Art Brussels is on this weekend
One of Europe’s leading contemporary art fairs is back for its 40th edition.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes.
This year’s edition of Art Brussels, the contemporary art fair, is absolutely glorious.
If you’ve been reading this newsletter for the past few months, you already know lots of art fairs take place in Brussels year-round.
If you’re new here, welcome! This newsletter has previously covered:
BRAFA, Belgium’s fine art fair
The Affordable Art Fair, practically the polar opposite
How art fairs work in general and what purpose they serve.
Leading up to this week’s edition, I spoke to people who we’ve been going to Art Brussels for twenty years — and others who’d never heard of it before. It seems the EU bubble is pretty evenly split into those two categories.
But whichever category you fall into, you’re bound to come across some pieces you’ll enjoy if you decide to pay the fair a visit this weekend.
I hadn’t realized before my visit yesterday, but it’s quite the international gathering: out of the whopping 178 galleries displaying works, only 25% are Belgian. I spoke to one galerist who came over from Los Angeles, who told me Belgian collectors are some of his biggest clients.
According to official data the fair has released, about 36% of the works on display were by women — which is not great, but sadly quite a big percentage compared to other fairs. Female artists continue being widely under-represented in galleries, museums and the art market at large.
While visitors are welcome, the galleries’ goal is to sell. I asked one of my favorites how they were doing, and they had already sold a couple pieces. Another one, a Dutch gallery, did not share specifics but said I can report they are “doing well.”
Also present at the fair was the Royal Chamber of Art Dealers of Belgium (ROCAD), which was recruiting signatures for a petition against raising VAT rates on art sold in Brussels.
They are asking politicians to reconsider raising the VAT rate as part of the EU Directive 2022/542, which “mandates the partial abolition of the special profit margin scheme for the art market sector,” as one art lawyer explained it to me, and is bound to come into force by January 1st, 2025.
The move would put the Belgian art market at a disadvantage — particularly as France and Luxembourg have opted for reduced VAT rates (5.5% and 7% respectively) under the directive.
In any case, the fair is on until Sunday night. If you go, I’d love to see which pieces resonated with you.
Happening soon
Comedian Lewis Black is coming to Brussels on May 16th with his farewell tour.
Contemporary jewelry-making is an art form of its own. Brussels Jewelry Week is on until May 5th.
Not in Brussels but close enough: Mons’ Museum of Fine Arts has a new exhibit of Rodin sculptures, meant to highlight the time he spent working in Belgium.
A Belgian chamber music ensemble that’s been around for 30 years is holding a series of small concerts at Tricoterie, near Marolles, next week.
Enjoy your weekends,
Ana