Cultural Compass: Kortrijk Art Weekend, operatic Greek myth, Sum 41's final tour and more
Exhibitions, music, architecture, books, festivals… this is Belga English's pick of cultural activities in Flanders and Brussels, published every Sunday.
The centre of Kortrijk will be transformed into an art hub on 26 and 27 October. Kortrijk Art Weekend represents 28 organisations, including museums, galleries and art centres. Throughout the weekend, temporary exhibitions, lectures, performances and guided tours will complement the regular offerings of the participating venues.
Exhbitions include A Body A Line A Costume where illustrators Dolores Bouckaert and Pé Vermeersch explore themes of fragility and eroticism through their work, which spans various media, including large and small formats and virtual platforms.
Costume designer Anita Evenepoel adds to the exhibition with pieces from her distinctive, monumental collection. In this playful exhibition, the costume becomes a second skin, merging art and performance. Salon Radical transforms into a vibrant space, blending materials, lines and bodies in a stimulating artistic environment.
Transcending imagination
The exhibition Over the Ocean merges two worlds where nature and culture unite through art. Luc Verbeke’s monumental sculptures, shaped by his travels between Kortrijk and Carrara, Italy, meet Monica Villarroel Celsi’s vibrant paintings, inspired by her Chilean roots.
The ocean, both as a physical distance and a symbolic space, connects their creative visions. Verbeke’s work embodies Earth’s strength, while Villarroel Celsi captures nature’s fluidity and emotion, creating a dialogue that invites viewers on a journey where the ocean transcends imagination.
Events take place all over the city.
Fans of the Canadian punk rock band Sum 41 will have a last chance to see them live in Belgium before they retire after 28 years. Led by frontman Deryck Whibley, the band are releasing their final album, Heaven: Hell, featuring the hit Dopamine, and embarking on a world tour that runs into 2025.
After their energetic performance at Rock Werchter last summer, they'll perform once more in Brussels on 23 October at the ING Arena before officially calling it a day.
This week at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Christoph Willibald Glück’s retelling of the Greek myth Iphigénie en Tauride will take on a modern twist. This version of the story focuses on how war tears families apart and blurs the line between military and civilian life. A brother and sister, separated by politics, are both fleeing and suffering, caught in a tragedy driven by blind ideologies. The impending catastrophe is narrowly avoided through the intervention of Diana, who breaks the chain of inevitable consequences.
In this contemporary production, director Rafael R Villalobos has used the war between Russia and Ukraine as his inspiration for the action on stage. He believes the subject matter of this Greek myth endures, saying it “shows that the classic tragedy about the disruptive consequences of war is not only timeless but also burningly topical”.
Villalobos’ search to bring a universal message landed on two harrowing testimonies. He was haunted by the bombing of the Mariupol theatre in Ukraine in 2022 and the hostage crisis in 2022 at the Dubrovka Theatre in Moscow, when Chechen militants held 912 people captive.
It is not lost on the director that both of these events happened in a theatre. “As with any production that goes back to a classical tragedy, we try to focus on the universal nature of the story,” he says. “This scenario has unfortunately been repeated so many times over the centuries in so many places around the world. We try not to fall into clichés or too specific references.”
The six performances of this classic take place in Antwerp from 25 October until 5 November.
© OPERA BALLET VLAANDEREN
The Dr Guislain Museum in Ghent presents Unhinged, an exhibition exploring the complexities of mental health and wellbeing in today’s society. Through five themes, it examines how we perceive behaviours that have often been misunderstood or stigmatised.
In the past, those with "abnormal" behaviors were often confined to institutions, but modern psychiatric care has evolved. The exhibition highlights the shifting power dynamics within psychiatry and the ways in which labels can be both helpful and limiting. It also touches on the mind-body debate and the role of imagination in understanding mental health.
The exhibition presents a mix of objects, books and art, along with personal stories and insights. Rather than focusing solely on the history of psychiatry, Unhinged emphasises the importance of mental health today.
“It pushes illusions and stereotypical ways of thinking about illness, health and the arts to the limit. Mental health is not a pursuit of specialised hospitals, not the work of psychologists and psychiatrists alone, but of artists and our entire culture,” the museum says.
The museum showcases this evolution, housed in Belgium’s oldest mental institution, established in 1857. Unhinged is on display until 30 December 2025.
Additional cultural coverage from Belga this week: Film Fest Gent awards director of Julie Zwijgt and honours Palestinian filmmaker, Top tennis players visit Antwerp diamond museum ahead of European Open, Belgian artist famous for paper costumes passes away and Brussels museums gear up for annual Night Fever celebration
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
To Antarctica, The Polar Pioneers of the Belgica, MAS
Margaret of Parma, MOU
Alternative Narrative, MSK
Lucy McKenzie Super Palace, Z33
Juliette Vanwaterloo’s Burn it All Down, BPS22
Alain Séchas’ Never Get Bored, BPS22
René Magritte X Emily Mae Smith, Magritte Museum
(MOH)
#FlandersNewsService | KMSKA © BELGA PHOTO JONAS ROOSENS