The Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp or M HKA opens its new exhibition season today with a programme focused on censorship, artistic freedom and political expression. At the centre of the season is the international group exhibition we refuse_d, which brings together fifteen artists whose work explores resistance, persistence and the necessity of artistic expression.
Running from 13 March to 7 June 2026, the exhibition examines what it means to continue creating in circumstances marked by censorship, displacement and silenced voices. Developed through an ongoing dialogue between artists and curators, we refuse_d presents refusal not as withdrawal but as an active stance: an assertion of presence and autonomy through artistic practice.
The project also marks a moment of renewed stability for the Antwerp museum. In recent months, the institution was the subject of political debate after earlier proposals suggested it could lose its museum status as part of a restructuring of the Flemish museum landscape. Those plans have since been revised, and the museum is now presenting a new season featuring exhibitions, installations and international collaborations.
A platform for marginalised voices
we refuse_d brings together fifteen international artists who place refusal, persistence and action at the centre of their practice. Through installations, images, performances and other media, the exhibition explores themes including resistance, heritage, collective care, community and recovery.
Many of the participating artists have Palestinian backgrounds or address issues such as diaspora, censorship and political pressure. The exhibition features works by artists including Jumana Manna, Emily Jacir, Walid Raad, Khalil Rabah, and Taysir Batniji.
Other participating artists include Barış Doğrusöz, Nour Shantout, Samia Halaby, yasmine eid-sabbagh (with Tabara Korka Ndiaye and Ndeye Debo Seck), Oraib Toukan, DAAR (Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti), Abdul Hay Mosallam Zarara, Majd Abdelhamid, Dima Srouji, and Suha Shoman.
According to M HKA, the exhibition offers a platform for artistic voices that have been rejected, cancelled or marginalised in recent years. Several works have been difficult or impossible to present elsewhere, while others were newly commissioned for the project.
Curated by Nadia Radwan and Vasıf Kortun, the exhibition was originally realised by Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha in Qatar to mark its fifteenth anniversary, and is presented in Antwerp in collaboration with M HKA.
Art and museums in Antwerp
- ANTWERP | Climb the Cathedral of Our Lady tower.
- ANTWERP | Rubens House appoints two design teams.
- ROYAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS ANTWERP | ‘The Fall of Alba’s Citadel. Image and Memory in Turbulent Times’, from 6 February to 17 May 2026.
- Antwerp’s municipal museums surpass 2 million visitors in 2025.
- ANTWERP | KMSKA schedules ambitious exhibition programme for 2026, featuring international masters such as Antony Gormley, Philip Aguirre y Otegui and Ossip Zadkine.
- Museums of the City of Antwerp look ahead to 2026.
- ANTWERP | ‘Urban Legends’: three young makers take over Museum Mayer van den Bergh on 29 November, 6 December and 29 January.
- ANTWERP | ‘Suske & Wiske and the Visual Arts’: M HKA shows how a comic strip series Shapes the collective memory.
- REVIEW | ‘La ligne de vie’ René Magritte exhibition at Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA).
- REVIEW | ‘Universal Tongue’, on dance, at Museum Aan de Stroom (MAS) until 4 January 2026.
- 2028 to be Music Year in Antwerp.
- ANTWERP | Flemish government cancels €130 million new museum building for M HKA in Antwerp.
- MOMU | ‘GIRLS. On Boredom, Rebellion and Being In-Between’, 27 September 2025 to 1 February 2026.
- ANTWERP | Museum Plantin-Moretus highlights 300 years of women’s stories in ‘Women’s Business / Business Women’.
- ANTWERP | Museum Mayer van den Bergh opens exhibition ‘Public Favourites’, from Mad Meg to Delft Blue, look at art through other people’s eyes.
- ANTWERP | Middelheim Museum celebrates 75 years with a summer full of new ways to experience the art park.
- ANTWERP | ‘Compassion’ in the MAS: the many faces of compassion.
- ANTWERP | Graphics Museum De Reede ft. Francisco Goya, Edvard Munch, Félicien Rops and Albrecht Dürer.
- ANTWERP | Rubens Experience and Rubens Garden at Rubenshuis.
- ANTWERP | Innovations in the Middelheim Museum provide a completely new visitor experience.
- A visit of the Flemish Tram and Bus Museum – Vlaams Tram- en Autobusmuseum (VlaTAM) in Antwerp.
- ANTWERP | Discovering queer(ed) art with the Queer Tour at the KMSKA fine arts museum.
- REVIEW | Illusion Antwerpen, an active and photogenic museum.
- Antwerp museums and sports facilities team up with European Disability Card for accessible leisure activities.
- Museum Mayer van den Bergh.
- ANTWERP | Inside Rubens House.
- Museum Plantin-Moretus in Antwerp.
- ANTWERP | Museum Vleeshuis up for restoration.
- BOOK | ‘Antwerp. An Archaeological View on the Origin of the City’ by Tim Bellens.
- Red Star Line Museum.
- Paleis op de Meir.
- DIVA, Antwerp Home of Diamonds.
- ANTWERP | Red Star Line Museum of (e)migration.
