IKOB International Art Centre East Belgium

The IKOB - Contemporary Art Museum is a museum in the German town of Eupen in Belgium. It was founded in 1993 by Francis IKOB Feidler, who held the lead until December 2012. Since January 2013, the management is in the hands of the doctorate art historian Maïté Vissault (* 1969). 2013 celebrates the IKOB its twentieth anniversary.

Exhibitions and collections

Through the sculpture exhibitions " Contact 93 " (1993, in which among others Guillaume Bijl, Jacques Charlier, Ann Veronica Janssens, Bernd Lohaus and Berlinde De Bruyckere participated ) and especially " Full barns " (1997) obtained the IKOB first international stir, since under the encouragement of Documenta organizer Manfred Schneckenburger renowned artists such as Tony Cragg, Ugo Dossi, Wolfgang Nestler, Maik and Dirk Löbbert or Marie Jo Lafontaine could be committed.

In 2000, the IKOB received permanent premises and since then organized temporary exhibitions at the international level. In 2005, from the IKOB - international art center Ostbelgien the IKOB - Museum of Contemporary Art. Since then, the IKOB is the only art museum in the German-speaking Community of Belgium.

The IKOB - Contemporary Art Museum sees itself as an agent of contemporary art, and thereby utilizes its exposed border location. In IKOB four temporary exhibitions a year, with those new trends in contemporary art are taught. In 2010 a et al the artist Ton Slits, Horst Keining, Alice Smeets, and the representative of Belgium on the international Venice Biennale in the Belgian Pavilion, Angel Vergara, from.

2011 showed the following IKOB artists in its exhibitions: Koen Vanmechelen, Jean -Marie Biwer, Thomas Brenner. In addition, the IKOB 2011 presented the IKOB Art Award, been nominated for the following artists: Tatjana Gerhard, Brigitte Reisz, Vera Hilger, Judith Krebbekx, Kati Heck. The international jury chose the winner Kati Heck. Since 2005, every three years up to 5000 euro doped IKOB Art Prize is awarded to young artists. The jury, under the presidency of Jan Hoet identified those born in Moers 1977 artist Stefanie Klingemann as first prize.

After the Museum Van Bommel Van Dam has the IKOB collection shown in Venlo 2008, 2012 the collection Van Bommel Van Dam was shown in IKOB. This was followed by an exhibition in the drawing in the center stood and presented the following artists: Luc Tuymans, Ronny Delrue, Kris Fierens, Anne -Mie van Kerckhoven, Katleen Vermeir, Roger Raveel and Philippe Vandenberg. As a prelude to the anniversary year 2013 presented the ikob - Museum of Contemporary Art, the world-renowned artist Jan Fabre from.

The first intervention of the new director of the ikob, Maïté Vissault, the exhibition held Bildungsroman of a collection. The 0-20 years look back at 20 years IKOB.

In the fall of 2013, the IKOB presented two artists at the same time: the German artist Paul Schwer (* 1951) and the Belgian Emmanuel Van der Auwera (* 1982). In January 2014, the exhibition was opened in ikob mirage. A thematic exhibition, the participating 17 artists: Ruben Bellinkx, Béatrice Balcou, Marcel Berlanger, Wim Catrysse, Koenraad Dedobbeleer, Andreas Maria Fohr, Katrin Kamrau, Isa Melsheimer, Nicolas Moulin, Benoît Plateus, Ulrike Rosenbach, Adrien Tirtiaux, Jacques VILLEGLÉ, Emmanuel Van der Auwera, Leon Vranken, Romain Van Wissen, Freek Wambacq. The exhibition is also the thematic introduction to the exhibition season 2014.

IKOB collection

In addition to the changing exhibitions represents the IKOB Museum since June 2010 larger exhibition space and a part of his own collection of: The ikob Collection - in progress. Since 2003, the IKOB builds its own collection, in which artists from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Luxembourg, such as Jacques Charlier, Förg, Johan Tahon, Denmark, Jan van Imschoot, Yves Zurstrassen, Joachim Bandau are represented.

The IKOB collection was also shown in 2008 at the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles in Brussels and in 2009 at the Museum Van Bommel Van Dam, Venlo.

Since June 2012, the IKOB presented as the first public institution Belgian a work of art the German Jonathan Meese, which is provided to the IKOB by a private collector as a loan.