What's on this week: 10 June

The inaugural edition of this photography festival transforms the whole of Ghent into a vast, open-air art gallery. Ten venues, including Sint-Pieters Abbey, city museum STAM and repurposed psychiatric hospital Dr Guislain Museum join forces to put on 27 exhibitions, featuring 20 international artists, over the course of 80 days. The art isn’t cloistered in the institutions themselves. No, the festival promises nomadic pop-up exhibitions in public space as well. The theme—identity—guarantees a fair amount of portraits but much more besides.
12 June to 30 August across Ghent

Markt van Morgen has been giving Flemish artisans and independent designers a place to show their wares since 2007. It’s a showcase for local talent and a place to meet like-minded consumers. Each bimonthly edition of the creative market takes place in Antwerp’s cosy old fish market and features some 40 regional vendors offering a range of original, handmade products from fashion to jewellery to graphic design to furniture and home decoration. Here you’ll find plenty of alternatives to globalised goods manufactured in low-wage countries. It isn’t just a market, either. There are also cocktails and (groan) DJs.
14 June, 12.00 at Vismijn, Antwerp

Queen’s epic hit “Bohemian Rhapsody” raised the bar for pop music, not just because it poached on the reserve of European opera but because it proved that such poaching can yield one of the biggest pop singles of all time. (Alice Cooper, in contrast, never broke out of the hard-rock ghetto and Genesis had to lose its preening, flute-playing frontman Peter Gabriel before it struck pop gold with bland everyman Phil Collins.) Belgian conductor Jean-Paul Dessy and his Mons-based ensemble Musiques Nouvelles pay homage to this curious 1975 pop song with five original chamber pieces composed by young composers who were inspired by it.
17 June, 20.15 at Flagey, Brussels

Baiba Skride & Friends: Latvian violinist Baiba Skride, accompanied by friends on violin, viola and cello, performs a programme for string quintets spanning three centuries, from Mozart’s Classicism and Brahms’ Romanticism to contemporary music by Australian composer Brett Dean. 15 June 20.00, Royal Conservatory, Regentschapsstraat 30, Brussels
www.bozar.be

Stand-Up Antwerp: English Comedy Cellar presents an evening of stand-up comedy in English, featuring top international comedians Dave Thompson, Marcel Lucont, Tony Vino, Tom Deacon and resident MC Nigel Williams. 16 June 20.15 (17 June sold out), De Groene Waterman, Wolstraat 7, Antwerp
www.facebook.com/Standupantwerp

All The Brutes: The first solo exhibition by Polish painter Radek Szlaga in Belgium, including a series of works related to the text “Heart of Darkness” by Polish author Joseph Conrad. Until 11 July, Harlan Levey Projects, Jean d’Ardennestraat 46, Brussels
www.hl-projects.com

(Photo)sensitive: Psychiatrist Patients Portraits 1865-2015: Portraits of patients taken as a form of inventory in psychiatric hospitals for more than a century, revealing a long history of surprising recurring motifs. 12 June to 11 October, Museum Dr Guislain, Jozef Guislainstraat 43, Ghent
www.museumdrguislain.be

Roller Bike Parade 2015: True to tradition, hordes of roller-skating speed devils take to the streets of Brussels (made car-free for the event) every Friday evening throughout the summer. Until 25 September 19.00-23.00, depart from Poelaertplein, Brussels
www.belgiumrollers.com

SuperVlieg: Fourth annual children’s festival in the park, featuring more than 60 free performances and workshops. 14 June 10.00-19.00, Park van Vorst, Brussels
www.svsm.be