printed on 16-02-2020
RADAR
A magazine on the art, stories and people at BOZAR, taking you backstage and into the archives
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Keith Haring and the NY club scene
The Art of the Party
When Keith Haring arrived in New York at the end of the 1970s it was a very different place from what it is today. The decade had been extremely volatile economically and the city was pretty much bankrupt. The millionaires still swanned around Central Park uptown but downtown neighbourhoods like the East Village were derelict , dangerous and undesirable. Cheap rents made it a magnet for the young, the liberal and the artistic, and Keith Haring and his friends ticked al of those boxes:
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A Legend Turns 50!
Zaïko Langa Langa are more than a band, they’re a Congolese cultural legend. Charismatic frontman Jossart Nyoka Longo brings the whole gang to the Centre for Fine Arts on Feburary 29 for an epic birthday celebration. Here are some of the things that make them exceptional:
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PORTRAIT DUSAPIN 3 INSTRUMENTAL GEMS
Following his glorious opera Macbeth Underworld at La Monnaie, composer Pascal Dusapin remains a focal point of the season. In February, visitors will be delighted by three of his most stunning instrumental pieces… including a Belgian premiere.
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Edition 2 descends on the Horta Hall
NEW AFRICAN WAVE POP-UP
February has come round again, so BOZAR is preparing for three days of art, creativity and the Afropolitan spirit. The theme of this year's Afropolitan Festival is Heroes and Heroines. A three-day event filled with art, dance, music and cinema, and you can go home with your own little souvenir of African identity. The NAW Pop-Up promises a range of design and fashion collectives from the African continent or diaspora, bringing anything from socks with African prints to exciting herbs and spices. Here is a glimpse of what's on offer.
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(re)discover Bach from all angles
Bach For More
Don’t expect protestant piety or a churchlike atmosphere when the iconoclasts of La Fura dels Baus take on a Bach cantata. For their production Free Bach 212, one of the highlights of our Bach Heritage festival, the world famous theatre collective add flamenco, electronics, and giant cows.
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Beethoven Around The World
To celebrate the Beethoven Year, the prestigious Quatuor Ébène quartet have undertaken the enormous challenge of touring the world with Beethoven's sixteen quartets. They will be performing in Brussels on 25 January.
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Keith Haring The Activist
Keith Haring was an artist who took to the streets. He handed out pamphlets, put up posters, drew in subways and painted on walls in an optimistic battle against those in power. He invested the same unbridled energy in his political and social activism as he did in his art. Quite the ride from paperboy in conservative Kutztown to celebrated artist-activist in NYC.
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This was 2019
In the past year we shared some amazing moments with you in our concert halls, exhibition spaces, movie theater, or out and about in the streets. Time to look back at 2019, when BOZAR was a place where…
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How to make the most of it in 2020
THE BOZAR GIFT CARD
Concert, film, exhibition, theatre – everything is possible with the BOZAR GIFT CARD. This selection of events is merely the festive tip of the immense gift iceberg.
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Avi Avital is ready to shake things up
Avi Avital is undisputably one of the greatest mandolin players of our time. This season the charismatic Israeli Grammy winner will visit BOZAR three times, which gives him the opportunity to present a panoramic overview of his art. We met up with him at the Centre for Fine Arts to give us a preview.
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GET TO KNOW KEITH HARING IN 5 FACTS
The visual legacy of American artist Keith Haring mirrors the zeitgeist of a decade and that of a continent. His cartoon-like characters, vivid colours and barking dogs became world famous, but there is more than meets the eye. He satirised national and international politics, he enlivened the eighties party scene and he carried the national – and a personal – fight against AIDS, which he ultimately lost in 1990. BOZAR looks back on the eventful life and work of the American legend in a major retrospective. Here's a sneak peek in five facts.
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George Enescu: ode to melody
George Enescu (1881-1955) was without a doubt the greatest Romanian composer of the 20th century. Don't freak out if his name doesn't immediately ring a bell though, unfortunately he is still unknown to a large audience. BOZAR tries to fix that by highlighting his work during EUROPALIA ROMANIA.
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20th Century classics that rock our world
Out with the old, in with the new! Ars Musica, the music festival that boldly goes where others fear to tread (i.e. modern and contemporary classical music) celebrates it’s 30th year. Out of a very busy birthday programme we have lifted three pieces you cannot miss – whether you’re a diehard avant-garde junkie or a newbie to the new music scene.
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Hector Berlioz: a musical trailblazer
With the intense preparations for the 250th anniversary in 2020 of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, we might be forgiven for forgetting that 2019 is the year of another significant musical commemoration. For it is also the 150th anniversary of the death of Hector Berlioz, another giant of nineteenth-century music. This French composer is every bit the equal of Beethoven in terms of orchestral effects and forms. BOZAR pays tribute to Berlioz with his Messe Solenelle on 6 November.
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AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT TWO SUFI RITUALS
Sufi Night is the highlight of our season, dedicated to music from the Sufi world. As this 12th edition approaches, we invite you to learn more about the two rituals presented: the dawrān ceremony in Turkey and the zikroulah in Senegal.
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When Art Deco meets Nordic design
CPHAGEN POP-UP STORE AT BOZAR
From the 10th till the 20th of October, Victor Horta’s flagship of Art Deco will trade its usual flags for those of the Nordic Countries. The Nordic Festival will bring music, cinema, dance… and much more to the Centre for Fine Arts. Amidst the bustle of the festival, you may feel the urge to sit back and relax at the CPHAGEN ‘pop-up’ in the Horta Hall. Shop owner and native Dane living in Brussels, Thomas Petersen, tells us about the spirit of his Nordic concept store(s) in Ixelles and Saint-Gilles.
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