main partner
23—26.04.26 Brussels Expo
main partner
Caicoya / Calvaresi / Einspach & Czapolai Fine Art / Galerie Sabine Bayasli / Galleria Studio G7 / Gallery RIMA / Isabel Hurley / LARSEN / WARNER / MF Toninelli Art Moderne / Smolka Contemporary / Tempesta Gallery
Since the inception of Art Brussels in 1968, contemporary art has been marked by significant diversity, experimentation, and a breaking away from traditional conventions. ’68 Forward is a section dedicated to these many different artistic movements, offering a platform for both established artists as well as artists that have remained under the radar.
Awarded to the gallery presenting the best booth in the ’68 Forward section, this prize grants the winning gallery €5.000.
Discover below the jury members of this year’s prize, which will be awarded on the opening day of the fair, Thursday 23 April.
The ’68 Forward Prize is supported by Natan.
Alain Lombard, born in 1956, worked from 1982 to 2023 in the French Ministry of Culture. He was General Secretary of the French Academy in Rome (Italy), French Cultural Attaché in Budapest (Hungary), General Director of Villa Arson (National Art School in Nice), General Administrator of Orsay Museum in Paris, Director of Collection Lambert (Contemporary Art Museum in Avignon).
Since 2024, he is President of Lee Ufan Foundation in Arles and General Delegate of ADIAF, an association of French Contemporary Art Collectors organizing the Marcel Duchamp Prize.
He published two books, about the French Ministry of Culture and about Cultural Diplomacy.
María Inés Rodríguez is a Colombian-French curator based in Brussels. She is the Director of the Walter & Nicole Leblanc Foundation and the Artistic Director of Tropical Papers. She previously held leadership and curatorial positions at major institutions including CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, MASP in São Paulo, MUAC in Mexico City, MUSAC in Spain, and the Jeu de Paume in Paris.
Deeply committed to promoting dialogue between artistic creation and its historical, political, and social contexts, she has consistently advocated for the interconnectedness of art with broader cultural implications, both locally and globally.
She currently serves on the Boards of the Musée LaM – Lille Métropole and the Fondation Martell (France); has served as a jury member for The Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award Programme at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter (Norway) since 2019 and is a member of the Acquisitions Committee of KANAL–Centre Pompidou in Brussels.
© Danh Vo
Ilse Roosens is a curator at Mu.ZEE in Ostend, the museum for art in Belgium from 1880 until tomorrow. Decolonial, ecofeminist and post-capitalist topics lay the groundwork for her work both inside and outside the museum. Ilse Roosens questions existing power structures and focuses on the social responsibility of institutions, governments and artists. Co-authorship and polyphony are focal points of her working ethic. She is actively rethinking the formats for presenting collections by experimenting with transhistorical concepts.
At Mu.ZEE she has curated exhibitions such as Aglaia Konrad: KAMMERSPIEL (2023); Maarten Vanden Eynde: Digging up the Future (2021) together with Katerina Gregos; Orla Barry & Els Dietvorst: Wintrum Frod (2019), Frans Masereel and Contemporary Art: Images of Resistance (2017), and Carsten Höller: Videoretrospective with Two Lightmachines (2016). She co-curated the performance programmes The Longest Day (2024; 2026) and Chambres d’O (2019; 2020), contributed to publications such as Friends in a Field: Conversations with Raoul De Keyser (2022), and is currently collaborating with Suchan Kinoshita on an art commission taking the form of the residency ‘Mu.ZEE APOTHEEK ATELIER’ (2025–2028).
Ilse Roosens has curated a number of projects independently, and has written essays for different publications, galleries and magazines, most recently for the monograph of Elen Braga (MER. Books, 2025).
In 2018 she co-founded the MEER curatorial collective, focusing on artists working with video and performance art. Ilse Roosens has been a guest lecturer at Kunstakademie, Münster; HISK/Higher Institute for Fine Arts, Ghent/Brussels; Level Five, Brussels; Cas-co, Leuven; KU Leuven; Ghent University, LUCA Brussels; LUCA Ghent; Sint-Lucas Antwerp and KULAK Kortrijk. She has juried the Marianne Van Vyve Prize (2023) and the Lichen Curatorial Prize (2021) and is vice president of the Friends of S.M.A.K. Ghent. Prior to Mu.ZEE she worked at S.M.A.K. Ghent and Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerp.
© Buro Bonito
2025 — Ewa Opalka Gallery
2024 — Richard Saltoun Gallery
In reviewing all the booths in the 68’ Forward section, the jury appreciated how the galleries in this section highlight artists whose work has been historically overlooked or is at risk of being forgotten. This includes both artists who passed away at a young age and those who are still living but have not yet received the recognition they deserve. Through solo presentations and group shows, the section succeeds in reintroducing important voices to a contemporary audience.
From this compelling selection — which we hope everyone had the chance to experience up close — one gallery stood out to the jury. A solo exhibition booth dedicated to a feminist artist active from the 1970s and 1980s to the present day. While feminist voices from both past and present are increasingly gaining global recognition, we believe this subject remains highly relevant and timely, particularly in light of current global conversations around women’s rights.
The jury awards the prize to Ewa Opalka Gallery, presenting a remarkable selection of works by polish artist Eva Partum. The museum-quality presentation highlights the artist’s hybrid practices and the range of strategies she employs to engage critically with institutional and market structures, using humor as an accessible and deliberate form of resistance. Through the intelligent references embedded in her work, viewers are reminded of how vital and interconnected feminist voices have been — and continue to be — in the history of art.
In other words, it is with great pleasure, that the jury commends both Eva Partum’s powerful artistic practice and the strong curatorial vision of Ewa Opalka Gallery for the 68’ Forward prize.