What's on this week: 30 December-5 January

If in the build-up to Christmas you missed the opening of William Klein's first retrospective in Brussels here's a reminder about a don't-miss show. The Botanique is presenting a great many large-format prints from his first book of photographs Life is Good & Good for You In New York (1956) and from later books on Moscow, Rome and Tokyo. Based in Paris, the American photographer has, over a 60-year career, changed the way we look at photography and film and has also reinvented himself several times. In the 1980s, for instance, he started blowing up and painting his contact prints. As a filmmaker, he directed many films including Broadway by Light (1959) a documentary on the advertising on Times Square in New York and fictional films such as Qui êtes-vous Polly Magoo (1966), one of the best expressions of the 1960s.
Until 5 February, Botanique, Brussels

Do you want to be able to go from one party to the next this New Year's Eve? Then the Happy Brussels pass might be what you are looking for. Included are the FUSE New Year’s Eve, the Stereo & Leftorium NYE 2017 at the Stereo, the Deep in House NYE 2017 at the Galerie Horta, the Acid New Year at the Wild Gallery, the Los Ninos New Year’s Eve at the Bodega, the night out at Madame Moustache, at the Mirano Continental and more. The Happy Brussels pass also lists the locations of a selection of bars and unusual places where you can kick off 2017. And you can get into the Atomium, as well as the Jim Jarmusch exhibition and a seat at the Cinéma Galeries.
Pass holders can collect their Happy Package from BIP (11, Place Royale, Brussels) from 10.00 to 22.00 on New Year’s Eve. And if you pick it up after 20.00 you'll get a free drink to start the evening off.
€60, more info at www.happybrussels.com

Ongoing exhibitions not to be missed

For millennia, artists looked to tradition for their ideas and legitimacy. Then, sometime in the 19th century, a new breed of artist decided to live for today – and even tomorrow. Modernity was born from this impulse to throw off the age-old shackles of convention. The new art depicted new subjects, usually drawn from the gritty reality of modern life, and used new techniques that were wilful transgressions of classical rules. A major exhibition, Modernity à la Belge, surveys the European pioneers of the movement and Belgium’s considerable contribution.
Until 22 January, Royal Museums of Fine Arts, Brussels

More than 80 sculptures conduct a dialogue with paintings, ceramics, photographs and objets d’art from Picasso’s private collection, revealing the artist’s creative power in experimenting with a range of materials and techniques.
Until 5 March, Bozar, Rue Ravenstein 23, Brussels

Belgium and Japan celebrate a century and a half of diplomatic friendship with state ceremonies and cultural events across Belgium. One of the programme’s centrepieces is A Feverish Era in Japanese Art, which surveys the thriving underground arts scene in post-war Japan. The years following the Japanese surrender were full of cultural ferment as the exhausted nation’s artists re-evaluated traditional forms, much like their counterparts in Europe and the United States. Indeed, the end of the war inaugurated a truly global avant-garde movement fuelled by exchanges between East and West.
Until 22 January, Bozar, Brussels

The first-ever exhibition of traditional Korean clothing, Hanbok, will be held in the Korean Cultural Centre. The Formal Hanbok Association of Korea is presenting the colourful and beautiful traditional clothing. The various costume designs reflect Korean history as well as the current formal attire worn during the four family ceremonies in Korea: coming-of-age ceremonies, weddings, funerals, and ancestral rites. All collections in this exhibition are costumes inspired by the fashions of the last Korea dynasty, Joseon. Discover an essential part of the traditional Korean fashion and way of life.
Until 21 January, Korean Cultural Centre, free

BXL Universel is a subjective view of Brussels encompassing archive documents, films, videos, photographs and the works of Brussels-born and Brussels-based artists. It is about as far as one can get from a stodgy, didactic, stuffy exhibition. Instead one is in for a sometimes rollicking, sometimes reflective, sometimes moving experience.
Until 26 March, Central(e) for Contemporary Art, Brussels

Belgian modernism was truly a global phenomenon. Antwerp-born engraver Victor Delhez, whose pioneering work is celebrated with this retrospective exhibition, is but one case in point. Following a family tragedy, a young Delhez emigrated to South America, bringing with him the avant-garde aesthetic that permeated his native land in the 1920s. Once in Buenos Aires, the artist fused European abstract technique with the local realismo mágico. Of course Delhez maintained his ties to Europe, where he exhibited frequently during a career that spanned a half-century. This exposed European artists to New World influences and enriched the cultural life of both hemispheres.
Until 15 January, FeliXart Museum, Brussels