QUEER GRAPHICS
In a special exhibition highlighting the visual language synonymous with commitment, celebration and activism in the Belgian capital’s LGTBQI+ communities, Design Museum Brussels traces iconic queer graphic design from the 1950s to the present day.
The theme was chosen to honour two anniversaries: the 70th anniversary of the creation of the Centre Culturel Belge, the first queer grouping in Belgium, and the 20th anniversary of the extension of civil marriage rights to same-sex couples.
Brussels’ queer communities have used graphics over the decades to develop a language unique unto themselves, with a visual grammar that signals their presence and their commitment to a set of shared principles, identities and values.
Between struggle and celebration, unrest and compromise, these graphic designs have provided an alternative form of community amid a society that still so often rejects its most vulnerable groups.
Until November 5, 2023
Monday to Sunday from 11am to 7pm
Place Belgique 1, 1020 Brussels
€8 admission
TELL ALL THE TRUTH BUT TELL IT SLANT
In a blend of science and art, Ohme’s exhibition at face b confronts the concept of truth and the subject of the construction of knowledge.
By examining the relationships between art, technology, science and society through 15 works from Belgian and international artists, it begs the viewer to be radically honest, but with a twist: to tell the truth indirectly, at an angle, so as not to shock or overwhelm its receiver.
The exhibition’s title comes from Emily Dickinson's homonymous poem ‘Tell all the truth but tell it slant —,’ which says, “The Truth must dazzle gradually.” While making no promise of answers, it hopes to address such a complex topic as Truth from a variety of complementary angles, representing a diversity of perspectives and interpretations that raise open and layered questions for the viewer.
The difference between certainty and doubt, the perils of a lie, and the slippery link between truth and knowledge are just some of the themes.
Until July 9, 2023
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 2pm to 7pm, weekends from 11am to 7pm
Rue Lebeau 18, 1000 Brussels
Pay what you can, recommended €5
ART NOUVEAU: UNIQUE OBJECTS WITH A TAKE TO TELL
With 2023 being the year of Art Nouveau in Brussels, masterpieces from the King Baudouin Foundation’s collection are being celebrated in this exhibition at the BELvue museum. Visitors can see Art Nouveau items from Victor Horta, Philippe Wolfers, Henry van de Velde, George Morren and Gustave Serrurier-Bovy.
Alongside famous works are more unexpected artefacts: a series of seemingly ordinary objects designed in the Art Nouveau style. Behind each is a story or anecdote that reveals the everyday items to be extraordinary.
From art jewellery, furniture and sculptures to ceramics, drawings and book covers, many of the unique pieces came from the heirs or disciples of the artists. Brussels played a critical role in the birth of this art movement, making this exhibition of extra significance.
Until May 14, 2024
Tuesday to Friday from 11am to 5pm, weekends from 11am to 6pm
Place des Palais 7, 1000 Brussels
Free admission
CHEVROLET CORVETTE: A LEGEND TURNS 70
The name Corvette was once synonymous with the American dream, an emblem of a bygone era in which the sky seemed the limit and anyone who worked hard enough could one day own a home with this small yet powerful sports car parked in the driveway.
Autoworld is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the icon in a special exhibition that examines not only its roots in the 1950s but also what the eight generations of Corvettes have come to represent both in America and abroad.
The latest in this long line of cars is the Chevrolet Corvette C8, which only recently made its European debut. While each model boasts its own specific features that serve as a time capsule for the trends and advances in technology of its era, performance and sportiness have always been at the core.
Visitors can journey back to 1963, to the most coveted Corvette of all. With 16 models for display, the exhibition is more than just cars. It’s history.
Until August 27, 2023
Weekdays from 10am to 5pm, weekends from 10am to 6pm
10am to 5pm and 6pm
Parc du Cinquantenaire 11, 1000 Brussels
€15 admission for adults, €7 for children, €13 for seniors
DUOS IN RESONANCE
Visitors to this exhibition from the Boghossian Foundation are invited to consider the links between designers and craftsmen. The exhibition is organic and artist-led: a watchmaker-engraver, textile-pleating specialist, wool expert, brickmaker and decorator specialising in faux marble and wood met and created a joint project alongside industrial, textile, architectural and ceramic designers.
