What’s on this week: 15-21 January

Brussels Jazz Festival takes to the internet this year for a full evening of groovy funk, soul and jazz. The line-up – filled in with band info and interviews – includes local stars of the scene  such as Naima Joris, Alex Koo, a collaboration among Philip Catherine, Angelo Moustapha and Lionel Loueke and the fantastic father-and-son duo The Gallands (pictured), who mix it up with hip-hop, electro and breakbeat. The evening leaves you dancing to DJ Dick D’Alaise until midnight. 16 January 20.00

How would Belgian masters of the applied arts decorate the home of one of the most famous architects in history? The Horta Museum in Brussels has teamed up with BeCraft, an association of artists working in ceramics, glass and textile and other utilitarian materials, to find out. Wander around Victor Horta’s former home to find surprising installations that work to break down the barriers between the fine arts and design. 15 January to 18 April, Rue Américaine 27 (Saint-Gilles)

Whether forgotten or struggling to be recognised, women filmmakers have not had an easy go in an industry dominated by men, not to mention the male gaze. Elles Tournent turns the tables, dedicating the festival to new feature films and shorts made by women. It’s all online, the movies are free to watch, and almost all of them have English subtitles. 21-29 January

Israeli-Belgian gallery owner Elie Schönfeld has brought together five contemporary artists for the show Reconstructed Deconstruction. All from Israel, they work in different disciplines but with similar pre-occupations – the application of meaning in signs and images and the differences inherent between the depicted and the original. Until 20 February, Schönfeld Gallery, Chaussée de Waterloo 690 #21 (Uccle)

In a remarkable collaboration among Flemish concert halls, theatres, digital providers and government actors, Podium19 will offer both new and previously recorded stage performances both online and on television. The new network is dedicated to arts all kinds, from music to dance to literature. Some shows are new, planned for this season and performed without an audience for Podium19, while others are past performances brought back to life. Podium19 is free to access on Proximus, Telenet and Orange, check your TV listings or the website from 21 January.

The Kanal Centre Pompidou is closed for a month between the first and second series of Swiss artist John M Armleder’s It Never Ends project. It is filling in the gap with Studio K, a radio and podcast programme in which selected guests have been given carte blanche to discuss topics at the intersection of politics, art, culture and society using any number of methods, including interviews, debates, performances, sound creation and archive recordings. Until 7 February

There is little that has effected the entire planet as fully and profoundly as Covid-19. Skipping 2020, PhotoBrussels Festival is back, with nearly 30 photographic projects that have this one thing in common. The theme ‘The World Within’ brought out the best in the European photographers carefully selected for the festival, who responded with humour, empathy, reflection and love – for humans as well as nature. It takes place across the capital. 21 January to 27 March, across Brussels

Students of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and the RITCS institute of cinema and sound are staging their annual New Year’s Concert online this year. Get swept up in the free audio-visual extravaganza dedicated to the work of 17th-century German composer Michael Praetorius. 15 January 20.00

Belgian film journal Sabzian is screening Al-mummia (1969), the only full-length film by the Egyptian screenwriter and director Shadi Abdel Salam. Also known by its English title, The Night of Counting the Years, it is considered one of the greatest Egyptian films ever made. It is part of Sabzian’s Milestones series, featuring screenings and essays to help contextualise ground-breaking films. (In Arabic with English subtitles) 21 January 19.30

OUTSIDE BRUSSELS

The ambitious exhibition Monoculture insists that any understanding of ‘multicultural’ should begin with an investigation of ‘monocultural’ – a homogeneous expression of culture by a single social or ethnic group. This multi-disciplinary show features dozens of international artists and asks the big questions about what we take for granted as ‘normal’ and ‘other’. That could apply to art, but it also applies to everything, all around us, every day. Until 24 April, M KHA, Leuvenstraat 32, Antwerp

Photos: Reconstructed ©Shlomit Goldfinger, PhotoBrussels ©Gabriele Galimberti, Al-mummia courtesy IMDB