Mellow Yellow April 2017
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at the Fatima Yamaha show, shot by Michelle Jansen for Subbacultcha
New Music for New People
subbacultcha e v e n t s in April
les nuits 13.5 Kelly Lee Owens Botanique, Brussels
music
19.5 Alex Cameron Botanique, Brussels
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Robbing Millions + Warhaus
21.5 Thee Oh Sees + La Jungle + The Glücks Botanique, Brussels
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Daniel Bachman + Ignatz
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Forma + Jung An Tagen
Eden, Charleroi
Le Pakebo (Amer), Liège
film 6
The Getaway Cinematek, Brussels
19 Cine-Concert: SAMSARA (projection) + Viktor French (live music) Le Vecteur, Charleroi
Het Bos, Antwerp
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Rockerill Festival: The Glücks + Le Prince Harry + Holiday Inn 19 & Ghost in the Shell + more Rockerill, Charleroi 26 KASKcinema, Ghent Jung An Tagen 28 La Danseuse Cinema Zuid, Antwerp
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Amer x La Superette, Liège
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Drugdealer Botanique, Brussels
theatre/dance
15 More Music: Clark + Blanck Mass 22 Opera21 / The Diary of One + Ash Koosha Concertgebouw, Bruges who Disappeared Opera, Antwerp 15 Matteo Vallicelli KulturA, Liège 25 Nachtelijk Symposium KVS, Brussels 20 Colin Stetson + Mario Batkovic
De Roma, Antwerp
expo
20 Princess Nokia + DJ LSDXOXO + more Vooruit, Ghent
— 30.4 Orla Barry presents Breaking Rainbows Argos, Brussels
21 PVT Charlatan (Democrazy), Ghent
— 30.4 Alexis Destoop — Four Directions of Heaven Argos, Brussels
23 Ex-Cult KulturA, Liège 30 Bozar Night Bozar, Brussels
— 30.4 Belgian Art Prize Bozar, Brussels — 30.4 Eyewitness: Francisco Goya & Farideh Lashai MSK, Ghent
All events are free for members. Join at subbacultcha.be
— 23.7 Marthe Wéry BPS22, Charleroi
This publication was printed by
GEWA DRUPO Drukkerij GEWADRUPO Hoge Mauw 130 — gewa.be 4
intro
Mellow Yellow For the 3 Donovan fans reading this the association will be instant: being mad about Saffron, smoking an electrical banana, etc. For others, the term ‘mellow yellow’ might induce olfactory flashbacks of unflushed bodily fluids. But when it comes down to it, a lot of the best things in life are yellow: butter, eggs, sunflowers, baby chicks, Pikachu, the only M&Ms worth eating (if you’re not allergic to peanuts), rubber duckies and most cheeses. And this, and us. All things to be enjoyed casually and affably, like a good hit of a banana pipe on the first bright days of spring. 5
groenstedelijk festival
vr 5 & za 6 mei 2017
Rizomen / Roots deSingel is een kunstinstelling van de Vlaamse Overheid
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mediasponsors
les nuits
content
mellow yellow
subbacultcha events 9—21 Alex Cameron 22—27 run (SOFA) vs The Glücks 28—33 Kelly Lee Owens 34—37 artist 38—43 style 44—47 book 48—49 recent finds 51—59 we visit you 60—61
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CONCERTEN AGENDA
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MORE @ WWW.BOTANIQUE.BE | 02 218 37 32 8
subbacultcha events in April
All events are free for members. Join at subbacultcha.be
music
Appalachia’. The experimentations that characterised the beginning of his career have now made space for more traditional approaches as he’s gained critical acclaim. The night will also see a live performance by Ignatz, the solo project of Bram Devens. The Brussels based guitarist continuously reinvents blues music for the 21st century.
Robbing Millions + Warhaus 1 Apr – Eden, Charleroi 20.00 – €21 – free for members
Forma + Jung An Tagen
For his first solo album, Warhaus (Balthazar’s lead singer Maarten Devoldere) put together tantalisingly dreamy tracks, transporting you into an old jazz club filled with drapes, whiskey smells and cigarette smoke. Drawing away from Balthazar’s rock-indie atmosphere, Warhaus reveals a spellbinding album, recalling Leonard Cohen’s universe of film noir and whose name — We Fucked a Flame into Being — will leave no one indifferent … Lucien and Gaspar of Robbing Millions, who do not need an introduction any more, will open the night.
6 Apr – Het Bos, Antwerp 20.00 – €8 – free for members Brooklyn-based trio Forma hit NYC’s minimal synth scene in 2010, and have since embraced kosmische musik, minimalism and synth explorations. Their bedfellow for the night is Austrian artist Stefan Juster. He has a history of juggling different aliases but is currently known as Jung An Tagen. Making use of subtractive synthesis and sample techniques, he’s a key member of the Virtual Institute Vienna gang and has recorded with the likes of Tom Greenwood and Didi Bruckmayr.
Daniel Bachman + Ignatz 5 Apr – Le Pakebo (Amer), Liège 20.30 – €5 – free for members Daniel Bachman is a solo acoustic guitarist who plays a great variety of genres; from classical folk music to richer pieces: he calls his style ‘Psychedelic
#subbafam Introduce your friends & get your membership for free
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CONCERTS SAT 01.04 SUN 09.04
THIS IS NOT THIS HEAT
SUPPORT: CANTENAC DAGAR
The legendary postpunk band returns FULL MOON HEALING
MIDORI TAKADA / SUZANNE CIANI
Opening the mind’s eye with two new age pioneers in collaboration with Nosedrip & Stroom.tv
WED 12.04
STEVE GUNN / MICHAEL CHAPMAN
THU 20.04
PRINCESS NOKIA / DJ LSDXOXO / SUPAFLY COLLECTIVE / AFTERPARTY
WED 26.04
ZOMBI / WEIRD DUST
Masters of solo guitar mantras
Female tomboy hip hop excellence
Steve Moore’s horror movie soundtrack bonanza in collaboration with / at: Gouvernement, Gouvernementstraat 7
INFO & TICKETS:
WWW.VOORUIT.BE - T. 09 267 28 28
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Drugdealer
Rockerill Festival: The Glücks + Le Prince Harry + Holiday Inn + more
9 Apr – Botanique, Brussels 19.30 – €14 – free for members Say no to drugs, kids, but say yes to Drugdealer. Also making sounds under other monikers such as Run DMT and Salvia Plath, Michael Collins makes no mystery about what his music stands for. On 2016 album The End of Comedy, he partially buttons up his goofy past. With a little help from his friends such as Ariel Pink, Weyes Blood, members of Mac DeMarco’s band and Sheer Agony, he streamlines his pothead musings into delirious and psychedelic songs. Bong voyage!