The result is Duos in Resonance, sprung from a laboratory for innovation where “the field of the possible” emerged. The exhibition reinforces the lively dialogue between the similar yet disparate worlds of arts/craft, and design, offering a forum for exploration, learning, and questioning the uses, techniques, and materials of master crafters.
While the relationship between designers and artisans has always been strong, the Boghossian Foundation says this complementarity has become increasingly important and meaningful in today’s rapidly changing society.
Boghossian Foundation – Villa Empain
Until August 20, 2023
Tuesday to Sunday from 11am to 6pm
Avenue Franklin Roosevelt, 67 1050 Brussels
€12 admission, €8 seniors and students
ODE TO ANTWERP
Over the border in The Netherlands, Museum Catharijneconvent has assembled dozens of prize works by renowned Flemish and Dutch artists who will appear together for the first time in the exhibition Ode to Antwerp.
The Belgian city was where many important art movements flourished, and it is said that 17th century Dutch painting would never have blossomed without 16th century Antwerp, which brought the dawn of the city’s Golden Age.
Artists and philosophers alike called the city home, and the Port of Antwerp saw 40 percent of all world trade pass through the very same harbours alongside which strolled the likes of Peter Paul Rubens and Rembrandt van Rijn.
Joining them now in this exhibition paying homage to the city are great masters like Maerten de Vos, Frans Floris and Frans Hals. Together, it represents a turbulent story, featuring leading roles for religious and economic migrants.
Never before has such a major and all-encompassing exhibition been devoted to the subject, set against the backdrop of Antwerp and its significance in the history of art.
Until September 17, 2023
Tuesday to Friday from 10am to 5pm, weekends from 11am to 5pm
Lange Nieuwstraat 38, 3512 PH Utrecht, The Netherlands
€15 admission, €13.50 seniors, free for children under 17
DE PELGRIM
After 11 long years of waiting, Antwerp’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts (KMSKA) finally opened its doors last year, and its debut exhibition explores art and meaning in a disenchanted world.
De Pelgrim, or The Pilgrim, is named for the Catholic artists’ association founded in 1924, as they fought back against a world that was becoming increasingly modern, calling for a return to faith. But instead of launching their counter-war by clinging to the past, the Pilgrim artists used the new, innovative aspect of modern art that they’d come to understand all too well.
Its founding 12 apostles included painters, architects, poets, writers, musicians, designers and theatre-makers, all striving for community art and seeking to unite modernity and faith by building a dam against the changing tides of time.
This exhibition is only one reason to visit the KMSKA, now described as two worlds in one: historical grandeur combined with a distinctive contemporary volume.
Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerpen
Until September 3, 2023
Monday to Wednesday, Friday from 10am to 5pm, Thursday from 10am-10pm (except July and August), weekends from 10am to 6pm
Leopold de Waelplaats, 2000 Antwerpen
€20 admission, €10 for those under 26, free for those under 18
CHILD LABOUR
This photography exhibition is not a glimpse into the past, but a revelation of the current scourge of child labour across the world in the present day. The United Nations and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimate that 160 million children are working throughout the world, many in highly dangerous jobs, and the United States is rolling back child labour laws.
The situation has regressed elsewhere, especially in the wake of the pandemic, which led to the closure of schools for long periods in many regions.
Géopolis now dedicates a series of exhibitions to the issue, including an exhibition featuring the work of several celebrated photographers such as GMB Akash, Lewis Hine, Roger Lemoyne and Marcel Crozet.
Based on the 2023 report on child labour from the ILO and UNICEF, while many would like to believe that most children today enjoy the freedom to play and not work, perhaps the only thing more gutwrenching than the images displayed in the Child Labour exhibition is the knowledge that such photographs can be snapped this very day.
Géopolis Centre for Photojournalism
Until July 7, 2023
Tuesday to Sunday from 1:30pm to 5:30pm
Rue des Tanneurs 58-60, 1000 Brussels
Free admission
