Art Brussels 2016
The 34th edition of Art Brussels will be the first to take place at the fair’s new location, Tour & Taxis, a turn of the century former Customs House situated in Brussels’ inner city area.
The 2016 edition brings together 140 galleries from 28 countries in three main sections. The International Committee and Discovery Committees have selected 31 newcomers to the fair.
A new section, REDISCOVERY, will feature 15 galleries. It will be dedicated to art from the period between 1917 and 1987, and will present important artists from the historical avant‐garde that have been under‐estimated, overlooked, or unduly forgotten. REDISCOVERY will also feature works by artists such as Roy DeCarava, Bob Law, Barbara & Michael Leisgen, Véra Molnar, Yuko Nasaka and Eduardo Terrazas, building a bridge between artistic practices of the present to those of the past.
PRIME will comprise 98 established galleries representing internationally established artists.
DISCOVERY will feature 30 galleries representing emerging artists whose work is not yet known to a wider public.
As always, Art Brussels continues to place emphasis on the individual presentation of artists with 24 galleries presenting projects in SOLO.
Though it retains its youthful profile as a fair where one discovers new artists and galleries, Art Brussels is one of Europe’s oldest fairs. Founded in 1968 as ‘Art Actuel,' it was conceived by a small group of well‐respected Belgian gallerists who each invited a gallery from abroad to exhibit. In the earlier years the fair hopped between locations as diverse as the Casino in Knokke (1972) to the Palais des Beaux‐Arts in Brussels (1976). In 1989 the fair moved to the former Expo ‘58 premises in Heyzel where it remained until last year.
Until 1997 it was managed by the non‐profit Association of Belgian Contemporary Art Galleries, when it was bought by the Artexis‐Easyfairs group, active in multi‐format venues and events business at an international level. With the move to its spectacular new location, Art Brussels continues to evolve, with a view to retaining its cutting‐edge character.
