brussels

25Feb09

made me a real impression as it was total disruption from bucharest.
as no one is in a hurry there, all is cool, you can’t feel lost or alone
you can’t feel haressed and there’s always something going on.
therefore, i had some really busy days in brussels.

i left on feb 3rd and i returned on the 10th. no delays, despite of the shitty weather.
i was living at my friend’s amana, next to the comission.
anyhow, it felt like the comission is everywhere.

i got out fast from ixelles, the ‘european’ neighborhood
where on the streets, in pubs and homes you definetely hear much more english than anything else
and they all look very official. except maybe for the daily different demonstrants in front of the comission.

Uyghurs

or Tamils

but there are protests also downtown, as this one against the bombs in gaza

i was looking for some drawings of Dan Perjovschi but they weren’t there anymore.
so i left for the city center. the old center.
where i was really excited to spot some stencils by Jeff Aerosol
so i finally made the tourist too 🙂

that was comissioned work for the facade of a wiked book & records shop, just next to Manneken Pis [the little guy taking a pee]

walking down the very same street i bumped into a tiny cosy gallery that was hosting canvas of Speedy Graphito

and again Jeff Aerosol. i asked myself what are the odds in bucharest to bump into Jeff Aerosol twice in 10min?!

than i decided to keep up with the good vibe, so i took the ‘comic strip walk‘,
which involves about thirty of the walls of brussels, all covered with comic strip characters
that are larger than in life in every sense and portrayed in the funniest situations.
my favorite one was:

during the comic strips walk i noticed loads of nice little details
such as these sunglasses in the pavement

the costumized garbage containers

a romanian in brussels: mawdot 🙂

myspace tom sais hi 🙂

technoland shop and a very nice employee who marked me on the map two places dedicated to video art that i should check. which i did. thanks again!

and the neighborhood close to the art school, with numerous tunnels and walls dedicated to street art

later that week fletch, my french friend took me to a really really great party, at Recyclart. that is exactely where i also found the graffiti walls.

Recyclart is something Bucharest also needs: ann artistic laboratory, a creative centre for cultural confrontation, an actor in the municipal public arena, a training centre and a place for meeting and experiment. Recyclart started in 1996 as a project to converting the site of the station Chapelle-Kapellekerk and its surroundings, which over the years had developed into a neglected waste area, into a new lively quarter. well, i believe they made it!

fletch took me to Umbredelladelika launch, a new brussels based record label. there i’ve seen a great live performance: the concert of the english band Wevie Stonder