Cultural Compass: A Mozart masterpiece, science fiction comes to life and environmental art

Every Sunday, Belga English picks its favourite events from the cultural agenda. This week: Brussels ushers in summer with one of Mozart's playful and scintillating operas, the legendary science fiction worlds of Jules Verne meets modern day technology and a look at the legacy of industrial waste through photographs.

​Midsummer Mozartiade Festival, ​ 17 to 22 June, Brussels
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Each summer, this festival brings together Belgian and international talent to celebrate operatic masterpieces, with a special focus on the works of Mozart.

This year, Così fan tutte (That’s What They All Do) will be staged at the Théâtre Royal des Galeries. As humorous as it is dramatic, this electrifying opera brims with intrigue and sensuality, featuring some of Mozart’s most celebrated music. The plot follows four young lovers who, manipulated by a cunning chambermaid, test the boundaries of fidelity and desire, ultimately raising the question: what does love truly mean?

In addition to Mozart, the festival will also pay tribute to Brahms. His Liebesliederwalzer will showcase four voices singing of longing, nostalgia, sadness and joy in turn.

Listeners will also be treated to two seductive Serenades that journey musically from Oslo to Rio, via Naples and Seville. Making their third appearance at the festival, the talented Udana Wind Quintet, five friends from various Belgian royal conservatories, will perform an eclectic program featuring Mozart, Disney classics and Gershwin’s timeless Summertime.

Jules Verne: The Immersive Journey, Until autumn 2025, Horta Gallery, Brussels

Brussels will soon welcome a new immersive attraction that takes visitors on a sensory journey through the visionary world of Jules Verne, the French writer who was hailed as “the father of science fiction”. His long-lasting imagery from classics such as Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and Around the World in Eighty Days will be at the centre of this new virtual reality exhibition.

Nearly 150 years after his groundbreaking adventures first captivated readers, Jules Verne’s stories continue to fuel the imagination. The Horta Gallery has been transformed into as a walk-through experience that gradually immerses visitors in Verne’s fantastical universe. The production is accompanied by an original score by Rafel Plana, performed by the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra and Choir.

The heart of the experience is a VR journey through five of Verne’s most iconic novels. Visitors walk (or float) through vivid, magical landscapes. From the ocean depths to distant planets, audiences are invited to step directly into Verne’s world of wonder and adventure.

Pierre Vanneste, Laurence Grun & Rupelstreek Environment Action Group, Until 31 August, Machine hall Peeters & Van Mechelen, Boom

An immersive exhibition by artist duo Belgian photographer Pierre Vanneste and Laurence Grun explores the often-invisible impact of mining and waste dumping. Through poetic film and photography, they examine the transformation of landscapes and lives shaped by industry, both locally and globally. Their installation, set in the historic Peeters & Van Mechelen machine hall, illustrates how pollution travels across borders, leaving long-lasting traces.

Vanneste, raised between French and Dutch-speaking communities, creates long-term, field-based projects. He collaborates with Grun, a Brussels and Dakar-based filmmaker and writer who explores the intersection of visual, textual and audio storytelling.

For two years, the pair followed the Rupelstreek Environment Action Group (ALRvzw), documenting its legacy in the fight against industrial dumping. Founded in 1974 after the collapse of the local brick industry, ALR emerged to resist the transformation of former clay pits into toxic waste sites, filled with household waste, asbestos, fly ash and radioactive materials. At the time, Belgium had no waste legislation as the Public Waste Agency of Flanders (OVAM) did not yet exist.

“Over time, memories fade and industrial waste, hidden in the landscape, disappears from the collective memory,” say the artists. Their work is a call to remember, and to resist forgetting.

​(MOH)

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