8 Apr – Rockerill, Charleroi 18.00 – €15 – free for members Don’t be fooled by the name of this festival, the offerings are much more diverse than the name suggests. Held in a former mining factory the programme switches between the tropical noise of Harcelor, the garage punk of The Glücks, the electro punk of Holiday Inn, the Riot Girl of Mary Bell and the Mexican punkers of Los Sustos. While this sure sounds like a whole lot of punk and rock, the nightfall brings a deluge of 303 bass. Acieeed!
More Music: Clark + Blanck Mass + Ash Koosha
Jung An Tagen
15 Apr – Concertgebouw, Bruges 23.30 – €20 – free for members
8 Apr – Amer x La Superette, Liège 22.00 – €5 – free for members
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Ash Koosha is a virtual reality artist who blends his classical background with eastern influences, politics and computer software, a combination that will make the most lifeless person in the
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crowd at least tap his foot. Less hysterical but equally trippy is Blanck Mass, the solo project of Fuck Buttons’ Benjamin John Power: esoteric, mesmerizing and repetitive industrial dance music. Clark closes the evening with dreadfully beautiful beats that leave an image of dystopian terror in your mind while you stroll back home.
techniques that allow him to create bewitching melodies. Bosnian-Swiss accordion player Mario Batkovic, subtlety bridging both classical and experimental music, will precede him.
Princess Nokia + DJ LSDXOXO + Matteo Vallicelli more 15 Apr – KulturA, Liège 22.00 – €6 – free for members
Matteo Vallicelli is the touring drummer of Luis Vasquez’s post-punk project The Soft Moon. After moving from Rome to Berlin, the italian ragazzi decided to go solo, heavily influenced by the techno scene of the German capital. Vallicelli got signed on Captured Tracks and just released his debut Primo, a collection of loops and samples built from drum machines and synthesizers which will leave The Soft Moon fans pretty excited.
Colin Stetson + Mario Batkovic 20 Apr – De Roma, Antwerp 20.30 – €20 – free for members As a prominent musical collaborator, tagging along with Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, BADBADNOTGOOD and many more, Colin Stetson needs no introduction. As a solo artist, he mesmerises his audience with his extended breathing
20 Apr – Vooruit, Ghent 21.00 – €12 – free for members Vicious beats and brutally honest lyrics make Princess Nokia’s sound equally energising, relevant and avant-garde. The Princess herself describes her music as ‘cosmic and three-dimensional’. The evening will be nothing short of sensational. As if that weren’t enough, loyal companion of the Princess, LSDXOXO, will have your ears ringing with sexy and sinister sounds during the after party.
PVT 13
21 Apr – Charlatan (Democrazy), Ghent 20.00 – €15 – free for members
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KUNSTENFESTIVALDESARTS www.kunstenfestivaldesarts.be 14
les nuits
PVT is short for PIVOT, if you hadn’t guessed, and it’s a good description for their music. Their sound pivots, twists and throbs with mathematical precision through forests of soaring and stuttered vocals and mountains of keyboards. Or a little less pictorial and more musical: it’s Yeasayer gone Bladerunner. Or Battles on some kind of Coldplay kick. On 2013 album Homosapien they slightly changed course to synthwave and postpunk land, and in 2017 they’ll deliver New Spirit, their latest album.
Kelly Lee Owens 13 May – Botanique, Brussels 19.30 – €14 – free for members Her mix of electronic dream-pop and dark techno playfully walks the line between the human and the mechanical. Head to page 34 for more KLO!
Alex Cameron
Ex-Cult
19 May – Botanique, Brussels 20.00 – €18 – free for members
23 Apr – KulturA, Liège 20.00 – €6 – free for members
The weirdo Australian balances on the line between cynicism and tongue-incheek humour and lets his crooning voice dive in with ’80s drum machines and woozy synths. More Al Cam on page 22.
Formerly known as Sex Cult, Ex-Cult is a punk band from Memphis that will interest any Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall fans out there.
Bozar Night
Thee Oh Sees + La Jungle + The Glücks
30 Apr – Bozar, Brussels 20.00 – €10 – free for members Pick out your best sneakers and dance on the cutting edge of upbeat techno, experimental electronics and dance music while visiting BOZAR exhibitions. This year’s line-up will offer Amelie Lens’ unnerving beats, James Holden’s protégé Lone, and the experimental blisses of Nathan Fake, among others. As a cherry on the cake, Brussels’ duo Front de Cadeaux will test your dancing limits with its nasty, erotic slow beats.
21 May – Botanique, Brussels 19.00 – €23 – free for members We don’t expect any of these bands to hold back on stage their shows are known to be steaming hot. We said hi to The Glücks on page 28.
