Things to do in Belgium this week: exhibitions in Brussels, Liège, and Antwerp, and the legendary Fuse turns 20. See you there!
Opening: Soft Measures at Wiels
Wednesday, 16 April, 18h00 Brussels
Every year Brussels’ contemporary art center Wiels invites emerging artists from Belgium and all over the world to take part in its residency program, providing the artists with studios and valuable training. One of this year’s participants is André Tehrani, who, together with Anthea Buys, curated the show “Soft measures” in the context of his residency. The group exhibition, uniting works of Italian Marco Bruzzone, Magnhild Øen Nordahl from Norway and others, champions sensual logic and intuitive intelligence over discursive argumentation, something quite rare in today’s contemporary art world.
Opening: Jean-Christophe Guillaume at Galerie Satellite
Wednesday, 16 April Liège
The creative minds behind Liège’s BIP which we talked about a few weeks ago here, also manage a permanent gallery: Galerie Satellite. Undoubtedly one of Liège’s best spots for photography, it focuses on young and upcoming photographers from Belgium, especially from Brussels and Wallonia. This Wednesday there’s the opening of “Borderline”, an exhibition by Namur-born photographer Jean-Christophe Guillaume. The series deals with the migration flow from Latin America towards North America and particularly the much-discussed border between Mexico and the United States, a symbol for hope as well as disappointment and desperation.
Opening: Emily Wardill at La Loge
Thursday, 17 April, 18h00 Brussels
Brussels-based La Loge’s exhibition “When you fall into a trance” is centered around Emily Wardill’s most recent feature-length film with the same name. The piece, which interestingly was partly filmed in La Loge’s premises last summer, deals with the blurry lines between truth and fiction as well as the complexities of language, communication, memory and imagination, something the London-based artist has been exploring for a while now. “When you fall into a trance” will be screened twice at the opening this Thursday.
Music: Record Store Day 2014
Saturday, 19 April Belgium
A must for all music nerds: Record Store Day, thought up in 2007 at a gathering of independent record store owners and employees, brings together musicians, fans and staff around the world, celebrating the culture of the record store. On recordstoreday.be you can find out about the Belgian programme for the day. While Ghent record shop institution Music Mania takes over the Vooruit with concerts (Little Trouble Kids, Balthazar, Intergalactic Lovers), exclusive releases and signing sessions, 18 record stores across the country have an exclusive giveaway for music lovers buying records for a minimum of 70€: a copy of “Belgium – The Vinyl Frontier”, a limited edition book exploring the collections of Belgium’s most passionate vinyl diggers from homegrown DJ Lefto to Coffee & Vinyl’s Lars Cosemans. By the way, also a good day to watch High Fidelity for the 18th time…
Birthday bash: Fuse turns 20
Saturday, 19 April, 23h00 Brussels
Since its opening on 16 April 1994, Brussels’ Fuse has quickly grown into Belgium’s most prominent spot for house and techno with its own weekly radio show on Studio Brussel and the release of several compilation CDs. The legendary venue in Rue Blaes celebrates its 20th birthday this week, using the occasion to throw not one, but several massive birthday bashes. Don’t miss the indisputable highlight of the party series when German techno veteran Sven Väth graces the Fuse with is presence. After three decades behind the decks the techno superstar is still going strong and stays true to his roots: he’ll only play music in his sets that has been released on vinyl.
Night out: Onra and Lefto at Bazaar
Saturday, 19 April, 23h00 Brussels
Belgian girls-only collective Moonlight takes over Brussels’ Bazaar this Saturday, bringing you an exciting first-class line-up which will easily keep you on your feet till early dawn. Parisian producer and beatmaker Arnaud Bernard aka Onra operates on the crossroads between hip hop and electro, making you dance with squiggling disco synths and funky beats. He’s joined by Lefto, undoubtedly one of the country’s most prominent DJs who relentlessly tours the world as well as co-programs festivals, presents a radio show on Studio Brussels and co-runs the B9000 label. He’s famous for his extremely creative and eclectic sets mixing future bass, hip hop, wild African rhythmns and much more.
Exhibition: Tsuyoshi Maekawa at Axel Vervoordt Gallery
Closes on Saturday, 3 May Antwerp
Gutai, Japan’s most influential and radical avant-garde group of the post-war era, explored new art forms combining performance, painting and interactivity, constantly pushing the boundaries of painting while emphasizing the importance of uninhibited individual creation. Osaka-born Tsuyoshi Maekawa was part of the second generation of Gutai artists, putting forward the material as such. His colourful, rough, and almost three-dimensional creations, right now on show at Antwerp’s Axel Vervoordt Gallery, are a true ode to matter.
Opening: Mark Manders at Zeno X Gallery
Sunday, 20 April, 15h00-18h00 Antwerp
Dutch artist Mark Manders’ work has been shown all over the world and made it into major collections such as The Art Institute of Chicago or New York’s MOMA. He is mainly known for his large-scale installations and sculptures. A lot of them are part of Manders’ ever-evolving “self-portrait” as a building” where sculptural installations symbolize so-called memory spaces, places where the narrative of a fictive self can materialize. Antwerp’s Zeno X Gallery lets you discover some of the artist’s most recent work starting this Sunday.