this year a total of 17 african countries celebrate 50 years of independence. marking the occasion is the elaborate visionary africa festival organized by the paleis voor schone kunsten and the koninklijk museum voor midden-afrika. key element of this cultural showcase is the exhibition geo-graphics - a map of art practices in africa, past and present, supervised by creative director + architect david adjaye and opening on wed - jun 9.

the show interestingly allows ethnographic art create a visual and narrative dialogue with contemporary art, thereby offering an overview of the enormous wealth and diversity of the visual artistic creation on the african continent. it includes 220 ethnographic objects from belgian private and museum collections from the 16th to the 20th century.

eight contemporary arts centers from across africa have been invited to participate in the exhibition and each occupies a space within the exhibition, presenting its own artistic identity and shows work by ‘its’ african artists. participating venues include the centre for contemporary arts [lagos], darb 1718 [cairo] and the centre for contemporary art of east africa [nairobi]. location: paleis voor schone kunsten, ravensteinstraat 23 [central brussels].



© george osodi - beach [2004]

the white-collar city of brussels gets a badly needed colour injection. we’re talking the opening of the pantone hotel in the city’s sint-gillis area. an initiative by the pantone global colour authority in collaboration with a group of british developers, the property boasts 59 affordably priced rooms in stylish and colourful design aesthetics created by architect olivier hannaert and interior designer michel penneman.

each of the seven floors are enlightened by different color palettes to complement guests’ emotions while the rooms are patterned after one of seven distinct pantone colors. photographer victor levy created photographic installations that complements the design of each room. the hotel has all the amenities and facilities you’d expect, such as lcd televisions and airconditioning plus fully-equipped meeting rooms and a fab rooftop bar.

interestingly, pantone colour consultants are also available by appointment for informal color consultations or to present educational seminars on colour psychology and trends. location: loixplein 1 [sint-gillis].





© pantone - hotel lobby [top], red room [middle] and yellow room [bottom]

the newly opened hunting and collecting store in downtown brussels offers a range of hot merchandise often unavailable in town before. established by fashion editor aude gribomont and event producer niels radtke, the store focuses on the in-the-know shopper and has a sharp collection of fashion, shoes, accessories, design objects and music that’ll even tantalize the most jaded. brands include band of outsiders for sperry, opening ceremony [shoes], cosmic wonder, ligia dias and common projects.

hunting and collecting occupies a crisp, white-washed 300 sqm. spread over two floors. the boutique section on the ground floor is sparsely decorated with displays, allowing the merchandise to really stand out. the basement features a gallery space where exhibitions are to be held. location: kartuizerstraat 17 [downtown].






© hunting and collecting

the hypercool symmetry of chaos exhibition just launched at think.21 [on until oct 21]. a solo show by athens-based artist angelo plessas, it features work ranging from interactive website projections to neon sculptures and photographic installations. location: maliestraat 21 [elsene].



© angelo plessas

li edelkoort is one of the planet’s leading trend analysts and founder of the authoritative trend union agency in paris. for pierre bergé & associés she has selected stunning design pieces, such as a series of prototypes of vladi rapaport’s skull chair as shown below, for the wishlist li edelkoort auction on sun - sep 13 [2pm]. location: salle des beaux arts, grote zavelplein 40 [downtown].




© pierre bergé & associés / photo: skull chair prototype in polyester by vladi rapaport [2008]

french designer noé duchaufour-lawrance’s exhibition marée noire au claire de lune opens at pierre bergé & associés gallery on fri - dec 12. on display are new objects especially created for the occasion and inspired by an ambivalent commodity: petrol. for the show he designed a series of objects made of black corian, creating matrixes of nine elements, showing a setting including a bright moonlight, a golden insert and freeze waves. location: grote zavelplein 40 [downtown].

© brice vandermeeren for pierre bergé & associés