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NEEMA 02.04 - MINARD
WAAR IS KEN? 26.04 - CHARLATAN
DELV!S 02.04 - VOORUIT
GLINTS + HOAR 29.04 - CHARLATAN
EIGEN MAKELIJ HAKIM, PEPE, PORTO, SAFI, TIEWAI 06.04 - VOORUIT
DAAN PRESENTS ‘NADA’ 03.05 - VOORUIT
BRUTUS + The Guru Guru 13.04 - VOORUIT TOUT VA BIEN + Tundra 14.04 - VOORUIT PVT 21.04 - CHARLATAN SEUN KUTI & EGYPT 80 21.04 - VOORUIT LIGHTERS UP DAVID RODIGAN + The Heatwave 21.04 - VOORUIT
VÖK 03.05 -DOK EPHEMERALS 06.05 - DOK KENJI MINOGUE PRESENTS ‘EN DERMEE’ 11.05 - VOORUIT HOMESHAKE + Aldous RH 11.05 - DOK BIG NEXT HAPPYNESS 12.05 - DOK MONOLORD 14.05 - CHARLATAN
RECORD STORE DAY HET ZESDE METAAL, MAURO, KRANKLAND, WWWATER, MANNGOLD, TAMINO, … 22.04 - MUSIC MANIA & VOORUIT
LE TON MITÉ 17.05 - DOK
LEFTO & RED BULL ELEKTROPEDIA DJ EZ, ONRA, CLAP! CLAP!, LEFTO MAKAYA MCRAVEN & MANY MORE... 22.04 - KOMPASS
FADED THEY. + Azizi Gibson 19.05 - CHARLATAN
PROTOJE & THE INDIGGNATION + Nattali Rize 25.04 - VOORUIT
THE BODY + Uniform 18.05 - DE CENTRALE
7DE GENTSE POPQUIZMARATHON 21.05 - 7 GENTSE CAFÉ’S BIG NEXT HONNE 21.05 - CHARLATAN
INFO & TICKETS: DEMOCRAZY.BE
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film
The Getaway 6 Apr – Cinematek, Brussels 19.30 – €6 – free for members Taking a ’70s pulp crime script, adding two quintessential ’70s movie stars and filtering it all through the down-and-dirty gritty aesthetic he made his name on, Sam Peckinpah brings us The Getaway, a remarkable ’70s crime film that holds your breath from start to finish. Shaving off a couple of years from his ten-year sentence, Doc Mccoy becomes a free man, for a simple price: to plan and execute an elaborate heist for a corrupt businessman. The planning is flawless; the execution, not so much. Will our heroes make it out alive? Hard to say, but we do know this: with criminals, there are never any clean getaways.
Cine-Concert: SAMSARA (projection) + Viktor French (live music) 19 Apr – Le Vecteur, Charleroi 20.00 – give what you like free for members Samsara, an untraditional documentary directed by Ron Fricke and a Sanskrit
word meaning ‘ever turning wheel of life’, takes us on a sensory journey through 25 countries over five years, shot entirely on 70mm film. Viktor French, who was influenced by Ron Fricke’s oeuvre since day one, will reinvent the soundtrack of Samsara with a mix that includes artists like Aphex Twin, Gaslamp Killer and J. Dilla.
Ghost in the Shell
19 & 26 Apr – KASKcinema, Ghent 22.30 – €5 – free for members Ghost in the Shell is a movie that many will define as a science-fiction thriller, but which has a deeper shell (excuse me) that leaves the viewer to create their own interpretations of what consciousness is: are we a product of our environment, or is the environment a product of us? The answer is never a simple yes or no, but rather an introduction to a discussion on the cyclical nature of our lives, one which will hopefully carry over long after the credits have rolled.
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WWW.KVS.BE
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V.U. Merlijn Erbuer - Arduinkaai 7 - 1000 Brussel - © Midas De Saedeleir - Simon Verougstraete
La Danseuse
28 Apr – Cinema Zuid, Antwerp 18.00 – €5 – free for members This is the visually stunning story of dancer Loïe Fuller, inventor of the Serpentine Dance and a star attraction of the Folies Bergères, and her complex relationship with a young Isadora Duncan. Director Stéphanie Di Gusto pushes the biopic to its most exuberant form, rendering 19th-century Paris in a rich, modern light. With Soko and Lily-Rose Depp in the leading roles and an ever-present, mustache-twirling Gaspard Ulliel, this is bound to be one of the most enticing, sensuous cinematic experiences of the month.
Spring breaks out with the whirlwind of passionate music by Leoš Janá ek inspired by the diary in verses of a peasant boy, who left his homeland avowing his love for a gypsy girl. His dramatic, sultry poems, published in 1916 in a newspaper under the title From the Pen of a Self-taught Man, greatly impressed the Czech composer, who transformed them into a song cycle for tenor, alto, piano and female chorus. The story, which was anarchic for its time, was named by Janá ek The Diary of One Who Disappeared. In the Opera of Flanders you will get to discover its recent staging by Ivo van Hove with the coda written by young Belgian composer Annelies van Parys. Subba members should send an email to memberships@subbacultcha.be before 22 April if they plan to come.
Nachtelijk Symposium
theatre/dance
Opera21 / The Diary of One who Disappeared 22 Apr – Opera, Antwerp 22.00 – €28 – free for members
25 Apr – KVS, Brussels 18.00 – €17 – free for members Actors twist around spinning tops on stage in this piece by Flemish art icon Eric De Volder, reimagined today by Mesut Arslan. It portrays the late-night concoctions of three sons and their mother, caught in a dysfunctional family with a tyrannical father. Typical Flemish reticence dissolves and frustrations bubble to the surface in an outburst of emotionality, pain, treachery and impotence.
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exPo
29 MAR. — 20 AuG. ’17 centre for fine arts Brussels
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Performances
YVES KLEIN
THEATRE OF THE VOID Palais des Beaux-arts Bruxelles Paleis voor schone Kunsten Brussel Rue Ravensteinstraat 23 1000 Brussels +32 2 507 82 00 / bozar.be
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Copyright image: Yves Klein, Leap into the Void, 5 rue Gentil-Bernard, Fontenay-aux-Roses (detail), octobre 1960. Artistic action by Yves Klein. © Yves Klein, ADAGP, France / SABAM, Belgium, 2017 Collaboration Harry Shunk and Janos Kender © J.Paul Getty Trust. The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.
