Discover Benelux | Culture Feature | Art Brussels and Poppositions
Nicolas Party, Xavier Hufkens, Art Brussels 2018. Photo: David Plas
Brussels’ best booths TEXT: MATT ANTONIAK | PHOTOS: COURTESY OF POPPOSITIONS AND ART BRUSSELS
Upon one of the biggest weeks in the Belgian art calendar, I find myself back in the blisteringly hot capital, sweating my way through the art fairs Art Brussels and Poppositions. 19-22 April was the time of the year when the art world descended upon the city, with artists, collectors, gallerists, and keen art aficionados swarming Brussels’ cobbled streets to visit the fairs and the exhibitions opening. First on my agenda was Poppositions, an art fair that isn’t really an art fair. It positions itself as a ‘counterpoint to mainstream fairs’ and delineates itself immediately by refusing to use the typical white-cube booths that you find at most. 80 | Issue 53 | May 2018
In a similarly unique manner, each year Poppositions finds a new venue, and this year was held in the stunning Atelier Coppens in downtown Brussels. Formerly a banana warehouse before being home to a surrealist designer, the four floors of the art deco building played host to some 30+ galleries and off-spaces from around the globe. I arrived the day after the preview, and wading past the bleary eyes at the front desk I was immediately met with a huge totemic installation by British artist Mat Do, presented by MAMA, Rotterdam. The installation examines contemporary society’s insatiable desire and addictions, and was activated when viewers had their hair cut within the installation,
by hairdressers from the salon DKUK. Indeed, much of Poppositions’ fare held a similar society-based conceptual drive thanks to the curatorial framework based around alternative future existences. Podium from Oslo, and Laagencia from Colombia were highlights on this front. Perhaps thankfully, there were booths that provided a bit of aesthetic meat to digest in this concept-heavy presentation; Brigham Baker’s awning paintings with Dienstgebäude (CH) and Charlie Godet Thomas’ poetic drawings with VITRINE (UK) being good examples. A personal favourite, and a project that in its DNA is inherently tied to Poppositions’ ethos of existing alternatively, was Billytown. From The Hague, and