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Hans Haacke
Kanal's Visitors Profile
As part of Protocols for opening the museum, Hans Haacke presents a new iteration of his longstanding artwork Visitors Poll (1970–2026). A pioneer of institutional critique, Haacke has spent six decades examining how museums reflect and shape social, political and economic realities by directly asking their audiences questions.
- As part of
- Protocols for opening the museum
- Date
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Throughout Kanal's inaugural year, visitors are invited to complete an anonymous multiple-choice survey on tablets installed near the ticket office. Their responses reveal the demographics, political views and socio-economic perspectives of the museum's emerging publics and are instantly visualised as live graphs in the space.
Haacke has revisited and updated the work for each presentation, adapting its questions to the specific political, social and institutional context in which it is shown. Visitors Poll creates a unique, live census of those entering the transformed Citroën garage for the first time, capturing a snapshot of Kanal's new audiences as the building opens as a museum and public space for Brussels.
This commission forms part of How to open, the first year of Protocols for opening the museum, a three-year inquiry into what it means for a new museum in Brussels to be truly open, welcoming and public.
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© Hans Haacke / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. -
© Hans Haacke / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. -
Installation view, Hans Haacke: Retrospective, Belvedere 21, Vienna, March 1 – June 9, 2024 © Johannes Stacher
Credits and bios
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