The MACS

The Wallonia-Brussels Federation Museum of Contemporary Arts (MACS) opened in 2002 at the former Grand-Hornu colliery (a UNESCO World Industrial Heritage site). The museum, and the Centre for Innovation and Design (CID), form an important cultural hub showcasing the contemporary arts across a broad range of disciplines.

In addition to its superb permanent collection of some 450 works, the museum presents an extensive, internationally acclaimed programme of events, ranging from solo exhibitions (Tony Oursler, Anish Kapoor, Christian Boltanski, etc.) to themed group shows  (Sisyphus, Daybreak; S.F. Art, science & fiction; Rebel Rebel, Art + Rock, etc.). 

MACS also offers an ambitious programme of artists’ residencies, culminating in site-specific works that explore the theme of memory, an important, perennial strand in the museum’s cultural programme. In 2017, American artist LaToya Ruby Frazier produced a major photographic history of Le Grand-Hornu’s mine-workers. In 2019, Dutch artist Fiona Tan explored the archives of the utopian thinker Paul Otlet, at the Mundaneum. 

MACS is committed to pro-active cultural mediation, with a publishing programme of books and limited-edition lithographs.