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The new kid on the block; there has been much said and written about the art fair Independent coming to Brussels, so whether in favor or against, last night’s opening was surely one of the most anticipated events of the Brussels art fair week. We surely enjoyed this new addition. The fair’s booths are located beautifully around the central atrium, spanning 6 floors of the Vanderborght building. With over 60 international galleries and non-profit institutions from 30 cities, Independent is of course not always easy to navigate, so let us guide you to some of the things you shouldn’t miss.

 

Galerie Gregor Staiger

 

 

This is literally the first booth you’ll pass when you enter the fair, but be sure not to pass by too quickly. This young Swiss gallery is showing some of our favorite artists today: Shana Moulton and Nicolas Party. They are presenting a new sculpture and three videos by Moulton: Restless Leg Saga (2012), MindPlace Thoughtstream(2014) and a trailer for her newest film Every Angle is an Angel which is currently shown at Palais de Tokyo, Paris. These films are accompanied by a new series of Party: twelve watercolour portraits.

 

 

Jocelyn Wolff & Cahn International

 

 

This amazing collaborative booth presents both classic antiques and contemporary art in a setting designed by Guillaume Leblon. Both galleries selected the works on view without knowing what the other gallery would bring, and this results in a very interesting dialogue between old and new, dealing with the idea of marks, of what remains. Besides a large selection of antiques, you can see works by – among others – Katinka Bock, Francisco Tropa and Franz Erhard Walther.

 

 

Micheline Szwajcer

 

 

Micheline Szwajcer is bringing a very diverse selection of fascinating works, by mostly Belgian artists. Among them, a diptych by Ann Veronica Janssens, a large ceramic by Daniel Dewar & Gregory Gicquel, a selection of small sculptures by Jos de Gruyter & Harald Thys and a beautiful Koenraad Dedobbeleer sculpture. The eyecatcher of the booth however is without a doubt David Claerbout’s Olympia – a video with the duration of 1000 years. The video is depicting the decay of a stadium in real time, by nature’s influences. It runs day and night, year in year out, undergoing exactly the same natural and weather conditions that Berlin is undergoing – which are being downloaded in real time.

 

 

Dvir Gallery

 

 

Sarah Ortmeyer’s large-scale installation Internationalismus – a plenitude of baseball caps with the names of Donald Duck’s nephews in all languages – makes sure this is a booth you can’t miss. Ortmeyer’s work is shown together with a brand new series by Jonathan Monk, with appropriated photographs of Sol Lewitt wall drawings, and two works from Simon Fujiwara’s beautiful series Fabulous Beast in which he shaves and stretches old fur coats.

 

 

Galerie Jeanroch Dard

 

 

Don’t miss the fragile yet robust work of Dave Hardy at Jeanroch Dard. Central in the booth is a gigantic freestanding sculpture, flanked by a few beautiful wall pieces. His work out of sheets of glass, foam, metal, cement and found objects seems to defy gravity, and all other laws of nature.

 

 

Galerie Christophe Gaillard

 

 

Christophe Gaillard brings a solo booth with recent works of Rachel de Joode, all dealing with the oscillation between different materials, between photography and object, between two- and three-dimensionality. De Joode’s work balances between two extremes and that becomes beautifully visible in her two works from the series Here I am and things that exist. Ow!, in which highly technical photographs of surfaces and touchable materials are presented as classical sculpture – the pedestals even look a lot like Marcel Duchamp’s Roue de Bicyclette

 

 

Galerie Chantal Crousel

 

 

There are too many great works in Galerie Chantal Crousel’s booth to go over all of them, but the combination of two Jean-Luc Moulène sculptures – polished concrete heads on folded blue moving blankets – with two two-frame films by recent Marcel Duchamp Prize winner Melik Ohanian is definitely a highlight.
Other highlights include a series of ‘self-portraits’ by Abraham Cruzvillegas, work by Hague Yang, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Wolfgang Tillmans.

 

At the end of the tour, arriving upstairs on the fifth floor, there is bar. Be sure not to miss that! The floral arrangements are by Thierry Boutemy, and they have a terrace with one of the nicest views over the city.
We only tried the beers, but the menu looked mouthwatering. Check it out!