Cultural Compass: A look at artistic highlights from 2024
After a year filled with stirring operas, innovative exhibitions and societal engagement through art, Belga English presents the 2024 cultural highlights from Flanders and Brussels.
Villa Empain in Ixelles hosted more than 100 works by the "iconic couple of modernism”: Josef and Anni Albers. Paintings, assemblages, photographs, graphic works, textiles, films and furniture traced their journey and the bond that bolstered their creations. Both of these artists created a fundamental work in the history of 20th-century art and a legacy of influence on other artists.
The Fashion Museum of Antwerp (MoMu), is held an exhibition centred on the Belgian photographer Willy Vanderperre, whose editorial work regularly appears in magazines such as Vogue. His striking oeuvre includes photographs from campaigns used by Dior and Prada among others. Vanderperre’s style has been consistently informed by the themes of youth and subcultures, which have been ever-present over his three-decade career. “They are the future,” he says about youth. “How you express yourself, what you do, it all has its origins in your teenage years.”
Schoonvolk, the youth collective connected with the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (MSK) explored what a modern museum and exhibition should be with its expo Alternative Narrative. The show, which will still be on display until 26 January, invites visitors to engage in creating an alternative narrative for the museum, experimenting with the boundaries of traditional curating. By applying their own manifesto to works from the museum's stores, they present the collection in a fresh, bold way, aiming to lower barriers and make art more accessible, especially for young people. 70 artworks were chosen, including pieces that are rarely displayed. More specifically, works by female artists - an underrepresented group in traditional museums - and art covering themes that are often overlooked.
James Ensor took over Ostende, Antwerp and Brugge in 2024. Deemed Ensor Year, exhibitions reached across Flanders commemorating the 75th anniversary of the artist’s death. The painter and printmaker known for his innovative and often surreal approach to art drew much of his inspiration from the seaside in Ostend where he spent most of his life. His work, which reflected his fascination with death, is characterised by vivid colours, masks and skeletons.
Ensor Year will continue into 2025 with ongoing expos at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA), Museum Plantin-Moretus, the Photo Museum Antwerp (FOMU), Antwerp’s Fashion Museum (MoMu) and Musea Brugge.
Brussels' Centrale for Contemporary Art reopened on 10 October after six months of renovations that transformed the space into a more welcoming hub for visitors and artists. Its debut exhibition Hosting celebrates the artistic diversity of Brussels, with 353 works from 247 artists across various media, including video, painting, photography, sculpture and installation. Presented as a large-scale cabinet of curiosities, the display invites visitors to explore an eclectic mix of artistic expressions and ask questions such as: What defines art? How is it created and perceived? What impact does it have on society? The expo will remain on display until September 2025.
Opera Ballet Vlaanderen's (OBV) is ending this year and starting the next one with the operatic fireworks that accompany a new production of Richard Strauss’ Salome. A work that brings with it controversy and bombastic stagings wherever it goes, this time to the stages of Antwerp and Ghent. "The opera reads like an erotic thriller, which nowhere loses momentum," OBV says of its new production, directed by Ersan Mondtag. With a heavy focus on political and social turmoil, Mondtag has created a parallel world between the Biblical and historical King Herod and contemporary dictators such as Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko. The set design reflects Soviet starkness as a playground for the wild opera and its even wilder characters. The story centres on John the Baptist's martyrdom and Salome's fascination with him, which ultimately leads to her demise by King Herod's hand.
Earlier this year, La Monnaie collaborated with the Royal Flemish Theatre (KVS) to present the world premiere of Ali, an opera and sensory experience with electronic music, voice, percussion, dance, string and wind instruments. The production centred around the real-life story of Ali Abdi Omar, who fled Somalia and arrived in Brussels among hundreds of other migrants searching for a better future. The piece shone a spotlight on the dangerous and desperate journey many migrants must make to find safety. “If you were born in Belgium, you can travel visa-free with your passport to approximately 84 per cent of the countries (191 out of 227) in the world,” the KVS said. “With a Somali passport, you can travel to only 16 per cent (36) of all countries in the world without a visa.”
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds made their highly anticipated return to Antwerp’s Sportpaleis after a seven-year hiatus in October with their latest album Wild God. Originally envisioned as an ode to joy, Wild God evolved into something much deeper, shaped by Cave's ongoing confrontation with grief. “I hope the album has the effect on listeners that it’s had on me. It bursts out of the speaker, and I get swept up with it. It’s a complicated record, but it’s also deeply and joyously infectious,” he said. Cave has long been a fixture in Belgium’s art and music scene and showcased his visual art at the Xavier Hufkens Gallery in Brussels earlier this year. In his exhibition The Devil: A Life, he catalogued the life of the Devil growing from innocence to experience in 17 porcelain figures.
Brussels’ majestic Saint Michael and Saint Gudula Cathedral honoured Hildegard von Bingen with three concerts in May. The writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary and medical practitioner from the High Middle Ages has long been the inspiration for art, books and music. Three different ensembles performed chants and music by von Bingen in tandem with lectures and and exhibition about von Bingen.
Brussels continued its tradition of joining UNESCO’s International Jazz Day in April by promoting peace, dialogue among cultures, diversity and respect for human rights. Contemporary jazz group NOVA and Wajdi Riahi Trio’s contemporary jazz, with shades of Eastern influence, served as the cultural ambassadors for this momentous occasion.
© Félix Zurstrassen
Ongoing events
Whats the Story? KMSKA
Emile Claus: The Prince of Luminisim, Mudel Museum of Deinze
Alechinsky, Pinceau Voyageur
Cindy Sherman, ENSOR 2024, FOMU
Masquerade, Make-up and Ensor, MOMU
Ensor's States of Imagination, Plantin-Moretus Museum
In Your Wildest Dreams: Ensor Beyond Impressionism, KMKSA
Margaret of Parma, MOU
Alternative Narrative, MSK
Lucy McKenzie Super Palace, Z33
René Magritte X Emily Mae Smith, Magritte Museum
The Panamarenko House
Panamarenko’s Magic Carpet, S.M.A.K.
Women of Paper, Biekorf Library in Bruges
(MOH)
#FlandersNewsService | KMSKA © BELGA PHOTO JONAS ROOSENS