Cultural Compass: Cello winners, art at home and design week
Every Sunday, Belga English picks its favourite events from the cultural agenda. This week: The winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition for cello begin their recital tour, S.M.A.K. brings a treasured exhibition back after 40 years and Antwerp transforms for Design Week.
Queen Elisabeth Laureates’ Concerts, 3-13 June, Flanders and Brussels
While the winners of the 2026 Queen Elisabeth Competition for cello were announced last night, the competition does not end with the jury's verdict. For the newly crowned laureates, a series of prestigious concerts will offer the first opportunity to present themselves to audiences following weeks of intense competition.
The traditional Laureates' Concerts, held at Bozar in Brussels, allow the highest-ranked finalists to return to the stage and perform once more before the Belgian public. Freed from the pressure of competition, the concerts provide audiences with a chance to hear the musicians in a different context and to discover the artistic personalities that convinced the international jury.
For many winners, the performances mark the beginning of a significant new chapter in their careers. The Queen Elisabeth Competition has long served as a springboard for young musicians, with laureates often receiving invitations from orchestras, concert halls and festivals around the world.
The concerts also offer a final opportunity for music lovers to experience the exceptional level of this year's cello edition, which coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. After weeks of auditions, semi-finals and a demanding final round, the laureates will once again take centre stage at Flagey in Brussels, the Concertgebouw in Bruges, the Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp and several other locations in Flanders.
Chambres d’Amis, until 10 January, S.M.A.K., Ghent
Forty years after it transformed the contemporary art world, Chambres d’Amis returns to the spotlight at S.M.A.K.. The legendary 1986 exhibition, conceived by curator Jan Hoet, broke radically with museum conventions by placing artworks in the homes of ordinary Ghent residents rather than within gallery walls.
To mark the anniversary, S.M.A.K. is revisiting the project through a new exhibition that reflects on its enduring legacy. Rather than recreating the original show, artists Heike Pallanca, Haim Steinbach and Susanne Kriemann offer contemporary responses to the idea of bringing art into everyday life.
© BELGA VIDEO JONAS D'HOLLANDER
The exhibition also delves into the rich archive of Chambres d’Amis, exploring how 51 international artists transformed living rooms, staircases and private interiors across the city. Alongside photographs and historical documents are the memories of the residents who opened their doors to the project, revealing the personal encounters, friendships and sometimes unexpected stories that emerged when art entered the domestic sphere.
What made Chambres d’Amis revolutionary was its insistence that art could exist beyond the museum. Four decades later, its questions about where art belongs, and who it is for, remain as relevant as ever.
Antwerp Design Week, until 3 June
Antwerp is once again turning itself into a city-sized design laboratory with the latest edition of Antwerp Design Week, bringing together more than 100 brands, showrooms, exhibitions and creative interventions across the city. Rather than a conventional trade fair, the event unfolds through five districts and dozens of often unexpected locations, inviting visitors to discover design where it is conceived, produced and experienced.
What sets Antwerp Design Week apart is its scale and atmosphere. International and Belgian brands open their headquarters, studios and temporary exhibition spaces, creating a more intimate alternative to the vast commercial design fairs elsewhere in Europe. The city itself becomes part of the experience, with hidden courtyards, waterfront venues and architectural landmarks transformed into meeting places for designers, makers and the public.
This year’s programme places particular emphasis on material innovation, craftsmanship and the relationship between design and everyday life. Alongside showroom presentations, visitors can encounter experimental installations, design walks, talks and collaborative projects that blur the boundaries between furniture, architecture, art and urban space. At the Waagnatie on the Scheldt waterfront, the Antwerp Design Market returns with 150 exhibitors presenting collectible twentieth-century furniture, lighting and objects, while across the city brands and designers use the week to launch new collections and site-specific works.
Ongoing events
Antwerp
Antony Gormley: Geestgrond until 20 September
Treasures of Tutankhamun until 31 August
we refuse_d until 7 June
The Antwerp Six until 17 January
Martial Arts until 29 November
Plantin’s Plants until 2 August
Mashid Mohadjerin: Drifting Belgians until 30 August
The Tower of Babel until 8 June
Ghent
Chambres d’Amis until 10 January
Bruges
The Whispering Walls Rêve
Inventing Obsessions until 19 June
Brussels
Bellezza e Bruttezza until 14 June
ROTONDE
Becoming Ancestors until 28 June
Collection Meets Spanish Artists until 16 August
Hasselt
Ludo Thys until 27 September
Before Our Eyes until 23 August
Kortrijk
Abby & Friends until 13 September
Leuven
Valérie Mannaerts: Antennae until 30 August
Jabbeke
Constant Permeke: The English Years (1914-1919) until 15 November
(MOH)
#FlandersNewsService | Queen Elisabeth Competition for cello © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
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