Belgian Art Prize
expo
Orla Barry presents Breaking Rainbows until 30 Apr – Argos, Brussels 11.00-18.00 – €6 – free for members As both a visual artist and shepherd (really), Orla Barry straddles two roles. Luckily for you, she’s taking a break from her farm in the Irish countryside to bring her performance/exhibition, Breaking Rainbows, to Brussels. Artistically, she experiments with everything and anything — performance, video, text, drawing, sound — to forge links between life and art. Breaking Rainbows attempts to unravel (pun intended) our testy relationship with nature by connecting 300kg of wool to performers Einat Tuchman and Derrick Devin. In cooperation with Kaaitheater and Performatik, the work is a testament to the sustainable creation of art in rural areas.
Alexis Destoop Four Directions of Heaven
until 30 Apr – Bozar, Brussels 11.00-18.00 – €6 – free for members BAP is an art-lover platform that rewards Belgian artists for their work and talent in the cultural scene. Four finalists have been selected and are currently being exhibited at Bozar: Denicolai & Provoost, Dekyndt, Vanden Eynde, Nkanga. Tune in on the 19th to know who the winner is!
Eyewitness: Francisco Goya & Farideh Lashai until 30 Apr – MSK, Ghent 9.30-17.30 – €8 – free for members Located at Citadel Park, Ghent’s Museum of Fine Arts is already worth checking out just for its architecture styled like a Greek temple. This month, the center is linking and exposing the works of Spanish artist Francisco Goya (1746-1828) and modern Iranian artist Farideh Lashai (1944-2013), both sharing an indictment against violence and oppression.
Marthe Wéry until 23 Jul – BPS22, Charleroi 11.00-18.00 – €6 – free for members
until 30 Apr – Argos, Brussels 11.00-20.00 – €6 – free for members
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les nuits
Alex Cameron Alex Cameron is Al Cam on vocals and Roy Molloy on Sax. Together, they croon like a dark priest, with a voice like an echo chamber that shows us the seamy side of humankind. The minimalist drum programming and dramatic synth chords are the perfect fundament for their dramatic vocal performance. However, there is no lack of joy. The songs are highly immersive and have serious pop potentiality. And if everybody danced like Cameron and spoke like Molloy, the world would be a better place. To give you a sense of what this duo is like, we agreed — well, no, they gave us no other choice — to give them carte blanche on this feature. Alex Cameron takeover starts now, enjoy …
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Words by Roy Molloy
Photos by Chris Rhodes shot in London 23
Hi folks, Roy Molloy here, Bulls bellow. Mellow yellow. I’m stood backstage w my dear friend and business partner Mr. Alex Cameron preppin ourselves for showtime. Go Time. Nothin wrong w gettin the shaky-dakes before you hit the stage. I ain’t a nervous nelly but pre-show’s a special kind a feeling. Got a way of taking the stress of the world, the tensions, the swells and vapours, the texts from your ex and bills unpaid and focusin’ em laser like into ya damn dick till it’s no more than a pathetic wet worm in your pants. Keep ya wondering if the sirens in the distance are real. God damn. It’s a stressful time to be alive my guys. Look at ya screen see tales of fraud and frambulance. Young Singles in your area. Ya mate buyin his cousin’s Hyundai. The evils of the world through a window in your palm. Glass eyed ogres and bottomless pits a ego an greed harnessing sorrow for gain. Harnessin that strange impression the more water brained folks hold that another person’s misery can salve their own. Look up from your
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phone aint a lot better. See a dog w one leg or a crow on a fence. See all the stores shut down bar the gold pawn. See a lady feeding her kid a hotdog. See a truck on fire on the freeway and look: our jobs a dream. No heavy lifting. No gettin rained on. But the tensions just the same, and going out on stage w nerves is a liability. Al told me the other day he could smell when i’m stressed. What if someone picks up a scent? The feeling might catch on. Next thing the crowd’s rushed the barriers, grabbin your hair, pull ya fuckin arms off. Man. What a life. So how you stay calm? Me personally I do one a two things. The first thing is I blow that horn. The corn cob. Puttin some air down that sweet Taiwan brass bring a calm over me like a wave crash. Like a shower head straight to the face. You forget how
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rare it is to exhale fully sometimes. An if that won’t work? Then it’s a mental game. Keep the self talk positive. Think about breakin a broom on your knee. Think how far you could throw a house brick. Recall a positive memory. When i was 8 years old I knew a girl named Anna Probilsky who I never saw drink anything but vanilla milk. One day after tennis training she took me by the hand and had me follow her behind the tuck-shop, where she squatted down next to a wheely bin and began to urinate. In that moment, watching what seemed like an endless cascade of shining yellow piss, it was like everything was new and unfamiliar to me. The cracks in the concrete. The breeze on my back. The sulfurous smell. An empty yoghurt container on the ground. It was all so vivid. So still. So perfect. And as i watched that hot piss trickle yellow and glistening in
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the sun I felt an impossible calm come over me, and that feeling has always existed somewhere in my mind, like a pebble drop into a pond, and even as it falls from sight the ripples remain. So there’s my trick folks. Any time i’m standin at the side of the stage imagining the audience murdering me w their bare hands, or I see the fraudluence online, or feel the lightning, or the swells and vapours, or the tension in my heart screamin like a bulls bellow it’s just a matter a pausing, taking some deep breaths, and reliving in my mind the moment that Anna Prebilsky let me watch her do a giant piss next to a bin behind the tuckshop, and suddenly everything is clear and precise in my mind, and the air fills with sweet ambrosia. Cool and calm. Like a fucken snowflake. Mellow Yellow.
Alex Cameron plays Les Nuits at Botanique, Brussels on 19 May. The show is free for members.
