Front cover:Miroir d’Époque Regency(Regency Period Mirror), 1973Marcel BroodthaersMuseum of Modern Art, Department of Eagles

Collection S.M.A.K., Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent

With special thanks to The Estate of Marcel Broodthaers

“Fiction enables us to grasp reality and at the same time that which is veiled by reality”– Marcel Broodthaers

The Museum of Modern Art, Department of Eagles was created in 1968 by Marcel Broodthaers. It was opened as a semi-fictional institution, with Broodthaers taking the role of ‘museum director’ just months after he participated alongside fellow artists and students in the occupation of the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels. A wave of demonstrations and occupations were happening across Europe and the World in 1968 due to the increase in social awareness of the population and the dissatisfaction towards the institutions and governmental policies that allowed events such as war, racial discrimination and the onslaught of global capitalism to happen.

The occupation of the Palais des Beaux Arts symbolised a re-claiming of institutional space and a contestation of state authority in Brussels. For Broodthaers and others, the focus of dissent was the museum (the Palais). Broodthaers had deliberately taken up the role of ‘artist’ four years earlier (he had previously been working as a poet and writer), and through the ‘museological’ format he found a way to both critique the institution and form a space to experiment with his own artistic ideas. The Museum was initially opened in Broodthaers’ house and studio, and had no permanent location. The image of an eagle acted as the emblem of the Museum and its Department of Eagles. There were 11 subsequent sections that included prints, signage, photography, drawings and many artefacts which were shown in various exhibitions and locations.

Arnolfini is presenting a selection of signage, door panels and photographic documentation from various sections of the Museum in Gallery 2, alongside Miroir d’Époche Regency (Regency Period Mirror), a large convex eagle mirror in Gallery 1.

MARCEL BROODTHAERS

MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, DEPARTMENT OF EAGLES

963

852

11 12

1314

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741

10

1. Museum enfants non admis

(Museum children not allowed)

1968

White background (84.4 x 121 cm)

Painted and pressed plastic panel

2. Service publicité

(Publicity Service)

1971

Light green background (84.5 x 121 cm)

Painted and pressed plastic panel

3. Service publicité

(Publicity Service)

1971

Dark green background (84.5 x 121 cm)

Painted and pressed plastic panel

4. Section littéraire fig 1.

(Literary Section fig.1)

1971

White background, red embossed

(87 x 121 cm)

Painted and pressed plastic panel

5. Département des aigles

(Department of Eagles)

1968

Gold background, black embossed

(84 x 121 cm)

Painted and pressed plastic panel

6. Section littéraire fig 2.

(Literary Section fig.2)

1971

White background, black embossed

(87 x 121 cm)

Painted and pressed plastic panel

7. Museum enfants non admis

(Museum children not allowed)

1968

Black background (84.4 x 121 cm)

Painted and pressed plastic panel

8. Service publicité

(Advertising Service)

1971

White background (84.5 x 121.5 cm)

Painted and pressed plastic panel

9. Département des aigles

(Department of Eagles)

1968

Red background, gold embossed

(84 x 121 cm)

Painted and pressed plastic panel

10. Section XVIIe siécle

(XII Century Section)

1970

(87.5 x 121.5 cm)

Painted and pressed plastic panel

11. Section XVIIe siécle

(XII Century Section)

1970

(87.5 x 121.5 cm)

Painted and pressed plastic panel

12. Section cinéma

(Cinema Section)

1970/1

White background, red and black

embossed (41.5 x 102 cm)

Painted and pressed plastic panel

13. Les portes du Musée, section XIXe siècle

(The doors of the Museum, 19th Century

Section)

1969

Black background (193 x 89 cm) x 2

Painted and pressed plastic panel

14. Les portes du Musée, section XIXe siècle

(The doors of the Museum, 19th Century

Section)

1969

White background (193 x 89 cm) x 2

Painted and pressed plastic panel

15. Section Documentaire du Musée d’art

Moderne, Département des aigles

(Documentary Section of the Museum

of Modern Art, Department of Eagles)

1969

(88 x 89cm)

16. Section Documentaire du Musée d’art

Moderne, Département des aigles

(Documentary Section of the Museum

of Modern Art, Department of Eagles)

1969

(100 x 78cm)

17. Museum-Museum

1972

(Two works, each 84 x 59.5cm)

18. Musée-Museum 1972

(Two works, each 50.5 x 75cm)

19. Section cinéma

(Cinema Section)

1970/1

White background, black embossed

(90 x 124.5 cm)

Painted and pressed plastic panel

List of Exhibits

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