Cultural Compass: Greek opera, Brussels museums open late and art as resistance

8 March 2026

Every Sunday, Belga English picks its favourite events from the cultural agenda. This week: Mozart's Idomeneo goes from ancient Greece to modern day, Brussels museums stay up past their bedtime and M HKA highlights artists against censorship.

Idoemeno, 10 until 28 March, La Monnaie, Brussels

Idomeneo, re di Creta brings one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s earliest operatic masterpieces to the stage in a striking production by Spanish director Calixto Bieito. Premiered in 1781, the opera marked Mozart’s breakthrough in the genre, combining lyrical arias with grand choral scenes and intense emotional drama.

The story unfolds after the Trojan War. King Idomeneo survives a violent storm at sea only after making a desperate vow to Neptune: he will sacrifice the first person he meets on land. When that person turns out to be his own son, Idamante, the king is plunged into a moral nightmare, torn between paternal love and divine obligation. Around this central conflict swirl other powerful emotions such as love, jealousy and political reconciliation, embodied in characters such as Ilia, the Trojan princess who loves Idamante, and the volatile Elettra.

Bieito approaches the opera less as a mythological spectacle than as an exploration of the mind. His staging delves into what he describes as the “labyrinth” of Idomeneo’s psyche, where memories and fears surface like waves from the depths. The production foregrounds the intimate drama between father and son, presenting the ancient myth as a psychological and spiritual struggle rather than a distant legend.

Brussels Museums Nocturnes, 12 March until 23 April, Brussels

More than 40 museums across Brussels will once again open their doors late on Thursday evenings for the annual Brussels Museums Nocturnes, inviting visitors to experience the city’s cultural scene in a relaxed after-hours setting. Over six weeks, museums across the capital host a lively programme of exhibitions, performances and special activities, offering an accessible and often surprising way to discover Brussels’ diverse museum landscape.

Each week brings a different selection of venues and experiences. Visitors might find themselves sampling beers infused with herbs from the garden of the Erasmus House in Anderlecht, joining an aphrodisiac-themed tasting at the Museum of Erotics and Mythology, or discovering forgotten plant varieties at La Loge. Elsewhere, the Royal Library of Belgium (KBR) introduces guests to the rhythms of medieval dance, while other institutions offer workshops, guided tours and encounters with artists.

Major cultural players such as BOZAR also take part, opening their exhibitions for the evening alongside a wide range of smaller and specialised museums. The programme features both familiar institutions and returning or newly participating venues, from the ULB Museum of Zoology and Anthropology to Clockarium and Belgian Chocolate Village, highlighting the breadth of Brussels’ cultural offer.

we refuse_d, 13 March until 7 June, M HKA, Antwerp

The group exhibition we refuse_d brings together fifteen international artists whose work centres on resistance, persistence and the necessity of artistic expression. Developed through an ongoing dialogue between artists and curators, the exhibition explores what it means to continue creating in circumstances marked by censorship, displacement and silenced voices. Rather than presenting refusal as a withdrawal, the participating artists approach it as an active stance, a way of asserting presence and autonomy through art.

The exhibition echoes the spirit of the nineteenth-century Salon des Refusés in Paris, where artists whose work had been rejected by the official Salon found alternative ways to show their art. In a similar vein, we refuse_d reflects on moments when creative voices are marginalised, and how artists respond by forging new spaces for expression and solidarity.

Many of the works presented are newly commissioned, offering personal and often deeply political reflections on endurance, heritage and collective care. Through installations, images, performances and other media, the artists examine themes of resilience and community, tracing paths through crisis while questioning the systems that attempt to silence them.

At its core, we refuse_d is not only about resistance but also about life and perseverance. The exhibition highlights the fragile optimism that emerges in difficult times, affirming art as a vital force, one that continues to speak, connect and endure even when faced with pressure to fall silent.

^{#FlandersNewsService | The Wiertz Museum, Brussels © PHOTO HIDDENRAVEN / VISIT BRUSSELS}