Western art has been strongly influenced and inspired throughout the centuries by the concept of the 'border' and the 'threshold'. This idea is the common thread through the 9th edition of the Brussels ARTONOV Festival from 7 to 15 October, which takes place in, among others, Fondation blan, Les Brigittines, the architecture office BOB361 and primary school no. 13. The programme promises a diverse range of performances featuring, for example, the Trio Xenakis, Silvia Costa and many other creations. Chloé Moglia opens the festival with a contemporary circus spectacle in the Ravensteingalerij, completely free!
The ARTONOV Festival brings together music, dance, theatre, fashion, and visual arts in various Brussels art nouveau and art deco buildings and other remarkable architectural gems. "ARTONOV continually reinvents itself. This edition is therefore packed with new disciplines, artists and locations," says artistic director Vincenzo Casale. "And because previous editions were often sold out, this year features new venues with greater capacity."
The City of Brussels proclaimed 2023 the 'Year of Art Nouveau', and ARTONOV deliberately highlights the architectural style with several new locations. For example, the festival presents Les Souffles at the Schaerbeek primary school no. 13, a production devised by contemporary dancer and musician Mathieu Calmelet, sound artist Octave Courtin and visual artist Ludivine Large-Bessette. Three individuals and strange wind sculptures interact with each other, breathe, tense up, let go and dream about new relationships between the human body and its environment (08.10, 17:00).
Around the Ambiorixsquare and in Sint-Gillis, three art nouveau mansions make their ARTONOV debut. The Maison Hannon hosts a creation by Japanese sound artist Tomoko Sauvage and Belgian artist Elise Peroi. One makes music with water bowls, the other explores the ancestral gestural world of weaving (10.10, various performances). Not far away, two houses by architect Gustave Strauven open their doors for two short, intimate performances, which will be repeated several times. Belgian gambist Thomas Baeté presents a carte blanche programme at the Strauven House with On Solitude. He draws inspiration from the fragile and vulnerable beauty of the architect's former home (10.10, multiple performances). In the same vein, Belgian lutenist Sofie Vanden Eynde and Iranian tar and sitar player Shahab Azinmehr blend their music and traditions at the Saint-Cyr House, which with its beautiful ironwork is one of the finest examples of Brussels art nouveau (09.10, various performances).
At the Royal Museums of Art and History (KMKG) in Jubilee Park, the ensemble Sturm und Klang and Belgian mezzo-soprano Pauline Claes present their sung monodrama La jeune fille à la fenêtre, in which they examine the symbolist repertoire of Eugène Samuel-Holeman and Camille Lemonnier (15.10, 12:00).
This year ARTONOV takes place for the first time at Les Brigittines. The music and light show ALLIAGE(S) is a creation of the percussionists from the Xenakis Trio with visual artist Vivian Daval. The audience is invited to experiment and perceive sound and space in a different way (07.10, 18:30 & 20:30).
Further highlights include new venues such as the Fondation blan (Elsene), where visitors can discover the site-specific work Extant by Jamie Lee and Stanislav Dobák (Motionhouse) during their residency at the Fondation. This gripping interdisciplinary performance transforms the space into a film studio and creates a fascinating experience blending dance and film (14.10, 18:30 & 20:30).
Italian artist Silvia Costa presents no fewer than two performances. At La Mercerie, Dans le pays d'hiver will be shown, specially adapted for the venue. This subtle and poetic performance, inspired by Cesare Pavese's Dialogues avec Leuco, combines theatre and visual art and is performed in Italian, with French and Dutch subtitles (13.10, 18:30 & 20:30). The next day, in the flats of the living and working unit BOB361, Costa presents E Dio si riposó il settimo giorno. This creative and interactive work explores and celebrates family bonds, bringing four generations together to work on a large painting (14.10, 11:00 to 13:30, continuously accessible).
Last but not least the festival also offers performances for the whole family. Spat'Sonore, the collective known for their instruments that carry sound through space in a special way, presents the Brussels premiere of Madeleines dans la galaxie at the Sint-Gorikshallen. The six musician-machinists invite young people from 8 to 88 years old into their sound igloo for an extraordinary musical experience (12.10, various performances). Finally, at the Ravensteingalerij, the performance Horizon takes place. Suspended from a slender structure reminiscent of a sculpture, French dancer-acrobat Chloé Moglia will defy the laws of gravity in a dizzying manner (07.10, 16:00).
Practical information
7 to 15 October at various locations in BrusselsTickets: 18 € /13 € (advance booking) ; 20 € /15 € (on the spot)
PASS : 48 € (3 performances), 75 € (5 performances)
Discover the full programme at festival-artonov.eu