IKOB: Museum für Zeitgenössische Kunst Eupen

The IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art began as an idea of the artist, art teacher and subsequent museum director Francis Feidler. The institution was conceived as a center for border-transcending exhibitions out of which a later museum collection could be successively built up – augmented by purchases and loans, as well as by donations especially from exhibiting artists. The first milestones for the Eastern Belgian art center were the sculpture exhibition Kontakt 93 at the park facilities in Eupen as well as the project Volle Scheunen (with 12 installations respectively in the Ardennes and the Eifel), which was realized in collaboration with the former head of the Documenta Manfred Schneckenburger.

The IKOB established itself quite early on as an internationally oriented exhibition platform as well as a promoter of the regional art scene. Already back then, the special characteristic of how the museum would like to be perceived and how it operates lay in its active approach toward artists in the region. They were often featured in pioneering exhibitions shortly before they achieved an international breakthrough. These presentations gave rise to the collection of the institution, which meanwhile comprises more than 400 works. In 1999, the IKOB acquired a fixed domicile in a commercially used building near the old Schlachthof. In 2005, the collection received official recognition, and the International Art Center of Eastern Belgium was renamed the IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art.

The museum considers its proximity to international borders as a point of departure for serving as a cultural mediator between the various regions of Belgium and engaging in a fertile exchange with the artistic scenes in Germany and the Netherlands. Inasmuch as it invites visitors to investigate political, social and cultural developments in an informal atmosphere, it strives to make an active contribution to society – also in the framework of its exhibitions. In three to four large shows per year, the museum displays contemporary art in the best sense of the term, with the main exhibitions being accompanied by individual presentations of works from the permanent collection.

The IKOB, however, does not intend simply to organize and document contemporary art but instead, through the choice of themes and artists for its exhibitions, to discover and convey new artistic tendencies. Through a constant shifting of focus onto current themes that are handled by diverse artistic media, the museum moves in close contact with both the established and the up-and-coming art scenes. In 2018, the IKOB has celebrated the 25th anniversary of its founding; over the years, it has become a well-known name in the Euregio Maas-Rhine region.