Exhibitions, music, architecture, books, festivals… this is Belga English’s pick of cultural activities in Flanders and Brussels, published every Sunday.
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds will make their highly anticipated return to Antwerp’s Sportpaleis on 30 and 31 October, after a seven-year hiatus. This time, they bring with them their latest album Wild God, a powerful collection of songs exploring themes of loss, romance and darkness. Known for their intense and captivating live performances, the band promise to deliver another unforgettable show.
Originally envisioned as an ode to joy, Wild God has evolved into something much deeper, shaped by Cave’s ongoing confrontation with grief. “I hope the album has the effect on listeners that it’s had on me. It bursts out of the speaker, and I get swept up with it. It’s a complicated record, but it’s also deeply and joyously infectious,” he said.
Cave, who has long been a fixture in Belgium’s art and music scene, showcased his visual art at the Xavier Hufkens Gallery in Brussels earlier this year. In his exhibition The Devil: A Life, he cataloged the life of the Devil growing from innocence to experience in 17 porcelain figures.
© NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS
Priest, poet and journalist Guido Gezelle died 125 years ago on 27 November 1899. While his literary legacy is well-known, his female correspondents, who wrote more than 600 letters, have largely remained in the shadows. The project Women of Paper seeks to change that by highlighting the voices of 200 women who exchanged letters with Gezelle.
The correspondents ranged from baronesses to chambermaids, nuns and English immigrants in Bruges. They often confided in Gezelle, seeking his advice on personal matters. Helena Walton, a woman in an abusive marriage, asked Gezelle whether it was appropriate to sleep apart from her husband. Many of the letters came from English women who had moved to Belgium to provide their children with a Catholic education and valued Gezelle as a confessor.
Through an exhibition, magazine, podcast, city walks and workshops, Women of Paper touches on topics as relevant today as they were then: migration, social relations, the position of women, mental health, faith and politics.
Twenty artists, authors and poets have drawn inspiration from the letters, blending historical insights with contemporary art. This project not only sheds light on the lives of these women but also reveals a more modern side of Gezelle, showing him as a compassionate man who understood the complexities of women’s lives. The exhibition is free and can be visited on two floors of the Biekorf Library in Bruges until 4 January.
As part of the thematic year dedicated to Guido Gezelle, the travelling exhibition METGEZELLEN offers a unique way to engage with his poetry. The project Het pakt! crosses West Flanders with a mobile studio, inviting residents of streets named after Gezelle to record themselves reading one of his poems. Along with these recordings, participants’ portraits are taken in an oval shape, reminiscent of historical portraiture.
The final aim is to create a virtual choir, where the synchronised voices of residents recite Gezelle’s poems together. This audiovisual installation will be showcased at the Sint-Michielskerk in Kortrijk, using light and sound to bring Gezelle’s words to life. The exhibition runs until 10 November.
Boektopia, Kortrijk’s book festival, kicked off on Saturday at Kortrijk Xpo, with a week of readings, performances and signings. Now in its third year, Boektopia has expanded with an additional hall to accommodate the growing audience. The event will feature prominent national and international authors.
Director Patrick Boeykens highlights the festival’s focus on quality and diversity, showcasing literary talent alongside musical performances. Broadcasting live from the event, Radio 1 and MNM will host authors and musicians for discussions and live podcast recordings. Boektopia will also tour Antwerp, Leuven, Genk and Hasselt on weekends throughout November.
Dutch artist Mark Manders, based in Belgium, expands his ongoing project Self-Portrait as a Building with new rooms in his debut exhibition at the Xavier Hufkens Gallery in Brussels. The exhibition features installations of domestic spaces, such as a bathroom, bedroom and studio, alongside painted bronzes, sculptures and mixed-media works.
For nearly 40 years, Manders has developed Self-Portrait as a Building, using rooms to symbolise different aspects of his identity. Each space represents a part of his character or life experience, blending the boundaries between the real Manders and his fictional persona.
The building itself is never finished, continually expanding. “Nothing is what it seems, and Manders is a master of illusion,” the gallery says.
Manders’ work incorporates echoes of art history, while his sculptures often feel like archaeological finds or modernist designs, creating a sense of timelessness. The exhibition runs until 21 December.
The Too Mad to Be True conference will take place on 30 and 31 October at the Dr Guislain Museum in Ghent. Titled The Paradoxes of Madness, it will explore the complexities of psychosis, addressing the contradictions and paradoxes inherent in mad experiences. Through philosophical, psychological and psychiatric lenses, topics such as selfhood, reality, freedom and care will be examined.
The programme features five keynote speakers and around 60 presentations. Notable speakers include Lorna Collins, Sofia Jeppsson and Sebastjan Vörös, who will discuss madness from philosophical, artistic and personal perspectives. Tickets are available for both in-person and online attendance.
The event aims to challenge traditional perceptions of madness and encourage philosophical sensitivity toward its paradoxical nature.
Additional cultural coverage from Belga this week: Coudenberg Palace in Brussels again accessible with Under-Ground tour, Immersive Smurf Experience returns to Brussels, Leuven, Molenbeek and Namur nominated for European Capital of Culture 2030, More than 100 works by Magritte travel to Australia for major retrospective and Rare signed copy of Tintin in America fetches 190,000 euros at auction.
Ongoing events
(Last chance) To Antarctica, The Polar Pioneers of the Belgica, MAS
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)
#FlandersNewsService | KMSKA © BELGA PHOTO JONAS ROOSENS
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