Culture beat – February 4

It’s almost an insult that the French organisers of the Salon du Chocolat waited so long to bring the world’s biggest chocolate fair to Brussels (the travelling event has already hit the UK, Japan, Brazil and of course France). One suspects they were a tad embarrassed to bring so many coals to Newcastle. Not only are the Belgians among the biggest consumers per capita of the sweet stuff, but they’ve also been known to make chocolate of the finest quality. The Salon features awards, tastings, workshops and meet-and-greets throughout the weekend plus a chocolate-themed fashion show.

The recently announced winners of the Médiatine Awards are ready for their close-up. Every year a jury of culture professionals recognizes sixteen exceptional young visual artists plying the contemporary scene. This year’s selected artists include French-American photographer Jessica Champeaux, whose triple triptych Wash Inside Out fudges the line between public and private space by emphasizing the affective experience of urban landscapes. Like Proust, Champeaux proves that the devil is in the details. The exhibition opens next Wednesday night and runs until March 9.

This month’s English stand-up comedy night is upon us, featuring two performers who weave songwriting and live music into their acts. Boothby Graffoe regularly shares the stage with quirky Canadian pop/rock group Barenaked Ladies. Mik Artistik began his career as a street artist, drawing pen-and-ink portraits on paper bags across his native Yorkshire—the ideal internship for an aspiring comic.

Bozar’s focus on Greece continues with the contemporary theatre piece Late Night. Its creators, Athenian theatre company Blitz, present Europe’s recent troubles in allegory, as a dysfunctional ballroom scene.

Bozar also hosts the tenth edition of Art Truc Troc this weekend. Leave your wallet at home. This unique Brussels art fair is based on the barter system. Three hundred artists are on-hand to trade their work for goods, services or whatever else you might offer. For the first time, this year’s Troc includes design as well as fine arts.

Cuban singer/songwriter Rey Cabrera is celebrating fifty years of music-making with a party in his adopted hometown. The Santiago de Cuba native installed himself in Brussels ten years ago but it was forty years prior that a younger and presumably slimmer Cabrera first picked up the guitar. He has been playing Cuban popular music at home and abroad ever since. A special nine-piece band helps the maestro mark his golden jubilee. Together they will present songs from his new album Controversia.

Next week the capital welcomes screen legend Isabella Rossellini, who is in town to perform Green Porno live. Based on the series of cheeky sketches broadcast on American cable television (and syndicated throughout Europe), the show sees Rossellini rehearse animal mating behaviour with the aid of playful, intentionally kitschy costumes and sets. If it sounds surreal, that’s because it is.