Is Brussels getting a Pride Museum?
Plus: a new Bozar show and the Affordable Art Fair open next week.
Reading time: 3 minutes.
It would make sense for Brussels, the epicenter of European policymaking and an ever popular meeting point for global leaders, to have a museum dedicated to the history of LGBT+ people.
So when it was announced earlier this week that a Pride Museum is in the works, no one asked why. “Queer art is inherently political,” their press release rightly states.
The main question, as of now, is where. What historical building could lend its hallowed halls to this cause? What format would best serve a dynamic, changing community?
The team behind this project is looking at a few different places across town.
One option is the former MIMA, a contemporary art space close to the canal that closed down back in December, after operating for a decade, due to lack of funds. Its building is now up for grabs.
The Pride Museum is only one of several candidates vying for the building; its owners are supposed to announce their decision in the next few weeks. Of course, once a location is secured the work of creating its insides will commence.
The team wants to “dedicate the space to queer art and queer resilience,” one of the co-founders, Giorgi Tabagari, told me. “The idea is to focus on temporary exhibitions and create a space that the queer community actively uses.”
All in all, we’ll probably see the grand opening sometime in the next few years. But the team is working on pop-ups in the meantime — the first set for Brussels Pride Month, in May.
I will be curious to see if they end up changing the name down the line. Calling it a ‘museum’ would normally imply the existence and preservation of a permanent collection. (For this reason the Bozar, which does not own a collection but instead uses the space solely for temporary exhibits, is not a museum but a Center for Fine Arts.)
But perhaps, with enough funding, this could become a possibility down the line.
Piece of the week
These were part of the Bozar’s ‘Love is Louder’ exhibit last year, and I’ve also seen them in the homes of a couple Flemish collectors.
“One great love is enough” (Un grand amour suffit) )and its pair “No great love will suffice” (Aucun grand amour suffit) are “testaments to how love can be all-consuming,” read the curators’ description.
Philippe Vandenberg was an important Belgium artist from Ghent, who dealt with themes of love and human suffering and often incorporated text into his work.
If I’d seen these pieces a few years ago, I probably would’ve walked right past. But having spent a significant amount of time since learning art history, I can now appreciate certain aspects of contemporary art on a deeper level.
I appreciate that 120 years ago, Matisse showed some of his work in Paris and one of his paintings — a portrait of his wife in which he had left the canvas visible instead of filling in the background, as in this work here — was considered sinful. Viewers were appalled, reviews were scathing. It was shocking to see a seemingly unfinished draft exposed as such.
Gertrude Stein, a close friend of the Matisses at the time, wrote in her book that he almost gave up painting altogether after that.
As I now know all of that, I know (one of the reasons) why this Philippe Vandenberg work matters.
I know humanity went through a thousand years of art history in order to get to a point where this piece could not only be displayed — but admired.
So when I saw these two pieces last year, I stopped and looked closely.
I admired them.
What’s going on?
‘The Enchanted Forest,’ a show featuring works by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos (this year’s guest of honor at BRAFA) is opening at 11am on Saturday, at Galerie La Patinoire, in central Brussels.
The Affordable Art Fair, showing mostly emerging artists and work significantly cheaper that you’d normally find at an art fair, is opening next Wednesday at Tour & Taxis and will be there until Sunday, February 9th.
‘When We See Us’ : a new Bozar exhibit showcasing African artists of the past 100 years and featuring works lent by Cape Town’s Museum of Contemporary Art, is opening next Friday.
The PhotoBrussels Festival continues until February 23rd.
Flagey’s Piano Days are coming up as well.
On Tuesday afternoon, several cultural organizations are hosting an event to discuss the future of cultural policy and what European institutions can do about it. More info here, and the livestream here.
If you’ll excuse me, I’m now heading to BRAFA one more time before it’s gone. If you’re there today too, shout!
Have wonderful weekends,
Ana
LOVE this part about Philippe Vandenberg. It’s great to read about how taste and admiration evolves over time. It really does. Some things grow on you, others less and some lose your complete interest.