Agenda Thursday 28th November

Re/defining Masculinities until 30th November at Beursschouwburg, Brussels

Out-dated gender stereotypes, dichotomies and binaries slowly belong to a discourse from the past, but the question remains how to go on without just hollow role switching. Reconsidering dominant typologies of romantic relationships and related understandings of gendering, Beursschouwburg attempts to enlighten what masculinity can contribute to the future. Documentaries, video works, performances and a circle of generous public discussion on men’s mental well-being thoughtfully cross the limits of too evident oppositions. file View the event on Facebook

Opening of Garage Pirate on Thursday 28th November at Recyclart, Brussels

1010’s photography project challenges ten photographers to create ten different visions of one particular place. Their second edition delivers a kaleidoscopic collective imagination of our weirdly exotic Belgian coast in a setting of food, architecture screenings and concerts. Didier Massage from our Weird Dust Show will go onto a live mystic journey to places unknown, making a detour via Charleroi with Spagguetta Orghasmmond and their kitsch earworms. Back again in Brussels, post-punkers Stakattak await you. file View the event on Facebook

Opening of The Nationa(a)l Artist Supermarket on Thursday 28th November at Vanderborght Building, Brussels

The Nationa(a)l Artist Supermarket embraces Belgium’s dense creative and cultural economy with a multifaceted event. The art supermarket offers a broad range of homegrown creativity across nine disciplines. Buy artsy Christmas presents and stuff yourself with tasty treats whilst reconsidering the economical weight of the (performing) arts to the sounds of multi-instrumentalist Harm Pauwels’s Leopard Skull and many other acts. Consumerism never tasted so sweet. file View the event on Facebook

Bonga on Friday 29th November at Flagey, Brussels

Angolan folk and semba superstar Bonga breathes the concept of ‘Africanness’ without loosing track of all its complexities and nuances. His enthralling entry into the history of African music translates into a sublimation of his homeland. As you are bound to move along rhythmically, this seated concert might eventually evolve into something more swinging. file View the event on Flagey's website

Brik Tu-Tok release party on Friday 29th November at de Koer, Ghent

“Too sushi for my pony” is the description theatre-makers Maxim Storms and Linde Carrijn wield for their music duo Brik Tu-Tok. Visual and musical elements take equal parts in what is supposed to be a spectacular release party of their first album Greatest Hits, with guest appearances by Dijf Sanders and Borokov Borokov. A costumed celebration of Dada, ballad songs and psychedelia drenched in Cara-pils. Prepare yourself for tam-tam galore. file View the event on Facebook

Opening of Nashshibi/Skaer and noWHere on Friday 29th November at SMAK, Ghent

Not just one, but two new exhibitions at S.M.A.K. The first one dusts up the collection of the contemporary art temple uniting artworks that relate to the idea of ‘non-places’. Think of the uncanny atmosphere in hotel rooms, empty metro stations and the museum itself. The specific temporality reining those spaces aligns with the sculptural, cinematic and painterly investigations of non-linear time characterizing the joint practice of Nashashibi/Skaer. file View the event on Facebook

Make your own music on Saturday 30th November at Théâtre La Montagne Magique, Brussels

Fact: kids make noise. Gamechangers Léa Roger and Flavio Bagnasco share their sound improvisation and experimentation skills with a young audience at sonic festival Ear You Are. The results of the workshop will be used as jingles and tunes for the festival’s web radio. Music to the slightly damaged ears of avant-garde appreciating parents. file View the event on Facebook

Opening of Messgewand on Saturday 30th November at Everyday Gallery, Antwerp

Thinking about a chair you cannot sit on? Next to a group show with artworks by Tom Volkaert, Dodi Espinosa, Jacopo Pagin and Travis Fish, opening weekend ‘Mental’ questions design thinking with Messgewand’s solo show. Different results lingering in between functional sculpture and non-functional design intuitively break open the production loop as each step of creation is considered a realization that stands on its own. A refreshing take on the mechanisms of the design world. file View the event on Facebook

Opening of Bendt Eyckermans – Blue Shadow on Saturday 30th November at Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp

Antwerp-based painter Bendt Eyckermans effortlessly captures the imagery of his generation. He adds a monumental flair to hyper realistic yet affective impressions of everyday life. Immerse in outspoken colours with a touch of surrealism during the solo exhibition of this extremely promising artist. file View the event on Facebook

Fag Reflex on Saturday 30th November at amigo amigo, Ghent

New queer concept Fag Reflex demonstrates in amigo amigo’s basement space how safe equals steamy. Gay Haze regular Vieira and Word resident Louis Vogue set the dance floor on fire together with Berkain, AMPE and Sils C. A night of uncomplicated inclusivity and quivering acid house, industrial and techno. file View the event on Facebook

PARTS@work #1 on Sunday 1st December at P.A.R.T.S., Brussels

Get to discover the willy-waving subsidy gluttons of Brussels’ vivid dance scene for yourself. The renowned contemporary dance institution PARTS shows what the new students have been up to during the first three months of their training. This informal series gives you a glimpse into the minds of future choreographers and dance scene innovators. Guaranteed to impress.
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Punk Graphics until 26th April 2020 at ADAM – Brussels Design Museum, Brussels

