth anniversary with a comprehensive collection display throughout the entire building, the first such presentation since its establishment.