For most of us the month of September announces the end of the summer, and the unbearable idea that there is a life apart from sipping pink lemonade with your pals alongside the pool. But “back to reality” can also mean “back to business“, the summer is a perfect time to charge your battery, to read, to be creative, to get some inspiration outside of your comfort zone, and to come back with your head filled with new projects. So instead of lamenting yourself over your summer selfies, contemplate September as a fresh start full of upcoming [ ARTY ] adventures.
To help you boosting your artsy/culture motivation, we prepared a list of events and openings you ABSOLUTELY don’t want to miss in Brussels in September. As usual, feel free to add your recommendations in the comment section below.
Richard Jackson : “Car Wash” at CAB
The LA based artist is back in Belgium with an “active” installation that will be display at the CAB (Contemporary Art Brussels). For the occasion, Jackson will run cars through an authentic car wash, transforming them into original art works. While I was in London this summer I had the chance to go see his exhibition at the Hauser & Wirth Gallery, his work is very “approachable” and entertaining, really a must see. As he will perform during the opening, don’t forget to register as it is a limited places event. Also don’t miss the artist talk on September 5th.
OPENING | September 4th AT 6pm
VENUE | CAB :32-34 rue Borrens, 1050 Brussels
Harold Ancart : “Winning Colors” at Xavier Hufkens Gallery
Born in 1980 in Brussels, Ancart who is based in Brooklyn already has an impressive career behind him. His upcoming exhibition is multimedia (pictures, sculptures…), and is making the promise to take its audience into a colourful journey : “For his new show, Harold Ancart is plunging the Xavier Hufkens gallery into an aquatic world: seascapes with shimmering sunsets bound the horizon towards which pirogues seem to be sailing“*.
OPENING | September 4th AT 5 pm
VENUE | Xavier Hufkens gallery :6_8 rue Saint-Georges, 1050 Brussels
Robert Mapplethorpe : Selected Photographs & Polaroids at Charles Riva
For a lot of people, the works of the american photographer Robert Mapplethorpe are mostly known as subversive and provocative. His pictures are raw, he was showing things that we were not use to look at in the late 70’s (homosexuality, black beauties,…), and that are today part of our society. Definitely a must see if you didn’t had the chance to visit his retrospective at Le Grand Palais in Paris few months ago.
OPENING | September 10th AT 6 pm
VENUE | Charles Riva Collection : 21 rue de la Concorde, 1050 Brussels
Group Exhibition : “The Yellow Side Of Sociality” at Bozar
The Bozar Center is probably one of my favorite art space in Brussels, their programme is so diverse and eclectic that you can always make pleasant arty discoveries. This time, they are presenting several Italian artists who are currently living in other european countries : “What do these artists have in common? Yellow Sociality, two words that help better understand the underlying concept of this exhibition: the artist is a social animal with a committed, sunny and sometimes loud message, a go-between who understands and shares the Italian idea of living together, who conveys gravitas and well as bringing hope. A unique opportunity to experience the complexity of the Italian identity“**. After the wonderful “No Country for Young Men” presenting upraising greek artists, there is no doubt that “The Yellow Side of Sociality” will be a must see. The little plus? It’s free, and just across the street you can stop by the opening of “Earths but not in name” at Etablissement d’en face.
OPENING | September 10th
VENUE | Bozar : 23 rue Ravenstein, 1000 Brussels
Ricardo Brey : “Kicking the can down the road” at Nathalie Obadia
Brey is a Cuban born multimedia artist, who is now living and working in Belgium. He is very interested by culture, religion, nature and the notion of identity. Through different materials and medias, he is trying to find a meaning to all his questions. More intuitive than aesthetic, his art is very interesting to experience.
OPENING | September 10th AT 5pm
VENUE | Nathalie Obadia Gallery : 8 rue Charles Decoster, 1050 Brussels
The Bruce High Quality Foundation – “Vive La Sociale !” at Almine Rech Gallery
The Almine Rech Gallery is starting September with the presentation of a very ambitious art collective : “The Bruce High Quality Foundation is a collective based in New York City that mixes irreverent humor, trenchant social critique, and art historical references in its work, and spans several mediums of production, including painting, sculpture, performance, and video“***. Inspired by the art world and by art history, they will this time base their work on James Ensor‘s Christ’s Entry into Brussels. The collective will held a talk at the NICC (Brussels) on September 12.
