Brussels Confidential

(Pieterjan Ginckels, Human Disco Bong © Schunck)

“Private Investigations” is no longer just a well-known song by Dire Straits: until the end of February, the Beursschouwburg’s second “focus programme” will be sailing under the same flag. The mix of performing arts, an exhibition, films, and concerts, presents exceptional artists with an unusual aesthetic who are looking for answers to personal issues.

1. Installations
Recent works by three Belgian, one British, and one French artist occupy the corridors and the stairwell. The subjective voyage of searching and discovery is at the heart of the project’s exhibition. Els Viaene recounts her trip through the Amazon forest in Brazil in a sound sculpture filled with water (The Mamori Expedition, 2009). What you hear is a colourful mix of atmospheric soundscapes, natural sounds, and animal sounds that the viewer actively discovers by sounding the water with an electronic “fishing rod”. After, among other things, constructing cycling race tracks in Aalst (Netwerk) and Brussels (Bozar), Pieterjan Ginckels brings a sequel to the Beursschouwburg: Human Disco Bong (2012), an installation made up of 120 cycling helmets decorated with fragments of mirror by an equal number of people. This, too, is an interactive work: at random intervals the huge bundle of helmets is disentangled and the public can put on the cheerful headgear.
18/1 > 22/2, free

2. Mac-help
As a keen fan of the Mac, the Brussels-based Frenchman Philippe Beloul has been known to repair a friend’s laptop after work. In Le projet Macxorciste he does so for everyone. A chance to have that crack in your screen or your broken keyboard seen to for free! As well as practical, made-to-measure assistance, in his “repair shop” Beloul also serves up a mix of humour and philosophy with his characteristic disarming shyness.
Le projet Macxorciste, 18/1, 5 > 8.30 pm & 9 > 10.30 pm; 19/1, 3 > 6 pm, 23 & 25/1, 14, 15, 21 & 22/2, 9 > 10.30 pm, free, in FR

3. First steps
The Frenchman Antoine Defoort calls himself an “ardisde de variédé” (his own French for “variety artiste”). He has toured internationally with physical, rather absurd, and amusing shows such as the much-talked-of Cheval (2009). Since January, together with Halory Goerger and Julien Fournet – together they are known as “L’Amicale de production” – he has been artist in residence at the Beursschouwburg. These evenings represent the first steps in their shared journey of exploration. Un faible degré d’originalité sets out to look into the significance and importance of concepts like “originality”, “intellectual property”, and “copyright”. You can expect to be treated to an original, intellectually stimulating, and funny work-in-progress production that will have a lot in common with a rock concert. (© Belinda Annaloro)
Un faible degré d’originalité, 23/1 & 25/1, 8.30 pm, €7, in FR

4. Radical and spiritual
The Dutch-Austrian duo of Vincent Riebeek and Florentina Holzinger created shock waves with their Kein Applaus für Scheisse, a show, at once brazen and paradoxical, that presented trashy extravagance and serious research alongside each other. In their new production, Spirit, they have promised to show a gentler side of themselves, although the Beursschouwburg’s organisers speak of a “radical theatrical experience”. As the title suggests, the duo has taken a spiritual turn. Spirit is a personal account of their experiences with yoga, magic, and tarot cards. (© Phile Deprez)
Spirit, 30 & 31/1, 8.30 pm, €8,50/10/12, in EN

5. Poignant
The most serious – and poignant – project comes from the Brussels video artist Sarah Vanagt, in cooperation with the photographer Katrien Vermeire. The Wave is a film about the archaeological excavation of a Spanish mass grave in which nine people murdered by the dictator Franco were buried in 1939. Vanagt and Vermeire’s images remove the human presence by digitally eliminating those doing the digging, leaving only the bodies, which gradually reach the surface from the dust and earth. The overwhelming images are accompanied by a soundtrack with the reactions of relations to the controversial exhumations. (© Sarah Vanagt & Katrien Vermeire)
The Wave, 1/2, 8.30 pm, €5/7, in NL, subtitles in EN

6. An imagined life
Janek Turkowski’s Margarete is a fictional multimedia production based on non-fiction material. Years ago, in a German jumble sale, the Polish artist bought a Super-8 projector and some films, which all contained footage of the same woman. Through holidays in different countries and at dozens of parties and solemn occasions, the woman changed and aged. “Margarete” remained silent, however. In Turkowski’s moving work he gives her a name, a voice, a life story, and a history that serves almost as a pattern for every mortal’s life story.
Margarete, 14 & 15/2, 8.30 pm, €8,50/10/12, in EN

7. My Little Pony
In the 1980s lots of little girls used to play with My Little Pony – little pastel-coloured horse-like creatures with braided manes and tails. For Bryan Campbell, who comes from the US, they – and above all, the animation series of the same name – have remained an obsession. In Research for the Quadruped Protagonist he analyses all the characters and their social environments. He does so with an almost creepy academic precision that aims to hold up a mirror to our own society.
Research for the Quadruped Protagonist, 21 & 22/2, 8.30 pm, €8,50/10/12, in EN

PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS • 18/1 > 22/2,Beursschouwburg, rue A. Ortsstraat 20-28, Brussel/Bruxelles, 02-550.03.50, www.beursschouwburg.be