Fatima! Paolo! Abdel! Fabrice Samyn is shouting out names for 8 hours at Brussels Courthouse

Fatima! Julien! Abdel! Paolo! Ryan! If you hurry, you can still hear him shout out those names. Fabrice Samyn has been going at it since 10am this morning and the Belgian artist will continue his performance until 6pm, in that grand entrance hall of the Brussels Courthouse (Justitiepaleis/Palais de Justice). Samyn is shouting out the 365 names you’ll find in his All saints book. It comprises 365 ‘tags’ people have left on benches and trees in public areas in Brussels. Samyn covered them with gold leaf, photographed them and then assembled his alternative ‘calendar’: each day represents a different saint. Samyn was only calling out the names today, but the 188 copies of his book will still be on view in cabinets at the entrance hall till April 27.

 

Unearthly party on nine big video screens: ‘The feast of Trimalchio’, new at Vanhaerents Art Collection (Brussels)

Going into town tonight, for that special Gallery Night (6pm-10pm), on the occasion of Art Brussels? Don’t forget to include the Vanhaerents Art Collection in your programme. They’re open as well. And why am I telling you this? Because art collector Walter Vanhaerents has just replaced David Altmejd’s impressive Colossi by an equally impressive (and huge) 3 channel (9 screens) video installation by Russian art collective AES+F: The feast of Trimalchio.
It was shown already at the Biennales in Venice and Sydney. You might not be a fan of the aesthetic aspect of this video, based on a character from Petronius’ Satyricon, but you will still be impressed by the artistic tour de force: the video is actually made up of individual photographs of lots of models in a studio, while the setting was digitally created.
Going over to the Vanhaerents Collection tomorrow (2pm-5pm) is even a better idea: then you can visit the rest of the collection too. The feast of Trimalchio will stay on show at the project room till November 30, 2013. More pics after the jump, video teaser here. (all images: courtesy Vanhaerents Art Collection).

Three balloons and a tiny raft: Neal Beggs and Erwan Mahéo winners of Art In The City 2012 (Art Brussels)

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While Matt Connors has been awarded the Belgacom Art Prize for the best solo show at the 30th edition of Art Brussels, Neal Beggs and Erwan Mahéo have been chosen as winners of Art In The City, the outdoor sculpture contest set up each year by Art Brussels. It means that they will be invited to create a sculpture for a specific public space for the city of Brussels. The sculptures of the 12 participating artists of Art In The City are on view till Sunday April 22 (8am-8pm) in the lovely Egmont Park (the park behind The Hotel, formerly the Hilton, Blvd de Waterloo 38, Brussels).

A townhouse of a different kind: Maison Particulière (Brussels) presents contemporary art from private collections

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If only my house would look like this… I finally managed to pay a visit to an art center of a wonderfully different kind in Brussels: Maison Particulière. This renovated townhouse devoted to contemporary art opened in April 2011 and in its many rooms the owners present temporary, rather eclectic exhibitions with works of art from private collections. You can wander around freely through the house, sit in one of the many couches and flip through the catalogues with info about the artists presented. Tomorrow is the last day for a visit to Lightness?. On April 19 Maison Particulière opens its next exhibition: Struggle(s), with works by Ai Weiwei, Louise Bourgeois, Elmgreen & Dragset, Paul McCarthy and Thomas Schütte. Nice. Just one small thing: too bad you have to pay €10 for a visit, which is what you pay for a big exhibition at a big venue such as Bozar.

Rock-paper-balloon… a testing ground of a different kind (‘Untried untested’, Kate McIntosh)

Is it possible to lie down on soap bubbles? What happens if you squeeze a balloon real hard? For those who’ve never lost that childish urge of wanting to investigate the world and all things in it: Untried untested, by Kate McIntosh, produced by CAMPO (Ghent). Four girls trying and testing what can be done to and with balloons, books, ropes, rocks, soap bubbles and… the body of a performer.

In your face: ‘Fuck paintings’ by Betty Tompkins (Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels)

There I was, surrounded by large-scale paintings of female genitalia. What was I to think? Are they shocking me? Or is it just a gimmick, wearing out quickly? Let’s put it this way: I like it when art confuses me. American artist Betty Tompkins has been painting these greyish, photorealistic images since 1969, trying to balance two elements: the abstract and the sexual. On a couple of occasions, they have been censored (by French customs in 1973, by Japanese customs in 2006). Centre Pompidou (Paris) has bought one of her early paintings and put it on display during elles @ centrepompidou in 2009. One thing is certain: you have to be in front of these Fuck paintings to really be able to form an opinion about them. They have a slight haze, adding to the abstract element, that pictures don’t capture. So, don’t let them scare you and walk through the doorway of Galerie Rodolphe Janssen (Brussels), before March 17. One detail: you just have to compliment the gallery for making a small catalog available for free containing an interview with Tompkins explaining her art. If only more galleries would do this.

 

Dancer rising from the dead: Jan Fabre revisits ‘Preparatio mortis’

I wonder what a florist would think of it. If he would see how an enormous amount of beautiful flowers gets destroyed by a dancer. On the other hand: more than anyone else a florist is used to the circle of birth and death Jan Fabre is referring to in Preparatio mortis. A short version of this performance premiered in France at the Festival d’Avignon in 2005. The Belgian visual artist/choreographer/theatre director recently revisited it and presented a longer version, at deSingel (Antwerp).