OPENING | September 11th AT 5pm
VENUE | Almine Rech Gallery : 20 rue de l’Abbaye, 1050 Brussels
Ana Torfs : “Echolalia” at Wiels
The Belgian visual artist Ana Torfs will present at Wiels her most recent artworks through six different installations mostly made with text, audio pieces, videos and images. Echolalia : “is the repetition of words by a child when it learns how to talk, but it also refers to a medical condition that makes someone compulsively repeat words and sentences“****. The notion of language and its complexity is always present in Torfs’s art. A must see.
OPENING | September 11th AT 6.30 pm
VENUE | Wiels : 354 avenue Van Volxem, 1190 Brussels
Brussels Art Days
The best way to celebrate the beginning of the contemporary art season in Brussels. With 30 galleries participating, you will definitely get your art fix over that weekend.
OPENING | September 13
VENUE | For the full list of participants check their website.
Claude Viallat at Daniel Templon Gallery
Because we simply love the patterns that the French artist paints over his canvas or pieces of fabric. He is truly making us travel. A must discover.
OPENING | September 12 at 5.30 pm
VENUE | Daniel Templon Gallery : 13a rue Veydt, 1060 Brussels
Elizabeth Price : “Sleep” at Motinternational
Because it’s not every day that we have a former Turner Prize (she won in 2012 for her video installation “The Woolworths Choir of 1979”) exhibiting in Brussels.
OPENING | September 12 at 6 pm
VENUE | MotInternational : 10 Place du Petit Sablon, 1000 Brussels
Ron Gilad : “House Sweet House” at Keitelman Gallery
Last year we saw his exhibition ” The Logical, the Ironic, and the Absurd” at the Tel aviv Museum of Art and we loved it. Ron Gilad is one of the most successful and known Israeli designers in the world today, there is no doubt that his minimalist sculptures will please you.
OPENING | September 13 at 12 pm
VENUE | Keitelman Gallery : 44 rue Van Eyck, 1000 Brussels
Filip Gilissen : “Shine Bright Like a Star” at Meessen De Clercq
The Gallery Meessen De Clercq is opening three shows at the same time on September 13, among them there is the solo exhibition of Belgian artist Filip Gilissen. Quiet ironic and cynical, we must say that we are huge fan of Gilissen’s work here at the Bubblist since we saw his shinny “I Love NYC” at the last Art Brussels. Using the codes and the languages of marketing and mass media, he is denouncing the misdeed of consumerism and globalisation. A must go.
OPENING | September 13 at 12 pm
VENUE | Meessen De Clercq : 2a rue de l’Abbaye, 1050 Brussels
Elaine Cameron-Weir : “Medusa” at Galerie Rodolphe Janssen
For the Brussels Art Days, the wonderful Rodolphe Janssen Gallery is also opening three different exhibitions. For her second show at the GRJ, the New-York based artist Elaine Cameron-Weir will present a series of sculptures made with marble and brass around the theme of “houseplants” : “Houseplants are transitional objects. They temper our entry into interior spaces, ripening the domestic space for scenes of both action and repose while leaving the curious impression that they are privy to much more than your average flourish of decoration. Houseplants are, after all, alive; they are mortal beings existing simultaneously as both décor (in the Broodthaersian sense of the word), and actors within décor. That, and they make great ashtrays at parties“*****.
OPENING | September 13 at 12 pm
VENUE | Rodolphe Janssen : 32 rue de Livourne, 1050 Brussels
Also Recommended :
” Picture/Painting/Object” AT Albert Baronian || Dominic Samsworth AT Mon Chéri || Vitrine : Triple Candie AT NICC || Yves Zurstrassen AT Valérie Bach || Interstices #3 || Atelier Pica Pica AT Alice Gallery || ” Detached Inner Eye ” performance by Shana Moulton AT La loge
The Bubblist 