Agenda: museums and exhibitions, food and drinks, maritime and nightlife in Ostend
Ensor Dreams of mother-of-pearl
This new Ensor presentation consists almost exclusively of paintings and drawings from the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. With 38 paintings and some 650 drawings, the museum not only has the largest, but also the very best Ensor collection.
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New at Mu.ZEE: The Raoul Servais Wing
Raoul Servais (born 1 May 1928, Ostend) is a renowned animation filmmaker. In the early 1950s he studied applied arts at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent (KASK). Servais painted and drew, and was very active in graphics too, but from the beginning his heart was always in animation films. The artist had neither experience nor financial means, but his curiosity and drive were enormous. In 1960 he was able to start work as a teacher at KASK, where he developed the first animated film course in Europe. In total, he made sixteen animated films. Between Havenlicht (Harbour Light, 1960) and Tank (2015) there is a gigantic evolution in style and technique. With each new film production, you feel his curiosity for new and hitherto unknown ways of creating imagery and atmosphere. Raoul Servais has won many international film prizes, such as the Palme d’Or in Cannes (Operation X-70, 1971 & Harpya, 1979) and the Primo Premio in Venice (Chromophobia, 1966). Servais’s love of animation is a shared love. As of summer 2018, it can be enjoyed on a permanent basis in the Raoul Servais Wing of Mu.ZEE. A large selection of original documents, (cellophane) drawings and films will have a permanent place there. This wing of the museum is not intended to be the end destination for the rich oeuvre of this star of the film industry, but a new start, an inspiring place for young filmmakers.
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An unfinished symphony. Polyphony in the collection.
Mu.ZEE launched a collection valuation process in November 2018. Mu.ZEE employees thoroughly went through and examined part of the museum’s collection in collaboration with various partners in the socio-cultural field. The significance of the collection and how various works of art are of value to the museum were reflected on and contemplated. In the autumn of 2019, Mu.ZEE will review the outcomes of this participatory project. The results achieved will be presented at an exhibition that provides a splendid perspective into the museum's activities and collection, along with a host of new issues and rationales that sweep the public along on a journey through Mu.ZEE’s history and its future. What does it mean to value a collection? Which criteria do we adopt during this type of valuation process? What do we know and how should we proceed? The museum's mission and vision are what shape the theoretical framework of the valuation project. As a museum of modern and contemporary art in Belgium, we have a role to play in society. By valuing our works of art, we imbue these creations with meaning and contextualise them. We raise awareness about our artworks and attempt to come up with new interpretations and connections that we can present to visitors through exhibitions and digital access to the collection. On the one hand, our valuation was carried out by an internal valuations team, while on the other, Mu.ZEE relied on an external sounding board that is part of its broader network. We are interested in telling you about the participatory approach we adopted for this pilot project. But above all, we would like to invite you personally to help us value a work of art or an ensemble. Because valuation isn't just the task of a single person...
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Vincent Meessen & Samson Kambalu - History without a past
May 1968 is usually associated with uprisings and the student riots in Paris. Yet there was much more going on, and not only in the West. Protests were erupting all over the world, like a polyphonic scream that things must change. A ‘revolution’ was needed and one of the most striking voices belonged to the Situationists. This international avant-garde movement was strongly opposed to the prevailing consumer society and used all kinds of propagandistic strategies such as manifestos, pamphlets, films, slogans and public actions to ignite that revolution. Vincent Meessen and Samson Kambalu bring the movement’s approach and its resonance in contemporary society together in History Without A Past. The seed for this exhibition was planted – unconsciously – during the Venice Biennale of 2015, in which both artists presented work inspired by this international avant-garde movement. Samson Kambalu is a researcher, author, filmmaker and above all a visual artist. His films and installations reveal a profound interest in mixing and blurring different cultures and histories. With his multidisciplinary installations and videos, Vincent Meessen aims to feed our Eurocentric view of history with new and polyphonic insights. In History Without A Past, they both gather stories that originated in the margins. History is usually written by victors. What is handed down is a mere construction, based on selection and interpretation. The position of the historian holding the pen is of equal importance. The past isn’t something that we leave behind. Its interpretation, however, is a task that lies before us. Here, too, several histories emerge that are usually told in isolation. Meessen and Kambalu invite us to wander through the past and to feed it back into the present. Along the way we become acquainted with a number of fascinating figures, whose significance is rewritten according to the dialogue they enter into with each other and also with us, the visitors.
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Panamarenko and his contemporaries - "Learn to imitate the flight of birds"
Panamarenko and his contemporaries: Joseph Beuys, Marcel Broodthaers, Jef Geys, Hugo Heyrman, Bernd Lohaus & Bruce Nauman Panamarenko (1940-2019). A retrospective is being arranged in Antwerp, his hometown, and a number of Belgian museums will also be going the extra mile to highlight Panamarenko in 2020. Mu.ZEE keeps several of the artist's most renowned works and is displaying a selection of these in the Learn to imitate the flight of birds exhibition, in dialogue with works by Joseph Beuys, Marcel Broodthaers, Jef Geys, Hugo Heyrman, Bernd Lohaus and Bruce Nauman, among others.
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Museum Amandine
April 3rd 1995. On this day the Amandine entered Oostende harbour for the last time. On this day it dropped anchor for the very last time. The crew disembarked, swallowed hard and went home without looking back. The last page in Oostende's book on Iceland Fishing had been turned. Now, 13 years later, the Amandine has started her second career, a career as an interactive museum. It has taken two years of hard and concentrated work in the old shipyard 'Seghers' to restore the...
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Ostend City Museum
The museum tells you Ostend’s fascinating life story and also casts light on its future. A host of objects, posters, documents and multimedia applications reveal the secrets behind the development of the city, its tourism, fishing industry and shipping. Discover the Ostend of former times and the most famous resident of the premises, Louise-Marie, the first Belgian queen. She shows a strong presence, and even has her say.
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Mercator
Arctic traveller Adrien de Gerlache designed this three-master which was built in Scotland. The Mercator had only two commanders and made 54 voyages. In 1956 it repatriated the remains of Father Damien from Molokai. In 1960, it sailed into the harbour of Antwerp and in 1961, it was equipped as a museum ship. Since 1964, it has been the pearl in Ostend’s crown. Like to visit this attraction at a discount? Print your free Coast Pass now on www.kustpas.be/home/register
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Visit the windfarm
Ship and visit the first Belgian offshore wind farm at sea!During the trip a guide immerses you in coastal shipping and port signaling, various buoys and beacons to the exploration of marine birds and marine mammals to crossing the international shipping route. The ultimate goal the wind farm on the Thornton Bank, some 30km outside the coastline.You have the possibility of taking photographs or filming and afterwards acquires a completely different perspective on the North Sea .... A unique...
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