Discover the ten participating art centers in Ixelles for the PhotoBrussels Festival, in celebration of the Month of Photography.
February is the European Month of Photography. Besides Berlin, Lisbon, Luxembourg, Vienna, and Paris, Brussels, of course, cannot be missing from the list.
Thus, for the eighth edition, the PhotoBrussels Festival takes place. A festival founded by Hangar in 2016 with the aim of bringing together for one month all photography enthusiasts, professionals, and stakeholders.
The festival puts Brussels on the map as an essential player in the international photography world. By being part of the European Month of Photography (EMOP), it attracts both local and international audiences.
As often in the cultural sector, Ixelles also plays an important role in this festival. Hangar initiated the project, and out of the 40 participating locations, ten of them are in Ixelles. So, it’s time to go exploring!
Archiraar Gallery – Ghosts
25th of January – 25th of February
Rue de la Tulipe 35, Ixelles
With the Ghosts series, Jonathan Rosić recycles original snapshots taken from the clutter of “amateur photography”, the abandoned intimacy of anonymous people. These strangers evade each other in gestures that move aside, but participatory gestures suggesting the mute interaction between photographer and photographed. Roland Barthes evokes this refusal: “photography (…) represents that very subtle moment when (…) I am neither a subject nor an object, but rather a subject who feels himself becoming an object: I then live the micro-experience of death (…), I really become a spectre”. The modesty – whether artificial or not – of these ghosts makes photography an abyss: showing the eclipse of ghosts.
ASBL Cultures & Publics – Expérimenter la cocréation par la photographie + lancement de la Revue Why…Not!
25th of January – 25th of February
Rue Mercelis 81, Ixelles
As part of Photo Brussels Festival, La Maison Commune de l’Asbl Cultures & Publics aims to present a photographic co-creation in the form of an exquisite corpse. The exhibition will not showcase individual artists’ work but will be the outcome of an experimental co-creation effort. Each photographer will respond to another photographer through a photographic act. The exhibition will focus on this concept of co-creation, a concept that is also being explored in the context of a photo magazine with the same name, currently in progress.
La Cambre Photography – Open School
25th of January – 28th of January
Rue Simonis 33, Ixelles
The photographic act is an act of creation, often individual, but its outcome is intended for public mediation and exhibition. In order to establish connections between these future young photographers and the Photo Brussels Festival audience, the students will share their research, working processes, and experiments. Photography instructors from La Cambre (Hervé Charles, David De Beyter, Emmanuelle Indekeu, Kamand Razavi) will join them in this endeavor.
KULT XL – CORPUS | CORPUS
20th of February – 23rd of March
Rue Wiertz 23, Ixelles
C O R P U S | C O R P U S is an immersive journey into the intricate interplay between the human body as an object and a subject. The work of the artists showcased delves into the tangible and intangible aspects of the human form and elevates the body to a vessel for emotions, stories and identity within the realm of art. The exhibition presents seven powerful narratives rooted in the flesh, exploring themes of resilience, healing, empowerment, and identity.
K41 NordikEye – See me as who I am
27th of January – 24th of February
Keyenveldstraat 41, Ixelles
The gallery K41 hosts an exhibition that features women artists portraying women. Men have historically explained women and their lives, and male-centered lens (“the male gaze”) continues dominating society’s views on women. The male-centeredness is still noticeable, for instance, in scrutinized interest in women’s physical appearance, unrealistic expectations of caregiving performance, especially in the roles of mother and spouse, and societies’ measures to control women’s sexuality. In contrast to these stereotypes, the exhibition at the K41 gallery draws attention to women’s experiences.
Irene Laub Gallery – Gardening the forest
11th of January – 17th of February
Rue Van Eyck 28, Ixelles
For our next show, we will be presenting a dialogue between Stijn Cole and Elise Peroi, based on the idea of landscape fragmentation. On one hand, Stijn Cole explores the relationship between the artist and his position in the landscape through elusive and expansive moments created from subjective points of view. Elise Peroi, from the other hand, reflects on the notion of time, emptiness and landscape as a “breath”, with spatial installations that function like miniature gardens. The duo exhibition will reflect on the history and essence of landscapes.
Galerie Felix Frachon – Fragment de corps
25th of January – 25th of February
Rue Saint-Georges 5, Ixelles
“Fragmented body to disturb the perception of reality”
The body is also birth and death; it is the engine of all dynamics. The aestheticization of bodies unfolds a new narrative and a modified relationship to reality, for the duration of an immersion in a private space, which is the body of the other.”
Box Galerie – Light. Dark. (and some Smoke)
13th of January – 2nd of March
Chaussée de Vleurgat 102, Ixelles
box galerie & L’Enfant Sauvage are pleased to collaborate for this exhibition of Michael Ackerman, the first in Belgium. Both venues present extensive excerpts from SMOKE, which is the subject of his latest book published by Editions de L’Axolotl, as well as a selection of his most iconic images.
Hangar – Generations of Resilience
26th of January – 23rd of March
Place du Châtelain 18, Ixelles
The exhibition shows the challenges, faced by several generations of Ukrainian photographers. Cyclical processes, historical events and unity erase the borderline between these generations. The collection of photos from the 1970s to present emphasises the spiral nature of the struggle for Ukraine’s independence and democratic development. The history of Ukraine is a struggle for the future, which continues through generations. Here photography and art become one of the main methods to record and archive changes and one of the ways to fight in the war and resist colonial policy.
Tiny Gallery – Ingeborg: Inside View
20th of January – 25th of February
Rue de la Cuve 26, Ixelles
Antwerp art photographer Ingeborg Selleslags, a 2016 victim of the national airport attacks, uses large format portraits in Van Dyke and Cyanotypes to create intricate, long, and meticulous works. These images, created in silence and solitude, explore the vulnerability of leaving life and the loneliness of the last breath of life, ultimately allowing the artist to accept and admire death’s beauty.
Tiny Gallery – Anabelle Schattens Wet-Collodion
29th of January – 25th of February
Rue de la Cuve 26, Ixelles
The ultimate form of confinement is not so much the walls that bound us, but the darkness that shrouds the mind, the fog that weaves between thoughts, disturbing the clarity of being. These sensations felt during confinement became for me the genesis of a poignant photographic ritual. Every day, in our small enclosed courtyard, at the same time, the time when the light sets faces aflame, I set up my view camera. This act of taking pictures became a sacred moment, offering us an escape, a fleeting sense of freedom.
Tiny Gallery – Photo BlaBla Café | Street Photography
9th of January – 27th of February
The Photo Blabla Café exhibition, organized by the Tiny Gallery and part of the Photo Brussels Festival, is a unique gathering for street photography enthusiasts. It features the work of 14 amateur photographers from various countries, all connected to Saint Gilles, Brussels. The photographs, carefully selected during friendly meetings where each artist had the opportunity to present their creations, will be showcased at the Boulodrome de Saint Gilles from January 30 to February 27. This exhibition will offer visitors an immersion into the diverse facets of urban life, embodying the spirit of community and a shared passion for capturing the simplicity and spontaneity of everyday moments.
