In Wilrijk, the Middelheimmuseum is located. A rather large sculpture park with where ‘the sculptural’ is being reinvented. Besides, the educational programs offered and the commission based creations in public space they support, the institution is responsible for the active conservation of the full collection of public art in Antwerp. They reach towards the outside instead of remaining in between its own boarders. The Middelheimmuseum actively searches for a dialogue with the outer city, something clearly indicated in their last exhibition ‘experience traps’. Hinting towards baroque, ‘experience traps’ addresses your senses and the social function of the park. This expo needs to be framed in the overlapping festival Antwerp Baroque 2018, where motives from Baroque are centralized, such as here the aspect of commissioned artworks, the ‘garden’ and the highlighting of the visitor as experiencer are overly baroque. In the city park of Antwerp the museum finds is presence as well with an empty pedestal. Every year two artists are invited to place there works on this platform and temporarily relate to this green area of the city.
