Art for Remembrance

In the European cooperation programme Art for Remembrance, partners from 15 countries explore the role contemporary art can play in reflecting on conflicts in Europe, both contemporary conflicts and those from the past. Several partners start with examples from their own practice as museum, art gallery, university or centre for conflict mediation. The IFFM has been working on a programme with resident artists for 22 years. In the middle of the museum's permanent exhibition, surrounded by images, objects and stories from the First World War, each artist creates a new work that expresses his or her vision on conflict(s). The new work does not have to be about the First World War, but the context makes it very present, so that many artists take WWI as a subject or at least touch upon it in their work.

Project contributions by IFFM:

On 2 July 2021, during a webinar on the Artists in Residence (1999-2021), former director Piet Chielens and staff member Dominiek Dendooven assessed the impact of these artistic interventions on the museum's general public.

On 23 September 2021, there was a public evening with Sammy Baloji (Artist in Residence 2021) and Odette Kudjabo (granddaughter of Albert Kudjabo, one of the Congolese who fought in the Belgian army during the war and was made prisoner of war).

On 24 September 2021, a Field Trip in West-Flanders looked at how art can work in the contemporary landscape of war memory.