Brussels’s €230m Kanal Museum Nears Opening as Questions Grow over Its Future Funding

The Kanal museum, the first major institution for modern and contemporary art in Brussels, is due to open on 28 November 2026 in a converted Citroën garage, with 40,000 square metres of art, architecture and public space. But questions over how the €230m institution will pay its way, and the early exit of its managing director, are clouding the launch, The Art Newspaper reports.

The project has drawn criticism since a Socialist-led government announced it in 2013, not least over its tie-up with the Centre Pompidou, from which Kanal will borrow art during its opening five years for €2m annually.

A shrinking public budget

Managing director Yves Goldstein had planned to leave next spring, but under an agreement with Brussels minister-president Boris Dilliès he will now go on 30 November, straight after the opening weekend. A statement from the Brussels-Capital Region acknowledged a difference of opinion about the museum’s future.

The regional government, which reportedly lent the Kanal Foundation another €60m for construction this year, says private donors will have to step in from 2028. Public operating support of €28m in 2026 is projected to fall to €10m a year by 2029, and a government spokesperson said Kanal is expected to work more with private investors and eventually become self-sustaining. Critics such as regional assembly member Benjamin Dalle argue the museum was a top-down political project that Brussels cannot afford, and the Fédération des arts plastiques has called for the Pompidou partnership to end.

Half the building open for free

Artistic director Kasia Redzisz sees Kanal as a resource for one of Belgium’s least affluent districts. Around half of the 40,000 square metres, more than 20,000 square metres, will be free public space, including a playground by Turner Prize-winning collective Assemble, meeting areas and homework spaces. Exhibitions, commissions and performances will be spread over five floors and eight event spaces, with a library, workshop, rooftop bar and bakery.

More than 300 works will come from the Pompidou, and around 15 percent from Kanal’s own collection or Belgian lenders, including artists such as Ann Veronica Janssens and Sammy Baloji. A separate building devoted to architecture has been postponed after a rooftop fire in July. Redzisz expects 550,000 visitors a year by 2030.