Cultural Compass: Art Brussels returns, Heritage focuses on humour and Bruges' Sistine Chapel
Every Sunday, Belga English picks its favourite events from the cultural agenda. This week: Brussels’ vibrant, contemporary art fair, Heritage Day makes Flanders laugh, and Bruges counts down to the opening of BRUSK with a monumental fresco.
Art Brussels, 23-26 April, Brussels Expo
One of Europe’s most respected contemporary art fairs, Art Brussels 2026 offers far more than a traditional exhibition, it is a dynamic meeting point where discovery, dialogue and experimentation take centre stage. Bringing together around 140 galleries and hundreds of artists from across the globe, the fair is known for its strong curatorial focus and its ability to balance established names with emerging talent.
What makes Art Brussels particularly compelling is its structure: curated sections such as Prime, Discovery and Solo allow visitors to move fluidly between generations and artistic approaches. This creates a sense of exploration rather than overload, making it an ideal fair not only for collectors, but also for anyone curious about contemporary art today.
Among the artists presented, Philippe Vandenberg’s work stands out for its raw, expressive engagement with painting and existential themes, while younger voices such as Ángela Jiménez Durán and Alice dos Reis explore questions of identity, perception and the boundaries between the visible and invisible.
Beyond individual works, the fair reflects broader concerns shaping contemporary art, from ecology and politics to the ethics of image-making. Its relatively intimate scale encourages genuine encounters with art and artists alike, making each visit feel personal and engaging.
Heritage Day: HAHA Humor, 26 April, Various locations in Flanders
What makes us laugh, and what does that laughter say about us? Erfgoeddag 2026 invites visitors to explore exactly that, transforming heritage into something lively, playful and unexpectedly thought-provoking.
Under the theme “HAHA Humor”, this year’s edition turns its gaze to the many faces of humour, from medieval satire to contemporary memes. Across museums, archives and cultural spaces, laughter becomes a lens through which to view the past. It is not just about amusement: humour emerges as a cultural force that can unite communities, challenge norms and, at times, expose uncomfortable truths.
The programme is as varied as the subject itself. Expect exhibitions filled with cartoons and caricatures, lively performances, dialect sketches and storytelling, alongside hands-on workshops where visitors can create their own playful interpretations of history. Guided tours and interactive trails reveal humorous details hidden in artworks and collections, offering a fresh perspective on familiar heritage.
What makes Erfgoeddag particularly compelling is its accessibility. With hundreds of free activities spread across Flanders and Brussels, it opens the door to heritage for everyone, from families, curious newcomers and seasoned culture lovers alike.
The Whispering Walls. Rêve, BRUSK gallery, Bruges
BRUSK is counting down to its opening, with its first exhibitions set to mark a new chapter in the city’s cultural landscape. Ahead of that launch, one work has already drawn attention: a monumental fresco by Laure Prouvost, created specifically for the building’s central staircase, the Scala Grande.
BRUSK in Bruges opens on 8, 9 and 10 with a festive three-day BRUSK FEST.
Titled The Whispering Walls. Rêve, the fresco stretches across the space as an immersive environment rather than a single image. Its creation was itself a collective act. Over five months, a team of 15 all female artisans, including specialists from Italy, worked alongside Prouvost. The artist has described it as an “all-female fresco”, a detail that subtly informs its themes of presence, memory and shared labour.
The work is deeply rooted in Bruges. Visitors will recognise fragments of the city woven into the composition: its towers, echoes of its architectural past and references to the former Eekhout Abbey, which once stood on the site. Elements drawn from masterpieces housed in the nearby Groeningemuseum also appear, creating a dialogue between BRUSK and its artistic surroundings.
Prouvost, born in Lille in 1978 and now based in Molenbeek, brings significant international stature. A winner of the Turner Prize in 2013, she represented France at the Venice Biennale in 2019 and continues to exhibit globally, with upcoming projects in Paris and New York.
In BRUSK, her fresco transforms a transitional space into a destination: one that invites visitors to linger, look closely and rediscover Bruges through a contemporary, layered lens.
Inventing Obsessions, until 19 June, Biekorf Exhibition Space, Bruges
In Inventing Obsessions, Sarah Vandeursen transforms a deliberately chosen fixation into a witty yet layered exhibition, placing dried sausages at the centre of a reflection on control, repetition and desire.
What begins as an absurd premise quickly gains depth. Vandeursen did not simply use sausages as a motif, she made them herself, working in a butcher’s shop in Roeselare and taking part in the entire process, from cutting half a pig carcass to producing the final product. Those sausages reappear throughout the exhibition in unexpected forms: woven into a fly screen, embedded in a stained-glass window and even used to recreate an old class photograph in a surreal “sausage re-enactment”.
The works balance humour with unease, turning an everyday food item into a symbol of ritual and compulsion. That tension has spilled into reality: in a twist that mirrors the exhibition’s themes, several of the sausages have recently been stolen by visitors.
Ongoing events
Antwerp
The Fall of Alba’s Citadel
we refuse_d
The Antwerp Six
Martial Arts
Plantin’s Plants
Mashid Mohadjerin: Drifting Belgians
Brussels
Bellezza e Bruttezza
Timelapse
ROTONDE
Becoming Ancestors
Collection Meets Spanish Artists
Ghent
Fairground Wonders
Monique Gies: Inside Views
Bruges
The Whispering Walls. Rêve
Inventing Obsessions
Hasselt
Rococo Reboot
Ludo Thys
Before Our Eyes
Kortrijk
Abby & Friends
Leuven
Valérie Mannaerts: Antennae
Ostend
Evenepoel/Ensor
Sint-Martens Latem
Edith Dekyndt
(MOH)
#FlandersNewsService | Artist Laure Prouvost working on The Whispering Walls. Rêve © PHOTO MUSEA BRUGGE
Related news
