Cultural Compass: The art of Tosca, Neo Rauch's visual language and art in the city

Every Sunday, Belga English picks its favourite events from the cultural agenda. This week: monumental paintings adorn the stage of Puccini's Tosca, German artist Neo Rauch's work comes to Antwerp and M HKA lets art out from inside the walls of the museum.

Tosca, 17 June-1 July, La Monnaie, Brussels

Love, desire, power and betrayal collide in Puccini’s Tosca, one of opera’s most gripping thrillers. Set in politically repressed Rome, the story follows the celebrated singer Floria Tosca as she becomes trapped in a deadly game orchestrated by the ruthless police chief Baron Scarpia. When her lover, the painter and revolutionary Mario Cavaradossi, falls into Scarpia’s hands, Tosca is forced to confront an impossible choice between love and survival.

For its new production, La Monnaie turns a fresh eye on Puccini’s masterpiece. Spanish director Rafael R Villalobos explores the relationship between religion and power, examining how faith can be used as a tool of political control. Drawing inspiration from filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, the production highlights the influence of the Vatican on Roman society, revealing striking parallels with contemporary debates about authority, morality and freedom.

Visual artist Santiago Ydáñez contributes a powerful series of paintings created specifically for the production. Inspired by themes of martyrdom, violence and spirituality, his works evoke the tension at the heart of the opera. References to Caravaggio’s dramatic Judith Beheading Holofernes underscore the story.

Neo Rauch: Balance, 20 June-19 October, Museum De Reede, Antwerp

Reality and dream, history and imagination, order and chaos: in the work of German artist Neo Rauch, these opposites coexist in a world that feels both familiar and unsettling. This summer, Museum De Reede presents a major exhibition of Rauch’s graphic work, offering a rare opportunity to explore the artistic universe of one of Europe’s most influential contemporary artists.

Bringing together works on paper from across nearly four decades, the exhibition reveals Rauch’s distinctive visual language, in which mysterious figures move through landscapes suspended between past and future. Drawing on fragments of memory, history and fantasy, his compositions invite viewers into narratives that remain deliberately open-ended.

Titled Balance, the exhibition explores the tensions at the heart of Rauch’s oeuvre. Rather than harmony, balance emerges as a fragile state between certainty and ambiguity, movement and stillness. Alongside colourful prints, visitors can discover a selection of monumental works on paper that showcase the scale and ambition of his vision.

M HKA On the Spot, until 30 June, Antwerp

Last chance to catch M HKA On the Spot, the city-wide exhibition that turns Antwerp into a living extension of the city's museum of contemporary art. Until the end of June, visitors can encounter key works from the collection at more than 30 galleries, project spaces and cultural venues throughout the city.

Instead of concentrating art within a single museum building, the project disperses it into everyday sites, creating unexpected encounters between works and their surroundings. Visitors might stumble upon Marlene Dumas’ emotionally charged portraits in a gallery setting, or come across Otobong Nkanga’s works The Connector and The Accumulator, which explore material memory and ecological connection. Alongside them, artists such as Luc Tuymans, Francis Alÿs and Guillaume Bijl reflect the international scope and critical edge of the collection.

M HKA On the Spot transforms Antwerp into a fragmented museum landscape, inviting audiences to rediscover both the city and the institution itself before the works return behind museum walls.

​​(MOH)

_{​#FlandersNewsService | Paintings from Tosca at La Monnaie © PHOTO LA MONNAIE}

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