Cultural Compass: Jazz Middelheim, astounding operatic premiere, children's art day and more
Exhibitions, music, architecture, books, festivals… this is Belga English's pick of cultural activities in Flanders and Brussels, published every Sunday.
On 16 November, Jazz Middelheim will bring its magic to Antwerp with around 20 concerts and DJ sets across five cultural venues, offering intimate experiences for music lovers. Among the lineup is Julien Tassin, a Belgian guitarist known for his expressive and boundary-pushing approach to jazz. Tassin’s music blends minimalism, ambient and blues with raw emotion and a commitment to strong, lyrical themes. Recently, he expanded his trio to a quartet, adding the talents of American trumpeter Jason Palmer.
This special night will highlight three unique acts. Cinema Paradiso opens with original compositions that merge acoustic warmth and electric textures, setting a soulful tone. Anneleen Boehme follows, showcasing her double bass prowess that merges jazz with classical influences. Finally, Dorian Dumont, a Brussels-based pianist and member of the electro-jazz band ECHT!, closes the evening with his genre-blending sound, drawing from jazz, electronic and hip-hop influences.
Experience a night of rhythmic depth and improvisational spirit. Make sure to book tickets in advance as capacity is limited.
Opera Ballet Vlaanderen’s premiere of Barzakh explores the concept of liminality, drawing on the Arabic word meaning a border space between two worlds, where souls await final judgment. For people in pre-trial detention, barzakh resonates powerfully, reflecting their own state of suspension. Through workshops led by theatre maker Thomas Bellinck in Belgian prisons, incarcerated individuals work collaboratively to shape the performance. Together, they select opera as a starting point, often presenting criminal acts and incarceration in a romanticised manner. This is to question how these portrayals align with reality.
Composer Osama Abdulrasol translates workshop discussions into evocative music for singers and chamber orchestra, adding depth to the performance’s critique of opera’s worldview and the prison system.
The production of Barzakh is rooted in collaboration with detainees in Antwerp and Ghent, facilitated by De Rode Antraciet’s Thomas Baeckens and Sara Delaere. “Many of our initiatives provide a moment of distraction, helping people in detention take their minds off things. A project like Barzakh can mean a lot in someone’s life,” Baeckens and Delaere explain. They compare it to another project with Voetbal Vlaanderen, where inmates train to become youth football coaches, which has shown a lasting impact.
With multilingual subtitles in English and Dutch, Barzakh aims to reach a broad audience while addressing sensitive themes such as suicide. The performance seeks not only to connect but to offer a space for reflection. Performance dates are 13 to 17 November at Opera Ghent.
© Opera Ballet Vlaanderen
Celebrate Children’s Art Day at M HKA on 17 November. There will be a creative party for children, families and all who feel young at heart, featuring interactive art, games, and treats. Explore Nastio Mosquito's King of Klowns, where quirky characters like the Joker and the politician each share their unique worldview. At Agnieszka Polska, a singing sun enchants visitors, bringing flowers to life and revealing hidden mysteries of the earth. Meanwhile, Antje Majewski takes the public on an apple adventure, showcasing this fruit in endless forms and inviting you to create your own.
Panamarenko, the visionary artist, will inspire budding inventors with his fantastical flying backpacks, zeppelins and submarines. The event will also offer free PANAkoek, along with hands-on activities throughout the day: toddler tours, family tours, crafting flower bombs and making paper-mâché apples.
Special highlights include reading and craft sessions inspired by Mosquito’s children’s book, an immersive “Root Shoes” experience by Christine Clinckx where kids can feel what it’s like to be a tree, and planting apple trees with Plukgeluk.
For the Figures exhibition, artist and illustrator Benjamin Monti steps into the role of curator, inviting visitors to explore the origins of his unique visual sources at Les Drapiers | Contemporary Arts Centre. Monti’s work centres around his fascination with “modest” art, found in a variety of printed forms, from children’s books to popular culture artefacts. In Figures, he showcases a particular obsession: a collection of lithographs depicting life-size human figures created by the Wentzel printing house in Wissembourg at the turn of the 20th century. These images, now aged yet vibrantly colourful, present remarkable archetypes representing various social roles. Their expressive humanity endures through vivid hues and poses that verge on the absurd.
Monti brings these images into conversation with Liège puppets, who are crude yet endearing figures. To further bridge the world of printed images with the tactile realm of wood, Monti has invited the woodcut works of illustrator Olivier Deprez. Deprez’s pieces, which he is preparing for publication, reveal timeless figures such as eternal silhouettes deeply embedded in the material world. Together, Monti and Deprez’s works offer a poignant dialogue between image and form, paper and wood, tradition and timelessness. This expo runs from 16 November until 21 December.
Additional cultural coverage from Belga this week: PhotoBrussels Festival returns for ninth edition in January, Installation aims to make men aware of threatening behaviour, Book looted by Nazis to return to Jewish Museum of Belgium
Ongoing events
Whats the Story? KMSKA
Emile Claus: The Prince of Luminisim, Mudel Museum of Deinze
Alechinsky, Pinceau Voyageur
Cindy Sherman, ENSOR 2024, FOMU
Masquerade, Make-up and Ensor, MOMU
Ensor's States of Imagination, Plantin-Moretus Museum
In Your Wildest Dreams: Ensor Beyond Impressionism, KMKSA
Margaret of Parma, MOU
Alternative Narrative, MSK
Lucy McKenzie Super Palace, Z33
René Magritte X Emily Mae Smith, Magritte Museum
(MOH)
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