Brussels in English

The climate crisis group Extinction Rebellion staged a protest near the Royal Palace last weekend. Several city councillors, members of the press and social media users denounced the use of tear gas, a water cannon and batons against largely peaceful protestors. The force used to disperse and arrest protestors was “excessively violent,” according to the organisers of the event. Singer-songwriter B...

The Art & Marges Museum, Brussels’ temple to outsider art is presenting a fascinating collection of looks at the American Dream by artists from around the world. There is also a handsome book on US outsider architects and a lot of outsider music. Curator and author Matthieu Morin tells us all about it. http://www.artetmarges.be/en/index.html

Brussels-based Russian expat Artem Mozgovoy has set himself the challenge to live 100 days without plastic. He shares his experiences so far. http://artemdesiberie.blogspot.com/

Are you out of inspiration for your next Instagram selfie? If so, help is here with the arrival of Smile Safari’s popup Instagram Museum, Belgium’s first. Creator Hannes Coudenys tells us what we can look forward to. Tour & Taxis, 2 October - 30 November https://smilesafari.be/en/

Brussels Explained, on 22 October, is an eye-opening and interactive evening in English that aims to help us better understand the city in which we live. Five experts will deliver a 10-minute presentation on a different aspect of city life - followed by plenty of opportunity for questions and answers. The event is jointly organised by The Bulletin, Flemish-Dutch culture house De Buren, the non-pro...

The Artonov Festival (7-13 October) combines unique architecture with culinary arts, music, dance and visual arts. With this fifth edition they have widened the array of architectural styles and brought in more contemporary music. Artistic director Vincenzo Casale describes two of the 12 venues and programs. Music by Jacopo Baboni Schilingi, one of the composers featured during the festival. www.f...

Improv theatre is alive and well in Brussels. We meet Patrick, founder of Brussels' only dedicated improv theatre venue, L'Improviste, and Kelly from Improbubble, who will perform weekly shows in English at the venue every Sunday from this week.

For the Nuit Blanche, Belgian artist Kris Verdonck, an artist working in architecture, visual arts and theatre, brings us an installation/performance called Mass #2 in which he has created four landscapes that constantly change independently of one another creating a hypnotic event. He tells us about it. www.nuitblanche.brussels/en

With people of 184 nationalities making Brussels their home, it’s no surprise that there are chefs from many countries cooking in Brussels. We speak with Kenzo Nakata from France about his downtown restaurant Gramm, and with Vanessa Garcia from Portugal about her father's Portuguese bakery/tearoom/coffeeshop Garcia, in Ixelles. http://www.grammrestaurant.be/ http://www.patisseriegarcia.be/

The Free Tap Water in Belgian Restaurants campaign does what it says on the tin (or bottle). The grass-roots initiative, launched in March 2019, is encouraging businesses to reduce single-use plastic by offering tap water to customers as standard – with some remarkable results so far. Campaign founder Sarah Ehrlich gives us an update.

English Comedy Brussels is back for another season, with a new venue: Théâtre Marni next to Place Flagey. Organiser Xavier Rossey talks us through what's coming up. http://www.englishcomedybrussels.com

We catch up with Louise Hilditch and Bridie Nathanson from ideas club Full Circle. They talk us through some of the highlights of this season's programme of inspiring talks, and they have news about a new club where members can drop in as and when they please. http://www.fullcircle.eu

Brussels Design September, a month long celebration of everything design, is back and jam-packed with events. Richard Harris explains more.

To celebrate its 10th edition, the Brussels Comic Book Festival is holding three museum exhibitions. In honor of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Brussels in September 1944, the first exhibition, which is at the BELvue Museum, is dedicated the the comic book series The Children of the Resistance. The exhibition includes objects lent by the Museum of the Resistance which is located in Ande...

GROW is a new organic farm in Namur Province that produces vegetables by means of green manure and crop rotation to create what is known as living soil. Their first crop is a tonne of tomatoes in 14 different varieties per week. Simon Chavée explains how green manure works, what a living soil is and what we can expect at their tomato festival on 21 September (including tomato beers). https://www.f...

The third edition of Brussels Cocktail Week involves over 40 bars and restaurants across Brussels for a full week. Founder Sophie Barrière tells us all about it and we hear from two happy participants. https://www.facebook.com/BrusselsCocktailWeek/

Buitendenker - “outside thinker” in Dutch - puts on walks around Belgium in English, French and Dutch. One of the group's founders, Kathryn Sheridan, says most people already know that walking in nature is beneficial, but there are many reasons why they decide not to. They might not want to go on their own, they are unsure of where to go, or they do not want to think about the route or ending up l...

Take a gorgeous Art Deco villa, fill it with over 160 works of art by over thirty ground-breaking artists of the 1920s and 1930s and what have you got? Flamboyant, a spectacular show with masterpieces from expressionism, surrealism, futurism, cubism, bauhaus, de stijl, art deco, constructivism and abstraction. This is truly a unique opportunity to see all these pieces at one time since they come f...

It's 100 years since Victor Horta moved out and sold both his house and his studio, 50 years since the opening of the museum and 30 years since the restoration was started. To mark these anniversaries, Brussels' Horta Museum is putting on three exhibitions, all under the banner of "A Collection of Collectors". The museum is also now three buildings: The building next door to the museum was purchas...

In the last 12 years, Selma Franssen has bounced between the Netherlands, Denmark, Scotland and Belgium, and with every expatriate experience she’s had to build a new friend circle from scratch. Friends made her feel at home in all those places, and they outlasted all her romantic partners. But Franssen, a Dutch journalist and Brussels-based expat, often felt that her friendships weren’t seen as t...

A new Belgian Museum of Abstract art will open right next to the René Magritte Museum in Jette, after a successful crowdfunding campaign. The project has been in the works for around two years and will be the first of its kind. It is aimed to open in June. The museum is being built right next to the René Magritte Museum, and will exhibit more than 200 pieces. Fanny Pacquet, creative assistant at t...

Tivoli, a new neighborhood in Laeken opened with a big party including a visit by King Philippe, marching bands, dancers on stilts, a light show, a fire show, numerous activities and even an ambulating camel creature. Brussels alderwoman Ans Persoons was there and she explains what makes the new neighbourhood special. https://www.citydev.brussels/

A global music festival in the heart of Brussels, Couleur Cafe is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year - and The Bulletin has day passes for you to win. It will be the festival's third year in its new home, the Osseghem Park next to the Atomium, after a long time at Tour & Taxis. As well as showcasing Belgian acts and young talent, the festival attracts big-name headliners including this...

Belgium is now home to LITES, the biggest and most technologically advanced film studio for under and over water filming in Europe. Wim Michiels, CEO and owner of LITES tells us about the features that make this studio so special. www.lites.be

In March 1969, Henry Kissinger forwarded to President Lyndon B. Johnson a report produced by the CIA entitled Restless Youth, sub-titled What Makes Johnny Riot. The report begins by laying out the historical ubiquity of youthful protest: “Student dissidence is not a recent phenomenon. It was a periodic occurrence in Ancient Greece and Imperial Rome. Socrates complained that students of his time ha...