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les nuits
run (SOFA) vs The Glücks
Belgium, this very tiny country that is ours but which can still appear so different from one end to the other. Luckily, events like Les Nuits Botanique are always good times to catch up with what the home turf is up to and to blur those divisional lines, which are pretty fictive in the end. This year we chose The Glücks from Ostend and run (SOFA) from Charleroi and asked them to exchange a few words as they embarked on a mellow yellow-infused photoshoot. 28
29 run sofa
Photo by Miles Fischler shot in Leuven
Band members: Tina G. (skins / throat) Alek Pigor (strings / throat) Music style: Savage garagepunk Town: Ostend
What do you know about Charleroi, our hometown? Alek: You have great venues like the Rockerill, Eden & Le Vecteur. Coal, glass & metallurgy. Important labour strikes. Dutroux. Airport. The Dupuis comics. Spagguetta Orghasmmond. (run) SOFA. And Mika, the mayor of Charleroi. What’s your musical guilty pleasure? Tina: We don’t feel guilty about listening to any music, it doesn’t judge us. You have a jam called ‘LSD’. How do you like your psychotropic?
T: BB King resurrects out of his coffin, which is one of many on an assembly line full of coffins. He offers me his guitar and says: ‘Play the damn thing.’ So I start shredding like a maniac. A: Being chased by Nosferatu in a huge, constantly rotating room with MC Escher stairways all over the damn place and melting Dali / The Cabinet of Dr Caligari scenery. Each step of the stairs is a different note arranged randomly and I’m supposed to guess and play a composition before Nosferatu catches me. The closer I get to arranging the song, the more subdivisions the room gets. If I kill Nosferatu, everything just turns into a fractal and explodes.
A+T: Pure. How mellow can you get? A+T: Love is what makes life worthwhile, everything else is just a distraction. Have you ever had a recurring dream related to music?
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The Glücks plays Les Nuits at Botanique, Brussels on 21 May. The show is free for members.
The Glücks
(run) SOFA
Photo by Sasha Vernaeve shot in Brussels
Band members: Antoine Romeo (vocalist) Julien Tassin (guitar) Music style: rock Town: Charleroi
Do androids dream of electric sheep? Why?
Describe the colour ‘yellow’ to somebody who’s blind.
Antoine: I guess they do! We say: ‘I’m running out of battery’ when talking about our phones/computers. According to some, we’re already cyborgs anyway …
J: I’d play Jimi Hendrix’s song If 6 was 9 — especially the crazy psyche part at the end. That’s what yellow sounds like to me.
Julien: According to me, human beings act mostly like androids. Empathy tends to be a very selective feeling. We spend too much time dreaming of things we can’t get instead of watching and respecting the life before our eyes. Belgium is a small country, yet it’s not a given for a Walloon band to play in Flanders and vice versa. How do you feel about that? A: I feel like it is a reality but yet I think WE — both you and us — have the power to change this nonsense. This division has been institutionalized by politics, not us. Let’s take actions, connect with each other, go and see concerts on the other side of the ‘language border’. Come play in Charleroi!
A: The colour yellow is to the eye what the sun is to the skin, don’t you think? If you went deaf, what life would you pursue? A: Now that’s a good one! I guess Julien, as he can write music, would keep on writing the beautiful things going on in his head. Personally, I think I’d turn to something more visually demanding, like 3D printing or something. J: I think music would always be there in my head and would become even more of an obsession as I had to find new ways to express it.
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(run) SOFA plays Les Nuits at Botanique, Brussels.
les nuits
Kelly Lee Owens Kelly Lee Owens is a producer, performer, writer and long-time lurker around the electro-music scene. Some of her bragging rights include two self-released white label 12�s, the release of her EP Oleic on Smalltown Supersound, and collabs with avant-pop artist Jenny Hval and techno producer Daniel Avery. Before Owens takes you on a night of looped vocals, spectral pop and techno at Les Nuits, we decided to scavenge with her for green spots across London. We ended up making friends with a ladybird while enjoying some good D-vitamin from a bright shining sun.
Photos by Trent McMinn shot in London, UK
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Kelly Lee Owens plays Les Nuits at Botanique, Brussels on 13 May. The show is free for members.
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artist
Maarten Vanden Eynde Interview by Laura Bonne Photos by Tiny Geeroms
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When Maarten Vanden Eynde’s wife (and fellow artist) Marjolijn Dijkman opens the door, the first thing we see is creative activity. Vanden Eynde is welding, and his mother is finalising The Gadget, a laced bomb named after the first nuclear iteration thereof — hung in a Plexiglas cylinder, the result can now be seen in BOZAR. We climbed to his studio, all the way to the eaves. You seem to investigate man’s impact on nature in your work, pointing out several problems. Showing problems is not my main purpose. To get to a certain point, I trace the materials. Ils ont partagé le monde, for instance, is a series of paintings I made with the Congolese painter Musasa. It shows the most important materials that influence human beings. When you examine how they’re made, harvested and sold, you automatically bump into the problems that whole process entails — think: slavery, mining, [agrochemical company] Monsanto and genetic alteration, pesticides … By foregrounding these links, I show things instead of making finger-pointing statements.
Around the World is a five-metrehigh rocket, wound with 40,015km of cotton yarn: that concerns the global impact of cotton, of course. But I don’t name it as negative. It’s more about the poetic image of this art piece, precisely because it’s so hard to figure out what is bad and what’s good. I’m more interested in long-term than in shortterm — for instance, in how future generations will look back on their past. There lies my freedom, the subjectivity of my work. And the imaginary is not necessarily negative. In the short term, however, I’m not that optimistic at all.
