April 20–23, 2023
The 39th edition of Art Brussels will take place Thursday April 20 to Sunday April 23, 2023 in halls five & six of Brussels Expo.
With 152 participating galleries from 32 countries, the fair will feature works from established and emerging artists from around the world, providing a platform for collectors, curators, and art enthusiasts to discover - and rediscover - new and exciting artists. The fair’s diverse, rich programme will bring together more than 800 artists, showcasing the best of the contemporary gallery scene and proving that Art Brussels remains as forward-looking and innovative as ever.
Art Brussels: One fair, four different sections
The participating galleries are divided into four different sections according to the artists exhibited: PRIME (for mid-career and established artists), DISCOVERY (emerging artists), REDISCOVERY (artists whose works from the 20th Century deserve to be placed in the spotlight again) and SOLO (solo artist presentations). For more info about the full exhibitor list, please visit here.
Artistic initiatives and projects at the fair:
REVELATIONS by Delen Private Bank & Bank Van Breda
In the art installation Revelations, Delen Private Bank and Bank Van Breda invite visitors to enter a cube in search of reflection and introspection. From the outside, the cube looks murky, veiled behind a hazy layer of mist. Inside, everything is crystal clear. A series of mirrors creates a sense of infinity and transparency. As he goes, the visitor discovers himself from every possible angle. What do the mirrors reveal about him, about her? Did the visitor’s reality alter once he left the cube? A passage of barely a few minutes encourages the visitor to briefly contemplate, confront, and maybe even revel.
The KickCancer Collection
Art Brussels is delighted to introduce a new charity initiative for its 39th edition: The KickCancer Collection. The KickCancer Collection will present a monumental wall of postcard-sized artworks at the fair. A unique opportunity to own original artworks by some of today’s leading artists, all works will be sold at a flat rate of 400 EUR to benefit the Belgian KickCancer Foundation, which finances research on children’s cancer and empowers patients and their families. All postcards are displayed anonymously (they are signed on the reverse) with the name of the artist only revealed after the purchase of the artwork. Participating galleries include: Almine Rech, Ballon Rouge, Baronian, Bernier/Eliades, Ceysson & Bénétière, dépendance, Lelong & Co., Galerie Nagel Draxler, Gladstone, Harlan Levey Projects, Mendes Wood DM, Nino Mier, P420, rodolphe janssen, Xavier Hufkens and Zeno X. Participating artists include: Kasper Bosmans, Peter Buggenhout, Jos de Gruyter & Harald Thys, Edith Dekyndt, Joëlle Dubois, Nathalie Du Pasquier, Alain Séchas, Walter Swennen, Gert & Uwe Tobias, Maarten Vanden Eynde, Sophie Whettnall
In loving memory of Mark Vanmoerkerke in the Stibbe Lounge
The exhibition in the lounge of our partner Stibbe, a leading, independent, international law firm, will show a selection of works from the private collection of the Vanmoerkerke family and has been carefully chosen to honour the life of entrepreneur, collector, friend, husband and father, the late Mark Vanmoerkerke, who passed away on 26 October 2022. The exhibition will feature works by the following artists: Alighiero Boetti, Maurizio Cattelan, Sam Durant, Lucio Fontana, Robert Longo, Léo Marfurt, Gerhard Richter, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman and Wolfgang Tillmans.
Ruinart’s Carte Blanche 2023 with Eva Jospin
This year, Maison Ruinart invited the French artist Eva Jospin for its Carte Blanche program. She has been inspired by the Champagne region and the history of Ruinart to create a mineral and plant landscape. Inspired by references to the Maison’s culture and the handing-down of knowledge intricately linked to the terroir, Eva Jospin’s installation draws on temporal and geological strata. The interlacing layers guide us as we meander through the landscape, wide-eyed. Made primarily from cardboard, the artist’s favourite material, this realm reminds us that creativity can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Celebrating patient, repeated gestures, but also the element of mystery within each piece of art, her work echoes the making of champagne, which elevates the grape through an alchemy of fermentation and unique know-how. Open to multiple interpretations, Eva Jospin’s installation subtly evokes a promenade through the Champagne region through the ages. Eva Jospin is represented by the gallery Suzanne Tarasieve which counts among the participating galleries of Art Brussels. The French artist will also have her exhibition “Panorama” running at Fondation Thalie from 15 April until 15 July 2023.
The Violet Wallpaper by Laurie Charles
With Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, curated by Zeynep Kubat. Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles presents The Violet Wallpaper by Laurie Charles. Brussels-based artist Charles (*1987, Belgium) creates speculative narratives by interweaving stories and histories, drawing on fiction, folklore, humanities and science. Rewriting the history of illness and care from a female perspective to create this installation, she draws deeply from her own experience with autoimmune disease. Societies minimise, generalise or patronise sick bodies, female bodies, coloured bodies, disabled bodies, traumatised bodies, fat bodies, poor bodies. The domestic labour conditions of these bodies are worsening in a post-covid context, influenced by wars and an economic recession. Charles connects politics of labour with politics of the body through her installation, which is inspired by the short story The Yellow Wallpaper (1892) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
BeCraft
BeCraft is a collective of Belgian artists who are supported, promoted, trained and educated in Belgium and globally as part a continuous exchange between the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and the international world. Since 1981, BeCraft has been the only not for profit representative in the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles for contemporary applied arts.
Art Brussels takes place from Thursday April 20 to Sunday April 23, 2023. Info & tickets here.
Opening day: April 20, preview from 11am–4pm, and vernissage from 4–9pm
Public days: Friday April 21, Saturday April 22 and Sunday April 23 from 11am–7pm
New location! Brussels Expo, Halls 5 & 6, Place de Belgique 1, 1020 Brussels
