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What's on this week: 10-16 November

23:59 09/11/2017
Tattoos, jazz drawings and gay film. Here's our pick for the coming week

The Brussels francophone theatre company Les Voyageurs sans Bagage revisits Shakespeare with the playful comedy L’être ou ne pas l’être this weekend. It stars one of his best-known characters, Richard III, who resents being cast as a power-seeking tyrant. He seeks revenge by plotting the capture of the playwright in order to re-write the drama, transforming him into a hero in the style of Hamlet or Romeo. Written and directed by Mohamed and Oussamah Allouchi.
10-11 November 20.00, 12 November 15.00, Maison des Cultures et de la Cohésion Sociale de Molenbeek. Tickets €1.25-€10

Belgian artist Céline Cuvelier runs a painting workshop in a women’s prison in Forest. In the exhibition Plus loin les yeux, Cuvelier presents paintings of some of the personal objects confiscated on inmates’ arrival. She has also recreated a prison cell in which she has written their testimonies. “It’s a way of bringing their personal belongings to life and allowing them to express themselves,” she says. Cuvelier invites the public to question their perceptions of this marginalised group in society, as part of the annual Journées Nationales de la Prison.
10-22 November, 14.00-18.00 and by appointment, Hotel Bloom, 9th floor, Rue Royale 250, Saint-Josse

The Korean Cultural Centre, in collaboration with Photo Brussels Festival is presenting Synchronizing Instances. The photographers in this exhibition, two Belgians and two Koreans, use their art to express human emotions and desires but with very different visions and techniques. On Tuesday evening there will be an artists' talk at 18.30 followed by the opening of the show at 19.30 which will feature tastings of Korean foods and drinks. Free, but registration is necessary for the talk.
Until 20 January 2018, Korean Cultural Centre, Brussels

The CIVA Foundation’s current exhibition, Water, Architecture and the Town, presents the winning projects for the Philippe Rothier Prize which is awarded triennially to "works of collective and cultural value with regional roots and using natural and sustainable materials that draw on the genius of the European town and a dialogue with the past and with history". Water has, of course, long been present in towns and cities but today, growing ecological awareness and the fight against waste has placed water back on the agenda. Towns are opening up old canals that had been filled in and, more generally, architecture and landscape projects include requirements in favour of recycling water.
Until 12 November, free

In 1945 a group of artistes known as the Jeune Peinture Belge was created, assembling many artists of different styles but all of great talent. The Young Belgian Art Prize is the current incarnation. If you would like to see 33 examples of this art of the post-war years through to the 1970s you can get up close and personal with it at Cornette Bruxelles' auction on Sunday 12 November.

It’s the 16th edition of Pink Screens, Brussels’ most engaging, most light-hearted gay film festival. Mostly at the iconic Cinema Nova but also at the Cinemas Aventure and Galeries, the almost completely volunteer-run festival brings us 70 short and feature films. From the opening night God’s Own Country which takes place in rural Yorkshire, to a documentary on gay cruises, to a coming of age story in Brooklyn, to gay women in Palestine - there’s something for everyone. An art exhibition, closing party at la Bodega and conviviality in the Nova’s cellar bar will keep you going.
Until 18 November

It’s time once again for art gallery La Forest Divonne’s Project Room during which they showcase young emerging artists. Gallery owner Jean de Malherbe is a great talent scout and he is presenting a photographer duo Elsa & Johanna, visual artist Ola Lanko and painter Orsten Groom in the gallery’s splendid Art Deco/Modernist space.
Until 6 December

On Sunday from 16.00-20.00 it’s Museomix at the Museum of the City of Brussels on the Grand-Place. This initiative started in France and now occurs in eight countries, 13 cities and 14 locations in Europe and Latin America. Non professionals take over a museum and reimagine it.

It’s the second edition of Bruxelles sur Scènes this month; if you have a decent grasp of French (though there are purely musical evenings) you will enjoy a plethora of very varied live theatrical experiences in the many theatre-cafés of Brussels. From Oh, et puis merde! to Entre Deux Verres theres’s lots to choose from and there’s also an unlimited pass available.
Until 26 November

La Central(e), the City of Brussels’ contemporary art museum, is presenting Private Choices which sheds light on 11 private Brussels collections including work by Belgian and international artists, established or emerging. How do these passionate collectors shape the art world, a world increasingly commercialised? "Whether these collections are methodical, intuitive, secretive or shared, they all tell a private story," the curator says.

Jazz Station presents Improvised Drawings, a show of sketches of jazz musicians by two artists with very different styles. Philippe Debognie draws the faces of jazz musicians in a realist style while Serge Dehaes - when he isn’t doing the colours for Geluck’s Le Chat or creating comic books or school texts or children’s books - has produced these freehand illustrations of jazz musicians playing.
Opening 10 November 18.00. Show on display until 16 December, free

Ready for some ink? It’s the International Brussels Tattoo Convention this weekend at Tour & Taxis. Tattoos, live shows and bands, custom cars and bikes, lucha libre, burlesque acts, and an elite roster of international tattoo artists ready to illustrate you.
10-12 November, 12.00-20.00

Brussels-based singer/songwriter Brigitte Stolk presents the second show of her fashion brand Just Be, teaming up with stylists Pauline Benier and Laurent Dohet-Remy, who explore and reinvent clothing with style and simplicity. “This is more than just a fashion show,” the Stolk says. “It’s an exploration into helping people feel comfortable in their own skin.”
11 November 18.30-23.30, Peep Art Gallery, Rue des Minimes 33 

Written by Richard Harris, Sarah Crew, Paul McNally