Museums in Brussels and Flanders are preparing events and sessions as part of "Slow Art Day" on Saturday 13 April. In the capital, Bozar will offer guided tours of an exhibit titled 'Histoire de ne pas rire. Surrealism in Belgium'.
The occasion celebrates 100 years of surrealism, marking the publication of André Breton's Manifesto of Surrealism in November 1924.
The tour will follow a route designed so that participants enjoy the exhibits at a slower pace. The museum’s website states that on average, people spend approximately 28.63 seconds viewing an art piece. Bozar encourages the public to change this by taking time to engage more deeply with a smaller number of works. Visitors are guided through mindfulness exercises that aim to promote deeper engagement with the works and share the experience with others.
The exhibition includes works by René Magritte, Paul Nougé, Jane Graverol, Marcel Mariën, Rachel Baes, Leo Dohmen, Paul Delvaux, Max Ernst, Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dalí, Giorgio De Chirico.
"Slow Art Day" is an initiative launched in New York in 2008 to change how people visit art galleries. It promotes a less hurried approach to seeing art where visitors devote a greater length of time to just a selection of pieces on display. The movement has since expanded to ten Belgian museums and some churches.
Other participating institutions include the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (KMSKA) and the S.M.A.K. in Ghent.
