From 13 April 2024, Musea Brugge presents the most urgent art exhibition of the moment: Rebel Garden. What is man's impact on nature, and how does it affect our environment? The ambitious expo breaks out of traditional museum walls and occupies no fewer than three museum sites. Old and contemporary art take a close look at the tumultuous relationship between man and nature and highlight the painful wound that is climate crisis.

The central theme "garden", which symbolises nurturing, creation and resistance, connects Rebel Garden's three sites: Groeninge Museum, Gruuthuse Museum and Museum Sint-Janshospitaal. Gardens are the local barometers of the state of the planet: they form part of our ideal living environment and, at the same time, a place of resistance where the effects of ecological change are becoming increasingly visible. An ideal starting point to test our complex relationship with nature.

Rebel Garden and its accompanying extensive public programme broach highly topical themes such as the effects of global warming, the sixth mass extinction and climate activism, man's symbiosis with nature and the relationship between artist and garden. A selection of artworks from our own collection introduces those themes and engages in debate with some recent works and creations. Works from our own collection by Roger Raveel, Emile Claus and Otobong Nkanga, amongst others, will be on display, but you can also expect top-notch work by over fifty contemporary artists such as Guillaume Bijl, Christine Ödlund, Giuseppe Penone, Rose Wylie and Per Kristian Nygård, whose garden sculpture is one of the eye-catchers of Rebel Garden on Gruuthuseplein.

The inner garden of the Groeninge Museum will be transformed into a rebellious guerrilla garden, where thought will also be given to the various functions of the future BRUSK garden, which will be created right next door within a few years. An edible garden, a picking forest, a green meeting place for inhabitants of Bruges and other visitors... A cocreative experiment in collaboration with the Applied Architecture students of Howest and coached by eco-entrepreneur Louis De Jaeger, to be visited permanently during Rebel Garden. Musea Brugge's latest expo is a must-see exhibition that is part of Triennial Bruges.

Participating artists: Allora & Calzadilla (USA & CUB), Vaughn Bell (USA), Joseph Beuys (DEU), Guillaume Bijl (BEL), Ross Bleckner (USA), Gillian Brett (FRA), Dorota Buczkowska (POL), Damien Cadio (FRA), Chih Chiu (TWN), David Claerbout (BEL), Christine Clinckx (BEL), Caroline Coolen (BEL), Peter De Cupere (BEL), Anuna De Wever (BEL), Daniël Dewaele (BEL), Lise Duclaux (FRA), Nick Ervinck (BEL), Tanya Goel (IND), Joanna Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige (LBN), Eckart Hahn (DEU), Paul Harfleet (GBR), Riitta Ikonen & Karoline Hjorth (FIN & NOR), Aki Inomata (JAP), Maartje Korstanje (NLD), Emilio López-Menchero (ESP), Thomas Maddens (BEL), Tony Matelli (USA), Monali Meher (IND), Wesley Meuris (BEL), Sofie Muller (BEL), Otobong Nkanga (NGA), Per Kristian Nygård (NOR), Christine Ödlund (SWE), Ronald Ophuis (NLD), Giuseppe Penone (ITA), Renée Pevernagie (BEL), Nayra Martín Reyes (ESP), Tomàs Saraceno (ARG), Pamela Singh (IND), Ben Sledsens (BEL), Howard Sooley (GBR), Daniel Steegman Magrané (ESP), Gavin Turk (GBR), Maarten Van den Eynde (BEL), Awoiska van der Molen (NLD), Helmut Wimmer (AUT), Tatiana Wolska (POL), Rose Wylie (GBR).

Maarten Vanden Eynde, Continental Drift, 2024 (photo: Philippe De Gobert)