As part of ‘Antwerp Baroque 2018: Rubens as an inspiration’, MAS welcomed the photographer and artist Athos Burez. With 30 images and installations, he shared his own unique and contemporary view on different genres from the style period: still lifes, portraits, landscapes and interiors.
CLOSED - "The corner shop" highlighted the colourful history of Antwerp's shops and shopkeepers in the MAS boulevard. MAS asked photographer Sanne De Wilde to find out more about the people who run local shops in the city today. The result was a colourful and diverse portrait series. Combined with old photos, the exhibition showed the human face behind the corner shops of the city since the Fifties.
The Antwerp Hand biscuits are the most well-known tourist souvenir from the city. In the MAS collection, we find many packagings of the biscuits. However, behind the scenes of the little biscuit, there is more than one story to tell.
At the request of the city of Antwerp, the Antwerp artist Guillaume Bijl created the artwork Saluting Admiral Couple for the fifth anniversary of the MAS. The work gives the monumental building a playful and surprising touch.
MAS strives to be as accessible and inclusive a place as possible. How do we welcome less mobile visitors, people with hearing or visual impairments, or those with autism spectrum disorders?
In 2024, we selected a dental collection to perform a valuation on. There was no knowledge within the MAS about the provenance and history of this collection. It was not clear whether these objects had a place within the collection plan.
In 1873, the Antwerp Museum of Antiquities purchased a 16th-century retable of the Averbode Abbey, depicting the Lamentation of Christ. 150 years later, it is given on long-term loan to the abbey and thus returns home.
Along the frayed fault line between the city and port lies a raw and rusty area. For many Antwerp residents, this represents a blind spot on the map. However, this area oozes history linked to the once bustling in-city port.
