What’s on: Klara turns 50 with nod to social revolution
Two great festivals in Brussels and haunting imagery in Mechelen top our agenda picks of the week
Klara Festival
Optimism, freedom and euphoria were the name of the game, so expect to see that reflected in the dozens of concerts that make up the programme. A couple of highlights: Tonight’s opening concert is by the Houston Symphony, featuring violin soloist Hilary Hahn performing Bernstein and Dvorák, while towards the end of the festival the Africa Express collective (pictured) present their imaginative versions of Steve Reich’s Music for Pieces of Wood and In C by Terry Riley.
Until 30 March, across Brussels
Offscreen Film Festival
Grindhouse cinema – ultra-violent, low-budget action, exploitive kind of stuff – isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. It’s also not super easy to find on a big screen, so the annual Offscreen Film Festival in Brussels is a treasure trove for fans of the genre. But even if you’re not, there are some gems at this festival, which also features offbeat sci-fi and horror and old B-movies. Tonight, you’ll find the premiere of A Ghost Story, for instance, by David Lowery (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) in which a ghost haunts his previous home – and is literally played by a guy wearing a sheet. Little cut out eye holes and everything. There’s also Tokyo Vampire Hotel, the film version of a nine-part Japanese mini-series. The massive programme includes a focus on the work of Italian director Enzo G Castellari, one of the fathers of Italian spaghetti westerns.
Until 25 March, across Brussels
The Art of War
Chinese general Sun Tzu’s fifth-century tome The Art of War is a manual on strategic warfare. This makes him seem like he was a warmonger, but he also used the text to continually repeat a plea to avoid violent conflict unless absolutely necessary. This is the Sun Tzu that Kazerne Dossin called upon when titling its exhibition. It features mostly 20th-century artists who, in one way or another, were affected by war and illustrated it – its death, mutilation, destruction, disruption and collective mourning. Among the 12 artists on show are Francisco Goya, Pablo Picasso, Frans Masereel and Otto Dix, whose 50 etchings that make up the series Der krieg (The War) are all present.
Until 1 July, Kazerne Dossin Memorial, Museum and Centre on Holocaust and Human Rights, Goswin de Stassartstraat 153, Mechelen
About the author
Lisa Bradshaw is the editor-in-chief of Flanders Today. She worked as an editor and journalist in her homeland, the United States, before moving to the awesome city of Ghent in 2004. If she’s not in the office, she’s probably at a film festival.
