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23—26.04.26 Brussels Expo
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Artists shown at the fair:
Section: discovery
Booth: 6C-22
Gallery location: Antwerpen
SOLO PRIZE, supported by TheMerode
Winner 2025: Julien Creuzet, represented by Mendes Wood DM (Brussels)
Quote from the jury: Julien Creuzet’s works are critical expressions at the intersection of Caribbean history and European modernity. In the installation at Art Brussels he combines the Greek myth of Andromeda with the figure of the red devil in Martinique, where he spent his childhood.
The installation at Mendes Wood’s booth brings the viewer into a next level of imagination. A three-dimensional installation of ceramic shell like creatures is set on a bright coloured wall paper of the sea that includes historical and displaced museum artefacts. The sculptures are incorporating 21st century remnants of the sea, like plaster rests of fisher nets and copper wire. They take the viewer into a realm that surprises, inspires, saddens and fills him/her with joy.
The work confronts us with the allegory of life and death and reflects on the complexity of our current times: the difficulty of keeping the fluidity in a world obsessed by boundaries, and submerging us in the sea as a memory of our ecological mistakes.
DISCOVERY ACQUISITION PRIZE, supported by Moleskine
Winner 2025: Thomas Verstraeten, represented by FRED&FERRY (Antwerp)
Quote from the jury: The Discovery Acquisition Prize 2025 is awarded to Thomas Verstraeten for his video work URBI ET ORBI (2024) and the accompanying scale model. Verstraeten is a significant figure in the Belgian arts. His work stands out for its integration of visual and performing arts, as well as its ability to evoke the surreal within everyday contexts. URBI ET ORBI is notable for its ambition: it restages a street scene from his hometown of Antwerp inside a theatre, accompanied by a commissioned musical score and live performance, and is transformed into a video artwork through deliberate cinematic techniques.
The jury values the work’s ambition on multiple levels. It engages directly with current social realities and local communities while avoiding sentimentality. The piece rethinks the notion of performance — not merely documenting an event, but reworking a found situation into a new artistic form.
URBI ET ORBI also raises questions about access to art, merging references to both high art and urban life. It blurs the boundaries between the street and the stage, aligning with the museum’s mission to reflect on its role as a public institution — both as a civic actor and a constructed space within the city and society.
The jury also acknowledges the commitment of the gallery, which has taken a risk in presenting a complex, performance-based work within the commercial context of an art fair. The presentation functions as an exhibition format rather than solely a sales platform.
’68 FORWARD
Winner 2025: Ewa Opalka Gallery (Warsaw) with Eva Partum
Quote from the jury: 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 Gallery Ewa Opalka, 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 Gallery Ewa Opalka for the 68’ forward award.
INVITED PRIZE, supported by NATAN
Winner 2025: Night Café (London)
Quote from the jury: Night Café impressed the jury with a thoughtfully curated group presentation that deeply engaged with the broader practices of its artists. The display challenges the rapid consumption of images, instead inviting visitors to slow down, offering a quiet resistance to the fast-paced nature of an art fair. The works whisper of their durational and intensive creation process, entering into a tranquil dialogue with the (un)seen, the perceptible and the cropped, enticing the audience to be attentive to what emerges beyond the frame.
Their small formats foster an intimate, attentive relationship with the viewer, reflecting the gallery’s ethos. Night Café demonstrates a generous and supportive bond with both its artists and visitors, signaling a promising future for this emerging gallery.
Formerly the Discovery Prize, this award now focuses on supporting museum collections. Instead of rewarding the winning gallery for the best booth presentation in the Discovery section, the prize will now take the form of an increased acquisition budget—up to €10,000 (previously €5,000)—for purchasing an artwork for a museum collection. For Art Brussels 2025, the selected institution will be the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, with Inga Rossi-Schrimpf (Director of Collections) and Pierre-Yves Desaive (Curator) joining the previously announced jury – Marjolaine Lévy (Independent Curator), Tim Roerig (Curator, Z33), and Axel Wieder (Director of the Berlin Biennale). This revised format strengthens the prize’s impact by providing meaningful recognition and support to the artist, the gallery, and the museum.
The Discovery Prize is supported by Moleskine.
Learn more about the section and the prize here.