Art Brussels

The new Horizons section will showcase large-scale works that could not be presented in traditional booths, offering ambitious proposals the opportunity to unfold fully in the spectacular Hall 6 of Brussels Expo. For this first edition, guest curator Devrim Bayar (Senior Curator at KANAL-Centre Pompidou) has selected seven proposals, most of which are by female artists: Aglaia Konrad, Elen Braga, Ymen Berhouma, Jacqueline de Jong, Pao Hui Kao, Oswald Oberhuber and Zuzanna Czebatul.

This intergenerational selection brings together a variety of media, from painting and sculpture to design and tapestry. Despite the heterogeneity of the practices, certain echoes emerge between the works, particularly around revisited architectural motifs. Aglaia Konrad‘s new installation, originally produced for the Vienna Secession, reuses the iconic elliptical windows of an iconic Brutalist building in Brussels (the CBR building) and thus resonates with Zuzanna Czebatul‘s proposal, which evokes the canons of classical architecture by filling the exhibition space with monumental inflatable columns, reminiscent of fragments of ancient ruins in a state of collapse. For her part, Pao Hui Kao constructs a genuine space, both architectural and meditative, through the transcendent materiality of folded tracing paper, rice glue and Urushi lacquer.

Other works, more directly pictorial, energetically convey streams of thought and give visual form to the chaos of the world — whether external or internal. This is particularly true of the historic work of Jacqueline de Jong, whose vibrant painting responds to Ymen Berhouma‘s series of works on paper, in which gestures, lines and accumulations become the tangible traces of a constantly evolving mental movement. Oswald Oberhuber‘s work, created in 1983 for the steirischer herbst festival in Graz, Austria, illustrates a space that is both idyllic and fantastical, combining abstraction and naturalistic references, and invites the public to meditate on nature, colour and the poetic transformation of forms.

Elen Braga directly questions the notion of monumentality. Her tapestry, originally installed under the Arc de Triomphe in Brussels’ Parc du Cinquantenaire to temporarily replace the Belgian flag on International Women’s Day, questions the role of monuments, pride and national representation in a complex political context. Inspired by biblical and mythological stories, the artist depicts herself in a tracksuit, lifting an Olympic discus. The work transforms art into an endurance test and competition, with a subtle irony that emphasises both performance and provocation.

By bringing together these bold and varied works, the Horizons section affirms the vitality and diversity of contemporary creation, inviting the public to rethink the space, the gaze and the narratives that permeate our societies. It also highlights the importance of giving artists the freedom to fully deploy their proposals, where ambition meets the scope of the artistic gesture.

Devrim Bayar

Senior Curator at KANAL-Centre Pompidou in Brussels.

Previously she was curator at WIELS Contemporary Art Centre in Brussels, where she curated the exhibitions of Wolfgang Tillmans, R.H. Quaytman, Jacqueline de Jong, Huguette Caland, René Daniëls, Sammy Baloji, Pierre Leguillon, Thomas Bayrle, Daan van Golden, Helena Almeida, among other artists, as well as group shows, such as Something Stronger Than Me* exploring recent developments in collaborative art practices. Bayar also co-curated a series of exhibitions Un-Scene featuring emerging artists working in Belgium. Her independent curatorial projects include the Geneva Biennale — Sculpture Garden (2022) and Poésie contre fin du monde conceived with French artist Ethan Assouline as a sort of experimental community library in Montpellier (2024). Bayar is an author and editor of numerous publications and exhibitions catalogues, with recent essays on Walter Pfeiffer (Swiss Institute/Pacific, 2025) and Mimosa Echard (Mousse Publishing, 2025). Devrim Bayar recently initiated the Brussels Ass Book Fair, an independent book fair featuring productions from LGBTQIA+ communities, as well as a music programme dedicated to sound productions by multidisciplinary artists broadcasted on community radio Kiosk.