Brussels. Officially, the opening of the future Kanal-Centre Pompidou Museum in Brussels is still scheduled for November 28, 2026. However, the consequences of the political impasse in which the Brussels Region is plunged could affect both the end of the work and the management of the future museum.
This pharaonic project of 42,000 m², which makes it the largest public museum complex in Europe, is the initiative of the Brussels Region which finances it entirely. Without a government and without a budget for more than 500 days, the Region is finding it increasingly difficult to pay the promised amounts.
The work, which began in 2019, was three and a half years late. The site was scheduled to open in 2023. Initially estimated at 150 million euros (studies and architects’ fees included), construction costs now amount, taking into account delays and inflation, to 230 million.
Today, the Region has released 180 million. Without intervention from the federal government or the Region, or external contribution to find 50 million, the project could be at a standstill due to lack of liquidity in a few months. In the agreement that unites them, the Center Pompidou’s contribution is in the form of loans of works and exhibitions.
But if the project ends, the thorny question of operating costs will still have to be resolved. In the initial project, these were estimated at 35 million annually. Aware of budgetary constraints, the Kanal foundation revised the bill to bring it down to 29 million.
The question of Kanal’s financing is on the menu of ongoing budgetary discussions for the formation of the future regional executive. Since the regional elections in June 2024, it is still the old team which manages day-to-day affairs. For a Region heavily in debt – to the tune of 240% of its annual revenue – it is a safe bet that Kanal-Centre Pompidou will have to, in one way or another, tighten its belt. Indiscretions from the previous round of negotiations reported the proposal from one of the partners, the Reform Movement (MR, center right), to reduce the allocation to 13 million per year.
A sum which covers exactly the operating costs of the building. In this scenario, the rest, that is to say the management of spaces and teams, should be taken care of by a private partner. Which amounts to developing a new operating model. Which cannot be improvised.
Lots of questions and hypotheses therefore, but for the team at the helm, given all the work already accomplished, stopping or going back is not possible. A press conference is planned for January 28 with presentation of the program of the first exhibitions.
Architect’s view of the exterior of Kanal.
© NOA / EM2N / SBA
