Today, Thursday April 18th, 2013 at the Place de Belgique in the Brussels Expo (Heysel), the 31st edition of Art Brussels inaugurates a totally redesigned fair with a revamped interior design conceived as an art city, or a city of art.
Upon arriving at the fair, visitors pass through a reception hall that is reminiscent of an airport check-in hall. From this point on, the journey through the city of art begins.
For the last 15 years, Art Brussels Artistic Director Karen Renders -who passed away prematurely in October 2012- held a position of leadership managing one of the leading contemporary art fairs in the world and whose artistic dynamism, commercial focus have supported a young generation of galleries and artists giving them a platform within the fair.
It was Karen Renders’ expressed wish to appoint the international curator Katerina Gregos to a new function in which both the artistic vision and the accompanying programming of the fair would to be developed further.
"At a time when, despite the economic crisis, art fairs continue to proliferate and competition is intense, it is extremely challenging for me to be able to work on developing a distinct artistic identity and positioning for Art Brussels," said Katerina Gregos, Art Brussels Artistic Director.
In the spirit of a new concept and with the aim of supporting young Belgian talents, Art Brussels commissioned two Brussels-based designers, Natacha Cadonici and Miss V. to dress their hostesses as veritable art hostesses whose fashionable looks are the perfect fit for the new Art Brussels interior design.
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| Brussels Expo (Heysel) Photo Credit: Osama Mohamed Rott |
With Art Brussels' new showcase, Gregos, hopes to move away from what she herself describes as the “supermarket-style, ‘mix-and-match’ form of presentation” and towards one more coherent, creative and adventurous way of exhibition.
The 2013 edition of Art Brussels is also renewed in spatial sense with new scenography and installation conceived by the 30 year-old Belgian designer Tom Mares who along 32 year-old Walt van Beek, have created an innovative concept where visitors go through an airport-style check-in lobby before entering the fair.
Along with this new design look, the fair has been given a new graphic identity as well with Sara De Bondt Studio, commissioned to create a new campaign and a new design for the catalogue.
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| Maarten Vanden Eynde Brick Era', +/- 2013 A.D., Concrete and bricks Images Courtesy the artist and Meessen De Clercq, Brussels |
At the entrance of the fair, an outdoor installation greets visitors with two dozen hybrid stones formations by 36 year-old Belgium artist Maarten Vanden Eynde. His work explores the dichotomy between nature and culture, questioning issues such as evolution and progress.
"Naturally formed stones were omnipresent on our planet; you could find them almost anywhere on earth, in the mountains, in the desserts and even in the oceans; Homo Sapiens created two new kinds of stones: bricks and concrete and slowly they took over the natural environment," said Maarten Vanden Eynde.
Another highlight at the fair, is Netherlands artist Han Hoogerbrugge’s animation Parade inspired by the historic, emblematic painting of the Belgian expressionist and surrealist James Ensor (1860 – 1949), Christ’s Entry into Brussels (1889).
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| Han Hoogerbrugge, Parade 2013, Animation, Image Courtesy of the Artist and Base-Alpha Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium and Galerie Bertrand Baraudou Special project for the new Range Rover, commissioned by Land Rover Belgium |
Commissioned by Land Rover Belgium, the artist transformed a Range Rover into an iconic art work about masses, movement and individuality. Hoogerbrugge, is an artist, illustrator, and animator whose work spans diverse media and is regarded as one of the pioneers of internet art and has become known for the animations he has posted regularly on the net since the end of the 1990s.