Museum Night Fever 2020

When museums challenge the codes

Museum Night Fever returns on Saturday, March 14, 2020 from 7pm to 1am.

For its 13th edition, Museum Night Fever has opted for a programme without inhibitions.

With 31 participating museums, the only museum night in Brussels offers a thousand young talents, individuals or groups, the ideal setting to develop free and inclusive artistic proposals.

During this evening, young artists from all disciplines draw inspiration from the incomparable collections of the museums and their temporary exhibitions to transform the participating museums into their very own playgrounds. Museum Night Fever is intended to be a space for experimentation for both emerging artists and the museums that host them and test new methods of dialogue with their audiences, whether regular museum visitors or not. For visitors, it is a unique opportunity to discover unpredictable proposals throughout the night in an electrifying atmosphere.

Museum Night Fever, whose 2019 edition reached a record attendance of near 17,000 visitors, intends more than ever to refute the formal image of museums, access to which is still a privilege for many.

The programme for this evening offers visitors countless combinations of museum visits but not only: expect concerts, performances, art installations, film, black magic, artworks that literally speak, a giant luminous jellyfish, frenzy and, obviously, a good dash of unpredictability. In short, a night of freedom where being who you want to be is also the key.

Five after-parties close the night between music and audiovisual performances in 5 participating museums: Le Motel & Antoine De Schuyter at the Army Museum, OTON (Live) + Dc Salas + Bon Public at the Halles Saint-Géry, Théo Gee at experience.brussels, BLEDARTE at WIELS and finally Cosmic Pop Records + Loumana & Peter Clinton at MIMA.

During the evening, STIB shuttle buses run between the various museums departing from Place Royale. 3 retro buses from the Tram Museum also take visitors directly to Train World. Numerous food trucks are disseminated along the way in case of a cultural hunger.

Co-Creation at the heart of the program

31 museums are taking part in this year’s edition, making it the biggest ever. The evening’s programme is tailor-made by more than a thousand young talents in direct co-creation with the museum teams.

The museums that are once again answering the call of the night this year are: the art et marges museum, Autoworld, the Museum of the National Bank, the BELvue Museum, Choco-Story Brussels, CINEMATEK, CIVA, the Coudenberg Palace, experience.brussels, the Boghossian Foundation (Villa Empain), the GardeRobe MannekenPis, the Halles Saint-Géry, ING Art Center, the House of European History, the Maison du Roi (Brussels City Museum), the MIMA, the Momuse, the Army Museum, the Crossbow Museum, the Jewish Museum of Belgium, the Fashion & Lace Museum and the WIELS.

In addition, the Sewer Museum and the Fondation A Stichting, a venue dedicated to photography, are participating in the event for the very first time.

Some museums are making their comeback after a period of absence: the Comics Art Museum, Botanique, the Centrale for Contemporary Art, La Monnaie, the Museum of Fantastic Art, the Parlamentarium and Train World.

As for the animations, more than a hundred events are organised throughout the evening to showcase Young artists:

• At the Army Museum, students from the fashion section of the Bischoffsheim Institute present their visión of the Liberation through a fashion show of unique creations.
• Between the Sewer Museum and the Grande Écluse, a choreographed cascade of movements created by Lotte Van Gelder and students from Institut Supérieur des Arts et des Chorégraphies and the Académie royale des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles metaphorically plunge visitors into the Senne.
• At CIVA, Les Meutes and Freestyle Lab collectives redefine what avant-garde is through hip hop proposals (dance, music and video) inspired by the 7 arts exhibition.
• At art et marges museum, the Magical Amators Club elevates our daily routines to rituals in performances that revisit everything from tooth brushing to female menstruation… yes! Get your cards drawn by Juliette Dana and, if need be, settle the score with destiny by making a voodoo doll with ADNA studio.
• At the Comics Art Museum, La Plus Grande Kermesse du Monde has taken on the task of transforming the museum into a giant arcade with crazy prices and strange tastings as a bonus.

5 Afterparties

The 31 museums open their doors from 19:00 to 01:00. Visitors can also continue to party and attend various audio-visual performances in afterparties organized in 5 of the participating museums. Meet you at the MIMA, the Army Museum, experience.brussels, WIELS and the Halles Saint-Géry.

Army Museum (1:00 > 3:00) – Le Motel & Antoine De Schuyter

At the Army Museum, join the Bordiau Hall and attend an audio-visual performance resulting from the meeting of Le Motel and Antoine De Schuyter. The DJ set of the young Brussels beatmaker, who has just released his solo project after having joined Roméo Elvis and Veence Hanao on the biggest stages over the last 3 years, will be accompanied by a live projection that promises to blow our minds.

Halles Saint-Géry (22:00 > 3:00) – Oton (Live) + DC Salas + Bon Public

At the Halles Saint-Géry, it is OTON who will make people dance to his «housy techno breakbeat» sounds. Dr.

Salas also invites Bon Public to close the evening.

Experience.Brussels (01:00 > 03:00) – Théo Gee

Theo Gee will meet you in the fabulous salle des guichets in experience.brussels on Place Royale.

Wiels (00:15 > 02:15): BLEDARTE

The feminist collective BLEDARTE takes care of your dance steps at Wiels.

MIMA (01:00 > 03:00): Cosmic pop records with Loumana and Peter Clinton

If you still haven’t found the style you like, Cosmic Pop Records should make the unanimity with Loumana and Peter Clinton at MIMA.

The entrance for the afterparties is limited to the capacity of the venues.

Revamped hit exhibitions of the season

Museum Night Fever is obviously a must for anyone who wants to combine several unmissable exhibitions this season. Among the revisited exhibitions of the 31 museums:

• At MIMA, Z00 questions our conception of humanity by bringing together the anthropomorphic pop creatures of 11 international artists. The musical performance SAUVAGE by Fab DuBard and Stien Bovijn recalls the exhibition by combining synthetic technologies and the primitive nature of the human being.
• At the Jewish Museum of Belgium, the exhibition Superheroes never die. Comics & Jewish Memories explores the origins of our favourite superheroes through more than 200 works. IAD’s emerging superartists will offer colourful theatrical performances.
• At WIELS, German artist Wolfgang Tillmans pushes the boundaries of photography in Today is The First Day while Thao Nguyen Phan delicately explores her native Vietnam. Inspired by these two exhibitions, students from the E.R.G. and LUCA School of Arts transform the entire WIELS into a Poetic World. Their installations are an invitation to share emotions and memories.
• At the Boghossian Foundation, Le Monde à Plat explores representations of the world through art: cartography, borders and travels, social and ecological upheavals. The Conference of the Birds by the Persian mystical poet Farid Uddin Attar serves as a compass for the performance of the musical trio Saouta and the choreographer Gilles Polet.
• At Train World, it is the last call to admire the mystical works of Paul Delvaux, which showcase his love of trains and stations. Actress and director Sun Lhonoré takes two girls out of the artworks to deliver a moving (and danced) story born of their many travels and encounters through time.
• At Fondation A Stichting, the exhibition dedicated to the photographer Francesco Neri takes us through the changing landscapes of Emilia-Romagna. Thanks to a sound walk, the visitor wanders among the images of the photographer.