New genres come and go all the time in our ever-changing musical landscape, but punk will live on forever. Not only did the punk movement leave behind a gigantic musical legacy, it also impacted graphic design and style far beyond its heyday mid seventies in the epicentres of New York and London. In its continuing quest to look at the visual side of countless different genres, ADAM – Brussels Design Museum brings together posters, album covers and other DIY memorabilia from a New York private collection that has never been brought to Europe before, reinforcing how the subculture got embedded in our contemporary visual culture. A welcomed walk down memory lane, with the added possibility of compiling a vinyl playlist with your own selection of protest songs. file View the exhibition on Adam Museum's website

Sean Landers until 20th December at Rodolphe Janssens, Brussels

Meet “Plankboy”, the wooden outsider protagonist in the work of painter Sean Landers during the opening of his third solo exhibition at Rodolphe Janssen gallery. The motif of Plankboy and other wooden elements throughout three distinct groups of paintings show how the American conceptualist straddles the border between heavy-hearted feelings and a humorous gaze. Personal experiences are being turned into a poetic visual reflection on what it means to be an artist. file View the exhibition on Rodolphe Janssens's website

Rotor – Life under a Cherry Tree until 21st December at La Loge, Brussels

Although the Brussels-Capital region has embraced plans for a future of circular economy, design collective Rotor dares to question what the vague concepts of reuse and recyclability in the proposed models actually contribute to the urban environment. The cooperative of architects concerned with the future of building use the platform of exhibition Life Under a Cherry Tree at La Loge to explore even further the practical side of it all. Next to unfolding already existing projects on the reuse of buildings, they will foremost attempt to re-imagine abstract theory into yet other tangible social practices that might well surprise you. file View the exhibition on LA LOGE's website

Jean Jullien - Petrichor until 11th January 2020 at Alice Gallery, Brussels

Petrichor, the smell of rain hitting dry soil after a warm day, often recalls memories of summer and holidays long gone. The paintings of Jean Jullien rely on a similar mechanism of reminiscence. Some recognize this as an inherently post-modern trait: the effect of his work on the viewer prevails over manifesting his own artistic ego. The blissful coastal landscapes Julien shares with more than one million followers on Instagram, are utterly grounded in the here and now because of his social media presence, but also revel in contemplation and nostalgia. Limited edition prints and t-shirts will be for sale at the opening of his solo show, which highlights the curious profile of this modern day art guru oscillating between popular culture and craftsmanship file . View the exhibition on Alice Gallery's website

Le Corbusier > < Imi Knoebel until 25th January 2020 at OV Project, Brussels

Platform OV regularly bends the linear concept of art history into a thought-provoking conversational format by setting up a dialogue between the oeuvre of two artists situated in different disciplines. Project number 21 aims to confront the use of colour in furniture designed by world famous Swiss architect Le Corbusier with the visual works of German post-war protagonist Imi Knoebel. The latter’s series of Betoni paintings display a rather radically-inclined and minimalist approach colour, sharing similarities and contrast with Le Corbusier’s celebrated design ethos. file View the exhibition on OV Project's website

Architects at Play until 9th February at Civa, Brussels

Most adults eventually get over their childhood dreams, although it could be argued that architects stand alone in never entirely foregoing their tendencies for limitless imagination, their capacity to construct worlds beyond our wildest dreams, tapping into their inner infant forming the basis of CIVA’s latest exhibition, Architects at Play. Exploring the invention mechanisms that underpin these constructed realities, the exhibition touches upon themes such as childhood, education, urbanism, public spaces, history, architecture and creativity to retrace the history of dreamt up structures and the importance of child play. Paying tribute to the power of the imaginary, the exhibition pits the playground to the blueprint to magnificent effect. file View the exhibition on CIVA's website

Off the Grid until 16th February 2020 at Design Museum Gent, Ghent

The magic of good graphic design is that you keep looking at it. From the iconic World Expo of 1958 until the advent of the personal computer, Belgian designers gave birth to a fair amount of graphic gems. Sarah De Bondt entered the history of Belgian graphic design with her own artistically charged gaze. Relying on ten concepts that also shape her own artistic practice - such as economy of means, seriality and social relevance - she has resurrected a captivating universe full of original printed matters and logo objects by both well-known and obscure designers whose works have never faced the crowd. file View the event on Facebook

Lina Bo Bardi & Giancarlo Palanti until 16th February 2020 at Design Museum Gent, Ghent

Design lovers unite in Ghent for the biggest retrospective to date of furniture by Italian-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi. Although the multitalented Bo Bardi systematically crossed borders between disciplines in her overarching architectural endeavours, the design work is one of the most overlooked aspects of her career. This show reunites a bunch of pieces she crafted with colleague Giancarlo Palanti in the Studio d’Arte Palma (1948-1951), making it possible to overview the inherently political and social bridges she built between humankind and architecture through interior design. A collection of works by young Belgian designers who drew inspiration from her oeuvre will be simultaneously on show in DING Vitrine next door. file View the event on Facebook

Roger Ballen – The Theatre of the Ballenesque until 14th March 2020 at La Centrale, Brussels

Born in New York in 1950, artist Roger Ballen has been based in South Africa for more than 30 years now, his work imbued by the country’s rich, complex and contrasting fortunes to mesmerising effect. With this exhibition, his first major show in Brussels, Ballen presents photographs, videos, in situ installations as well as some of his lesser-known graphic interventions, immersing the viewer in a made-to-measure universe – titled The Theatre of the Ballenesque – which draws heavily on his uncanny ability to unearth the underbelly of society’s absurdities through his singular eye. Alongside this ambitious show, Belgian artist Ronny Delrue will be presenting a series of photographs set in dialogue to Ballen’s work and enhanced by drawings as well as photomontages made by the two artists. A definite must-see. file View the exhibition on La Centrale's website