Brussels. On January 5, 2025, the Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art (Mima) closed its doors after nine years of existence, 17 exhibitions and more than 400,000 visitors. The Mima, located in the walls of a former brewery, in the Brussels commune of Molenbeek, was often identified as the street art museum. Its director, however, prefers to present it as the expression of today’s artists from all forms of alternative visual culture, from urban frescoes, to comics, video games, advertising, illustration and even tattooing. The reason given for the closure is surprising: due to the instability of a bridge, the main access road to the museum along the canal had to be closed to vehicles pending repair, resulting in a fall drastic increase in attendance.
“When I explain to foreign artists scheduled for 2025 that their exhibition is falling because of a road problem which will take five to six years to be repaired, there is an absurd side”recognizes Raphaël Cruyt, co-founder and director of the museum. One of the reasons for this brutal decision is to be found in the museum’s particular financing model, which was set up without public support. “Our desire was to have a museum that reaches the widest possible audience with an economic model based on attendance. If the public supports the project by paying their ticket, then we have a reason to exist and we continue, otherwise we close. »
Thus, 50% of the financing came from the ticket office, 15% from a crowdfunding annual and 35% from non-structural subsidies and private partners. Added to this was the help of three patrons who each granted a loan of 200,000 euros for the start-up and participated, each to the tune of 150,000 euros, in the purchase of a collection of which they are partial owners.
It was therefore a fragile model with a light structure which only employed five full-time people apart from the four founders. The Mima occupied a niche that no other museum occupies. As the artists are often little known to a large part of the public, the scenography was designed to draw visitors, including the youngest, into the exhibitions from the moment they enter. The public, mainly from Brussels, responded to the proposal, thus attracting between 40,000 and 60,000 visitors per exhibition.
Just before the first announcement of future road works, the Mima had signed an agreement with the owner for an extension in order to have additional space to host privatized events and generate income.
Faced with the absence of a work schedule, management quickly realized that the situation was far from temporary. “This made it impossible to imagine a transition situation. Without the prospect of a return to normal, we could give up on expansion and the revenue generated, which would undermine our fragile model. »
The announcement of the closure aroused a movement of sympathy from the public, which caused a larger crowd in recent weeks. On the side of the municipal or regional authorities, on the other hand, we were silent in all languages. “It’s not as if we had been the victim of a natural disaster, all of this is the result of the complexity of the institutions. No one is responsible but everyone has something to say, and this shows the impossibility of reacting in an emergency situation. »
The founders are now looking for a new location with a surface area of at least 1,000 m2, like the one they occupied along the canal, with a space designed to allow the public to circulate and extend the visit. A decision will have to be made by February, or even March, to consider continuing the adventure. But a new location will in any case be synonymous with a new project and a new financing model.
Raphaël Cruyt is also co-founder of the Alice gallery which will move from the city center to the town of Ixelles to take over the walls of the former Albert Baronian gallery which is closing the curtain after more than fifty years of artistic activity .