‘I’m more interested in long-term than in shortBut your message is political? term – for instance, in That’s one message, among how future generations others. I don’t see my work as univocal. For me, it’s more interesting will look back on their to indicate several perspectives. In past. There lies my such a layered piece, politics are not freedom, the subjectivity the central message. For example, 41 of my work’
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‘Plastic Reef not only has a strong message, it’s also an autonomous art piece, equally beautiful and ugly’
coral reefs are disappearing: coral absorbs micro plastic particles. That’s when those two initially different subjects of my sculpture appeared to match in reality as well. But Plastic Reef not only has a strong message, it’s also an autonomous art piece, equally beautiful and ugly. The plastic is gross, but it’s also full of anemones and other marvellous details. That stratification and the possibility to look at a work in different ways is the key to an interesting piece.
What’s your relationship with time, then? Time is a very interesting topic. The only thing we know today is a chronological, linear time. But for other cultures — and in the past also for us — time passes according to a more natural, circular design. The way you look at time determines how you live — and personally, I think the circular way is better. Recently, I read about linear time being masculine and circular time being feminine. By thinking circularly, women have much more of a long-term vision. That’s because in circular thinking, past, present and future are a lot more connected to each other. In linear thinking, the past is unconditionally dead. I think because of that more women should hold powerful positions. What makes good art? Layers. Plastic Reef was a very fruitful work for me, because it had an important topic: plastic pollution and the disappearance of coral reefs. Soon after, scientists discovered a new reason why
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maartenvandeneynde.com Maarten Vanden Eynde is selected for the Belgian Art Prize. The expo is free for members during April. bozar.be
style
Creative direction: AmĂŠlie Bakker & Sophie Keij for Atelier Brenda
by Atelier Brenda
Style
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book Psychotic Reactions & Carburetor Dung Lester Bangs
text and artwork by Gabriela González
If you were anything like me as a teenager — bland and dorky with dreams of a glamorous freewheelin’ life on the road alongside shaggy-haired rockers — you probably listed Almost Famous in your top ten favourite films until way past puberty. As a bland and dorky adult, my soft spot for the movie is justified by Philip Seymour Hoffman’s pivotal role as music journalist Lester Bangs. It must have been kismet: besides drug-related downfalls, these were visionaries in their field whose singularity is unrivalled. In the case of Lester Bangs, his defiant wit, acerbic humour and near animalistic passion has flung him beyond the annals of music writing and cast him into the ranks of William Burroughs and David Foster Wallace as one of the great American writers. Psychotic Reactions & Carburetor Dung is a compilation of some of his most salient pieces, picked not for their shock value (which explains the absence of his brutal trashing of MC5’s Kick Out The Jams — a record he would later come to love like any normal insane person) but for what transpires from within: the essence of a man, brilliant and wretched, trying to carve a wedge out of this world where he could roar into the void. And roar he did: a transcendent ode to Astral Weeks; a revealing roadtrip with The Clash that is equal parts tour diary and exposé; possibly the best title for anything ever in ‘Of Pop and Pies and Fun: A Program for Mass Liberation in the Form of a Stooges Review, or, Who’s The Fool?’ It goes beyond the jargonized account of a bygone era: this is writing that comes straight from the gut. You know the jive.
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DON'T WE DESERVE GRAND HUMAN PROJECTS THAT GIVE US MEANING? A NEW PERFORMANCE BY ROBBERT&FRANK FRANK&ROBBERT
04.-05.05 • CAMPO, GHENT INFO & TICKETS: WWW.CAMPO.NU
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ON TOUR: AMSTERDAM, UTRECHT, BERN, BRUGGE,...
recent finds Opera21 Festival
opera21.be
If you think opera is nothing but thick-necked baritones and hollering ladies in puffy dresses, you’re in for a surprise. The annual Opera21 festival has made it its mission to expand the definition of the genre and blur its boundaries with other art forms and practices. Taking place from 18 to 30 April in both Antwerp and Ghent, the fifth edition of Opera21 will continue to showcase hybrid scenic experiments that range from installations and performances to experimental interpretations of literary material. We’re especially excited by Claron McFadden’s Nachtschade: Aubergine, a commentary on migration seen through the eyes of the humble eggplant as it embarks on a quest for identity; Daan Janssens and Fabrice Murgia’s Menuet, where the existentialist themes of Louis Paul Boon’s novel set the tone for the unconventional story of a marriage in shambles; and the stunning multimedia project Revelations from Wim Henderickx and Wouter Van Looy, who use the visions of the medieval mystic Hadewijch to create a wordless ode to transcendental love. Twelve days to alter conventions and shatter preconceptions, with minimal stuffiness guaranteed.
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collapse transformation
discipline
continued growth
Futurists: Agence Future, Stuart Candy, The Centre for Postnormal Policy & Futures Studies, Mei-Mei Song Artists: Michel Auder, Miriam Bäckström, Kasper Bosmans, Simryn Gill, Guan Xiao, Jean Katambayi Mukendi, Alexander Lee, Nina Roos, Darius Žiūra www.muhka.be
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Kasper Bosmans, Legend: A Temporary Futures Institute, 2016
recent finds It Came From Planet Wax
facebook.com/ItCameFromPlanetWax
Brussels-based translator, cinephile and all-round awesome chick Vanessa Sutour has something up her sleeve — or, more fittingly, something around her neck. With her project It Came From Planet Wax, Sutour takes the humble circular scarf to new levels of trippy. Her creations are made from a blend of wax and jersey knit, and adorned with motifs that look straight out of a ’60s movie decor. Even better, part of the proceeds go to to the Animaux en Péril association, if you want to reach a paw out to your furry friends in need. Enough said, let’s get waxin’!
Zwangerschapsverlof Vol3
facebook.com/ZwangereGuy
Good Friday will henceforth be known as Guy’de Vrijdag. That’s because Brussels rapper Zwangere Guy will be owning it: his new mixtape, Zwangerschapsverlof Vol3, will drop on 14 April, to the delight of anyone who’s been following him and the rest of the Stikstof crew. Drawing from his personal history as well as his relationship to Brussels, Zwangere Guy infuses every track with characteristic humour and a laid-back flow, shuffling effortlessly between French and Dutch over beats that sit somewhere between the breezy and the weird. Notable mentions: the wacky old-school charm of ‘Low & Lowgisch’ and ‘Dandy’, and the unnervingly catchy instant classic that is ‘Tyler Durden’.
