Museums of the World: WIELS Brussels

Today, Artsper travels abroad again, this time to Belgium and explores with you a museum like no other: WIELS.

WIELS is the result of the refurbishment of a former beer brewery in Forest, a cultural neighborhood in Brussels; it is an international laboratory for the creation and dissemination of contemporary art. Although strongly focused on the fine arts, WIELS also supports the potential crossings between disciplines, in order to present contemporary art in all its diversity. Debates are held regularly with the public in the idea of establishing a permanent dialog.

WIELS is not just a museum. It is actually an institution that has, under one roof, the roles of presentation, production and education. Several exhibitions are organized every year (monographic ones, group shows, by guest curators etc. ), in addition to the international program residencies hosting emerging, innovative and creative artists. The pedagogic programs are a strength of WIELS, which wants to raise the public awareness through instructional workshops and educational projects. Anchored within the non-profit organizations network in Forest, WIELS gives the neighborhood an unprecedented cultural dynamism.

On February 21st, WIELS hosts a panorama of works by German artist Franz Erhard Walther, who participated in two of the two of the most significant exhibitions in the history of the art, appearing in history books: When Attitudes Become Form (1969) and documenta V (1972) organized by legendary curator Harald Szeemann. Bringing together essential works produced from the 1950s until today, the show focuses on the Walther’s capacity to transform the concept of object and of perception associated with the object.

Belgium is not that far away. Here is an overview: