Even works that at first sight seem to be normal or familiar, have some hidden undercurrents: Generation Brussels 2023, Cet obscure objet du désir, is entitled after the Buñuel film of 1977
Brussels is watched by artists, collectors, and curators alike, and events like Brussels Gallery Weekend celebrate art from all over the world in the city center. After celebrating its fifteenth anniversary in 2022, this year, Brussels Gallery Weekend will take place again in Brussels, Belgium, from September 7 to 9, 2023.
The director Louise Phillips about Brussels’ artistic scene
According to the director Louise Phillips, during the latest years more Belgian artists than ever before are moving to Brussels due to the cost of living in other art capitals like Paris and London. She also acknowledges that there’s a new energy in the city, with initiatives pushed mainly by younger artists; «you need to be there to look for things and find hidden gems, if you get into those smaller networks, you’ll have an exciting life», claims Louise regarding the Brussels art scene.
Visitors can attend tours of the city’s art galleries and observe up-and-coming artists, originating from around the globe. Brussels Gallery Weekend features the Brussels artistic scene, shining a spotlight on local and international artists.
The Meeting Point for the 2023 edition is in the middle of the city, within the premises of D’Ieteren Group’s headquarters. There, Generation Brussels exhibition, Globe Aroma and Atelier Indigo will gather, in addition to a reading corner and kids’ activities which will take place for the duration of the event.
Brussels Gallery Weekend, the 2023 edition: established to emerging galleries
Brussels Gallery Weekend, the four-day event, launched fifteen years ago.«Initially, our aim was to attract additional collectors to remind people that there aren’t only museums which display art», explains Louise. The 2023 edition of Brussels Gallery will involve fifty galleries representing artists from all over the world.
«We are proud to show the diversity that is taking place around Brussels», Ms. Phillips exclaims. Louise explains why foreign visitors convene in Brussels every September for Gallery Weekend. «Historically, Belgium has a reputation in the art community as the country with the most collectors per capita. There is a collective soul in Belgium». Galleries and private collectors from around the world come to get in touch with Belgian collectors, thanks to most of the works being for sale. The only pieces that aren’t acquirable are the works displayed in museums and institutions.
Among the participating galleries for the sixteenth edition is Almine Rech, born in the Marais district of Paris at the end of the 1980s, it expanded its spaces in the United Kingdom, United States, and Asia. Trouout the 2010s Almine Reich has set up exhibitions showing work by the likes of Jeff Koons, Alexander Calder, Picasso, and keeping up relationships with James Turrell, Emma Stern, Karel Appel, Jannis Kounellis and Antoni Tàpies.
Up to emerging galleries, such as Edji Gallery, founded in 2022 s the international emerging scene focusing on the promotion of ultra-contemporary artists from historically marginalized communities, including women and artists from the LGBTQIA+ community.
Generation Brussels: Brussel’s Gallery Weekend’s own exhibition
Other than collaborating with galleries, Brussels Gallery Weekend organizes their own exhibition: Generation Brussels. This addition to Brussels Gallery Weekend was created in 2018. The aim of this exhibition is to highlight the younger generation of artists living in Brussels who aren’t yet represented by a specific gallery.
Louise Phillips started Generation Brussels five years ago, with the aim to be a springboard for younger artists. «At the start of Gallery Weekend, the aim was mostly to remind the Belgian public that galleries were open and offer a wide range of exhibitions by artists in town, all for free», claims Ms. Phillips.
The event evolved, alongside the galleries, and the committee decided to continue to support younger artists who aren’t yet represented, to give them visibility during those four days, in hopes to initiate conversations with galleries, curators, and institutions. To participate in Generation Brussels, the artist can be of any nationality, but they must be residing in Brussels.
The 2023 exhibition of Generation Brussels, curated by Sam Steverlynck
The 2023 edition of Generation Brussels will be curated by the Brussels-based Belgian art critic and curator Sam Steverlynck. Writer and editor-in-chief of HART magazine, Steverlynck is also co-founder of The Agprognostic Temple, a nomadic art space focusing on art and the esoteric. He currently works at S.M.A.K in Ghent where he co-curated the exhibition Pieter Engels. Fabulous Oldest Hits together with Philippe Van Cauteren.
This year’s exhibition, titled Cet obscure objet du désir, is entitled after the surrealist cinematographer Luis Buñuel, from the eponymous film of 1977. As Buñuel’s masterpiece depicts moments of alienation, according to the surrealist vision, the works selected by Steverlynck have some dark and threatening elements. Even works that at first sight seem to be normal or familiar, have some hidden undercurrents.
The selected artist will be: Chloé Arrouy, Aurélie Bayad, Maëlle Dufour, Bas van den Hout, Yvan Megal, Lucian Moriyama, Nina Robert.
Globe Aroma and Ateliers Indigo: aside galleries during the Brussels art weekend
The sixteenth edition of the event will feature, aside the core gallery exhibit, an intervention by artists Egoo Dallas, Mirra Markaheva, Nastiia Kharitonova, and Youssef Moukil presenting four tiny solo shows in the workspace of Globe Aroma.
At Ateliers Indigo, La Collective Indigo will present a selection of works of twelve artists with disabilities: Saaber Bachir, Florian C.lis, Matilde Carli, Edouardo Della Faille, Alice Forsberg, Dahlia Hamdi, Patrick Minet, Sidoline Nlandu Wa Buke, Yann Piette, Pedro Ribeiro, Clara Vandebotermet, Michael Verhaeghe.
Digital Art in The Works
Now more than ever, there’s a growing appreciation for digital art, specifically NFT artwork. Selling for millions of euros and the public becoming eager to learn more, Brussels Gallery Weekend may be gearing up to ease in some NFTs and welcome digital art in the future. NFT art is a concept that is still quite new for curators and gallerists. Most galleries for now are concentrating on works of art produced by hand, not all of them are open to NFTs yet.
According to director Louise Phillips, she claims their job is to remind people to visit galleries and see real art in physical spaces, meet one-on-one with the artists, exchange knowledge and information with them, along with the gallerists. To keep up with the digital trend, Brussels Gallery Weekend is just launching a new website to maintain an online version of the event for those who can’t travel. They don’t consider this website to be digital art per say.
During the lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic, organizers of the event created a virtual gallery with Google, and it was hit. Users from all around the world accessed Brussels Gallery Weekend online, and this year Ms. Phillips is hoping for a pilgrimage of admires from around the world.
Brussels Gallery Weekend
Since 2007 Brussels Gallery Weekend four-day event has sustained and promoted the Brussels artistic scene, shining a spotlight on local and international artists.
For its 2023 event, held from September 7th to 9th, Brussels Gallery weekend will 50 galleries and the curation of Sam Steverlynck at Generation Brussels.