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5 APR DAYMÉ AROCENA 20 APR COLIN STETSON
+ SUPPORT MARIO BATKOVIC FREE FOR SUBBACULTCHAMEMBERS!
22 APR BRIHANG 2 MAY THOMAS DYBDAHL
+ SUPPORT BROOKE SHARKEY
7 MAY 11 MAY 13 MAY 30 MAY DE ROMA INFO & TICKETS
ILLUMININE PASCAL DEWEZE GLINTS IMARHAN + KEL ASSOUF DOUBLE BILL
TURNHOUTSEBAAN 286, 2140 BORGERHOUT, BELGIUM WWW.DEROMA.BE + 32(0)03 600 16 60
recent finds Haile Gerima Retrospective at Cinematek
by Sabzian Sabzian is a collection of online reflections on cinema, and maps cinephile events in Belgium and its surroundings. Articles are written in Dutch, English and French. sabzian.be
Throughout April and May, Cinematek holds a retrospective of the work of Ethiopian filmmaker Haile Gerima, at once an important voice in African cinema and a vital part of the LA Rebellion movement in California in the Sixties and Seventies. Challenging the notion of a colonised cinema, Gerima not only strived to tell the unheard stories of the wretched of the earth but to tell them in an intuitive, liberated manner. To speak of people unspoken of, can only be done effectively in a decolonized cinematographic vernacular. The screening of his seminal film, Bush Mama (1975), on 08 April will be followed by a conversation with the director himself. ‘When I first started making films, I didn’t know the costs of getting involved in film production. I just saw the medium as a powerful way of interjecting individual freedom into the storytelling process. Because oftentimes, the stereotype about cinema […] is that it monopolistically imposes itself on people as a kind of complete reality and can sometimes replace a person’s original and intuitive knowledge and temperament. It displaces those sensibilities. It makes its own standard the official standard. […] And once I realized how colonized I was mentally, I started to think about film as a way to engage our political world. And even though I was not a member of the Black Power Movement, it created a very serious political crisis for those of us who were colonized mentally. It was a period when we redefined who the hell we were. In that process, cinema enabled me to gradually work on myself. It gave me the opportunity to redefine and reaffirm my right to speak, the significance of my accent and narrative temperament.’ (from: Decolonizing the Filmic Mind: An Interview with Haile Gerima by John L Jackson)
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© Rudy Carlier
VR
28.04
Joachim Badenhorst
ZA
29.04
Carate Urio support: Hiele Orchestra STUFF.
CD-RELEASE
jazz / ambient / elektronica © Geert Vandepoele
ZA
29.04
YODOK III ambient / elektronica
lp-release jazz / ambient
© Bob Schellens
ZA
29.04
Illuminine lp-release ambient / elektronica
© Mathieu Golinvaux
VR
28 T/M ZA 29.04
dans / jazz / klassiek
Kouter 29, 9000 Gent T ICK E T S Tickets Gent Sint Baafsplein 17 09 265 91 65 www.handelsbeurs.be vorm: Pascal Van Hoorebeke
Ballets Confidentiels / Marcin Masecki / Joachim Badenhorst / Karen Willems & Eric Thielemans e.a.
Handelsbeurs Concertzaal
recent finds Real Trvth
by Hannes Rooms
orealtruth.bandcamp.com
Brussels-based Christophe Gennen goes by the stage name Real Trvth. This solo project mixes synth-heavy Nineties sounds with upbeat melodies and trap rhythms, now and then accompanied by him singing which makes the songs feel nostalgic for a previous era. Nevertheless Real Trvth’s productions are sometimes reminiscent of Rustie’s earlier work or, even Hudson Mohawke. His first self-released EP, Cosmic Fluids, comes with psychedelic artwork by Gennen himself, fully supporting the EP’s message: ‘notion of space / time alteration’. Go see him live to rave and take a trip back in time.
Progress Bar facebook.com/prgrssbr
We recently went to Amsterdam’s Progress Bar to investigate what the future of club music might sound like. Since techno and house music are reaching mainstream heights, it’s inevitable that people will look for more exciting alternatives eventually (see also: Berghain’s new floor, Saüle). So maybe innovative producer Evian Christ could give us a glimpse into the future. At Progress Bar the first part of his set consisted exclusively of trance and gabber. Even the most open-minded dancers struggled, and the high BPMs combined with dense smoke and a constant flux of strobe lights made the whole scene feel alienating. However, the uncompromising approach kind of paid off and resulted in a shared excitement in the crowd. Later, the DJ sets by Kamixlo and Coucou Chloe’s also contained lots of gabber tracks or remixes. Not sure if today’s avant-garde club artists are overreaching themselves and their audience or if they’ll be proven visionary in the end. TBC — watch this space.
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kultuurkaffee presents:
travelling arts festival curated by joris van de moortel WHERE?
@ BegijnhofkerK brussels WHEN?
may - june 2017 more info:
www.kultuurkaffee.be
recent finds Up- and Downgrades (pt.1) Dennis Tyfus
by Isaline Raes
12 April-7 May Pinkie Bowtie, Antwerp free entrance pinkiebowtie.com
Pinkies up for Antwerp’s new art kid in town: Pinkie Bowtie. After closing the doors of their venue Stadslimiet (now TRAP) at the end of last year, Antwerp-based artists-slash-friends Vaast Colson and Dennis Tyfus joined forces with their Dutch comrade Peter Fengler to create a new art space that will showcase their work. If you missed the grand opening a month ago, you’ll get another chance on 12 April with the festive preview of their second expo: Up- and Downgrades (pt.1) by Dennis Tyfus. On show are a classic ensemble of self-portraits in coloured pencil. The peppy colours entice you into a funny, fairy world — but nothing is as it appears. Put on your glad rags and come get yourselves knocked in the head by the ironic tristesse of Tyfus’s drawings.
