MIMA

About

The Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art (MIMA) was a contemporary art museum in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, a municipality of Brussels, Belgium. Privately owned and operated as a non-profit, it was founded in 2016 and housed in the former Belle-Vue Brewery at 41, quai du Hainaut/Henegouwenkaai, along the Brussels–Charleroi Canal. The museum closed permanently in 2025.

Opened on 15 April 2016, the museum was established in the former Belle-Vue Brewery, a four-storey building dating from 1916, located along the Brussels–Charleroi Canal in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean. The museum was privately financed at a cost of €18 million by the developer Jean-Paul Pütz, with contributions of artworks from seven collectors. It operated with an annual budget of around €600,000.

MIMA was directed by Alice van den Abeele and Raphaël Cruyt, who launched the project as a non-profit to address the lack of public contemporary art museums in Belgium. Over the years, the museum hosted 17 exhibitions and welcomed more than 400,000 visitors, showcasing artists such as Momo, FAILE, David Shrigley, Barry McGee, and, in its final exhibition, Vhils. Since 2021, a pedestrian footbridge over the canal has linked the museum directly to the City of Brussels ' side, improving access.

Despite earlier plans for expansion, the museum announced its closure in October 2024 after a sudden drop of over 50% in visitor numbers. The decline followed the unexpected closure of the Quai du Hainaut for repairs, cutting off road access to the museum. With the works estimated to last years, MIMA declared its operation "no longer viable". Two planned exhibitions were cancelled, and on 5 January 2025, the museum closed permanently following the final weekend of its Multitude exhibition.

- 15.04 – 24.12.2016: City Lights, artists: Maya Hayuk, Swoon, MOMO and FAILE

- 03.02 – 28.05.2017: A FRIENDLY TAKEOVER, artist: Boris Tellegen aka DELTA

- 23.06 – 31.12.2017: Art Is Comic, artists: Brecht Vandenbroucke, Mon Colonel & Spit, Brecht Evens, HuskMitNavn, Jean Jullien and Joan Cornellà

- 26.01 – 22.04.2018: Wonderland, artists: Akay and Olabo

- 09.05.2018 – 06.01.2019: Get Up Stand Up, exhibition of protest posters, curator: Michaël Lellouche, installation by Julio Le Parc : Strike the officers created in 1971

- 01.02 – 01.09.2019: Dream Box, artists: Felipe Pantone, Hell'O, Escif, Elzo Durt and Gogolplex

- 27.09.2019 – 05.01.2020: Obsessions, exhibitions of Art Brut in collaboration with La 'S' Grand Atelier

- 31.01.2020 – 03.01.2021: Zoo, artists: Parra, Pablo Dalas (FR), Egle Zvirblyte (LTU), Todd James (US), Russell Maurice (UK), MARTÍ SAWE (ES), Ryan Travis Christian (US), Rhys Lee (AUS), Finsta (SW), Laurent Impeduglia (BE), Jérémy Bobel (FR), Guillaume Fluzin (FR), Robin Divrande (FR), Paul Follezou (FR), Félix Reuter (FR) and Steven Harrington (US)

- 31.01 – 30.05.2021: Verisimilitude, artists: Félix Luque Sánchez in collaboration with Damien Gernay and Iñigo Bilbao Lopategui

- 26.06.2021 – 09.01.2022: Double Bill, exhibition of ABC porn cinema archives in collaboration with Cinéma Nova, Brussels, and exhibition of posters by the artist Laurent Durieux

- 04.02 – 29.05.2022: MIMA reload, exhibition of the museum collection

- 24.06.2022 – 08.01.2023: Invader Rubikcubist, artist: Invader

- 03.02 – 28.05.2023: Local Heroes, exhibition in the form of performance and introduction to boxing with fights organised in the museum. In partnership with the BBA and IBP clubs, artists: Rocio Alvarez, Dave Decat, Yannick Jacquet & Antoine Bertin, Edouard Valette, Christopher de Béthune and Kenza Vandeput-Taleb

- 31.06 – 31.12.2023: Jean Jullien: Studiolo, artist: Jean Jullien

- 02.02 – 26.05.2024: Popcorn, artists: Mrzyk et Moriceau, Pol-Edouard, Fabien Karp, Gary Card, Adèle Aproh, Elene Usdin, Michael Polakowski, Julien Colombier, Amandine Urruty, Delphine Somers, Antoine Carbonne, Davor Gromilovic, Nina Vandeweghe, Silio Durt

- 28.06.2024 – 05.01.2025: Multitude, artist: Vhils