Trudging around chilly exhibition halls has never really been my idea of fun, but if you can put up with the sheer size of the place, then, like me, you will ultimately be rewarded by finding several pieces you like, insightful conversations with artists and a smoking hole in your credit card.

But it’s not all about finding something to hang over your mantelpiece. Even if you have no intention of buying anything, with its solo shows, presentations of new works, debates and prizes, Art Brussels provides an opportunity to discover both the national and international contemporary art scene and the buzz that surrounds it.

For its 27th edition, the show features 172 galleries from 23 different countries. Although the mainstay of these come from Belgium, followed by Germany and France, galleries have also been selected from China, Cuba, South Africa and the United States. The figure represents less than half of the 427 galleries that applied to participate.

“Only those demonstrating an innovative vision and promoting their artists internationally were chosen,” according to exhibition director Karen Renders. “The quality of the galleries and the works is of the utmost importance, even more so than in recent years – especially considering the present economic situation.”

The City of Brussels is set to be one of the fair’s top buyers this year. Officials are looking for a sculpture for Avenue de Stalingrad in the Zuid district, and a selection of 10 that have been shortlisted will be on display at Egmont Park during the fair. One of those is by 26-year-old Belgian artist Xavier Mary, fresh from his success at the Un-Scene group show of young artists hosted by Wiels.

His works are often transformations of functional mechanisms, such as motorway lights and industrial units. Displaced from the environments they were specifically designed for, they are a sudden jolt of science-fiction, the new machinery of unknown worlds, operating on the rhythms of their former incarnations.    

Mary has also been chosen for a solo show at Art Brussels, where Brussels gallery Baronian Francey has given him free reign to create new work in 25 metres of space. “I’m really happy to be invited to make what I like,” he tells me while working on the indoor installation.  “I’m trying to make something special and important for that specific place.”

Twenty-one other artists were also chosen for solo shows by their galleries. “All the best collectors and galleries from all over the world will be there,” says Mary, “so I hope to make contacts and get some proposals.”

Mary’s new piece is inspired by rave culture. Hexagonal PVC and mirrored panels will sit in tessellating clusters on the wall and the floor of the room. The movement of passers-by will trigger stroboscopes embedded in the hexagons, showering the room with pulsating lights. “It’s an effect you can feel in dancing – at raves,”  he explains. “I like to create a physical effect in my work.”

As a separate feature of Art Brussels, eight women artists living and working in Brussels have been invited to create site-specific works. Renders was adamant about creating a focus on women artists in a male-orientated market. “In the 1970s, women artists emerged, mainly within the conceptual art field,” says Renders. But there is something clearly amiss in their promotion, she argues. “Almost 40 years on, the percentage of women artists is still lower than that of male artists. There is, however, no lack of talent.”

The women include new and established Flemish artists. Fia Cielen graduated from the Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Ghent last year. Her installation for the show, “Wunder der Schöpfung!” centres around the makeshift housing she found at the overgrown industrial site in the Parallelweg neighbourhood in northern Ghent. Her work is inspired by elements of deterioration and raises questions about natural and artificial metamorphoses in society.

In comparison, Els Opsomer has enjoyed much critical acclaim over the last decade. As a widely travelled video artist, photographer and graphic designer, her works often capture the feeling of alienation and compromise in cities across the world. In 1995 she embarked on archiving her perspectives of urban landscapes, architecture and interiors. Today, the archive contains thousands of  photographs and forms the basis of her installation at Art Brussels. Some of these will be appearing on walls around the exhibition, accentuated with a series of messages serving to expose and challenge reality. 

Art Brussels

Brussels Expo, 1 Belgiëplein

24-27 April