Les VoiZines Zine Happening III 8-9 April Buurtwerk Macharius, Ghent free entrance facebook.com/lesvoizinesgent
Dear zine lovers, for the third year in a row (it’s becoming a classic) the cosiest zine fair on our planet flutters down at Buurtwerk Macharius in Ghent on 8 and 9 April. This rip-roaring zine happening hosted by Les VoiZines will once again be a massive celebration of self-publishing and DIY culture. Two days stuffed with a zine fair, workshops on bookbinding and stereotypes in comics, the book launch/expo for Manet’s Diner by Ghent-based illustrator Jana Vasiljevic and yummy vegan hot dogs and cakes. Plus: this year they’re throwing a wild party at In De Ruimte on Saturday evening. To zine or not to zine, that’s the question.
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we visit you
Name: Julian Age: 23 Zodiac sign: dolphin Website: alphaconseils.be Subbacultcha member since: March 2016
Tell us, what do you do in life? I’m an insurance advisor — it sounds (and is) super serious, but we drink wine on Friday and we’re quite fun. I’m also a serial chiller in my free time. Karaoke, friends, ping-pong … just classics.
What’s your favourite pastime? I like having people at home, it’s like playing at tea party for real. I like to do some doodles and leave them in stopping-off places, then I imagine that people find them and think that it’s cool.
What projects are you working on? None. I work, I go to classes, I have exams and I’m also a housewife so yeah, you know … I’m gonna start saving money and I’ll visit my friends and my family around the world. I’m also gonna ride my bicycle with my dog as spring comes.
Any guilty pleasures? I like to wear other people’s stuff without asking — hi roomie! The feeling cannot be described.
What inspires you? For real? My friends who are a constant source of creativity and inspiration. I must admit that they’re living masterpieces themselves.
Weirdest shit you tried smoking? My mom’s probably reading this — yeah she reads subba. Which future Subbacultcha show are you looking forward to? I don’t have much free time these days, but maybe I’ll have a look around BPS22.
What do you like best about your place? My bathtub. It’s big enough for three people or for the monthly dishes. My flat is quite cool actually. I recommend it 100%. What kind of music are you listening to at the moment? Grems — I’m head over heels to this guy’s sound. Old funk, Roy Ayers’ style. Quite a lot of techno in my automobile Crou Supeflip’s new album that was just released too. What’s the first record you bought? Demon Days from Gorillaz. I was a kid.
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Photos by Alexandre Remy shot in Couillet
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front cover: Chris Rhodes
thank you: Isaac Barbé, Mattias Baertsoen, Koi Persyn, Nilou, Hannes Rooms, Vicky Derweduwen, Lindsey De Laet, Mert Sen, Jules Labath, Junior Bokele, Paulina De Vleesschouwer, Margaux Fabris, Emma George, Kris Vanslambrouck, Kellan Smith, Lynn Cailliau, Naoki Karathanassis, Eva Menga, Virginie Van de Casteele, Nelson Henry, Lara Decrae, Eduardo Garcia, Gilles Vanesse, Eline De Vos, Axelle Vertommen, Gert Van Dijck, Lisa Alemán Arévalo, Sofia Van Laer, Amaury Wilkin and friends, Hanne Konings, Lies Hermans, Frederic Busscher, Sofie Steenhaut & Mika Lebbe
editors in chief: Herlinde Raeman & Kasper-Jan Raeman magazine editors: Julien Van de Casteele & Gabriela González copy editor: Megan Roberts design: Chloé D’hauwe website editors: Valerie Steenhaut & Thomas Vanoosthuyse
partners: Botanique, Beursschouwburg, Het Bos, GEWADRUPO, Vooruit, Democrazy, KVS, Campo, Bozar, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, 013, M KHA, De Roma, KultuurKaffee, Handelsbeurs, deSingel, Arenberg, Le Vecteur, Rockerill, BPS22, Eden, Amer, Cactus muziekcentrum, Jauneorange, Opera Vlaanderen, KASK Cinema, Argos, Cinema Zuid & Cinematek
social media editor: Lisa Wallyn advertising & partnerships: Kasper-Jan Raeman (kasper-jan@subbacultcha.be) distribution: Herlinde Raeman (herlinde@subbacultcha.be)
office: Subbacultcha Belgium, Dendermondsesteenweg 80A, 9000 Belgium
printer: Drukkerij GEWADRUPO, Arendonk, Belgium
contact: magazine@subbacultcha.be
contributing writers: Sabzian, Roy Molloy, Gabriela González, Julien Van de Casteele, Anaïs Violet Vaneldere, Blanche Didier, Bart Bruneel, Polina Akhmetzyanova, Denis Wouters, Valerie Steenhaut, Hannes Rooms, Rob Flynn, Isaline Raes, Laura Bonne, Francesca Pinder & Alexander Ermakov contributing photographers: Trent McMinn, Chris Rhodes, Miles Fischler, Sasha Vernaeve, Alexandre Remy, Atelier Brenda & Tiny Geeroms contributing artists: Gabriela González, Atelier Brenda & Maarten Vanden Eynde
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New Music for New People Free Access to the best concerts and events. Join us for €8 a month. subbacultcha.be
30 APR.’17 — 20:00-03:00 AMELIE LENS - LONE NATHAN FAKE (LIVE) FRONT DE CADEAUX - CLARA!
+ 4 EXHIBITIONS : POL BURY, YVES KLEIN … € 10 - PRESALE PALAIS DES BEAUX-ARTS BRUXELLES PALEIS VOOR SCHONE KUNSTEN BRUSSEL Rue Ravensteinstraat 23 1000 Brussels +32 2 507 82 00 / bozar.be
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