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Discover the activities labeled ​‘Open Museum’

For the past 4 years, Open Museum has partnered up with local experts to make Museum Night Fever’s participating museums as accessible as possible. To learn more about the accessibility of each location, you can take a look at the Accessibility page for more information.

In light of the event, Open Museum has selected 10 museums with an Open Museum label. This label highlights inclusive activities in the evening’s itinerary that showcase the beauty and diversity of Brussels’ cultural landscape. The activities have been carefully curated for their alignment with Open Museum’s core values of inclusion and diversity, and are designed to raise awareness around themes such as:

  • Sensory impairments
  • Openness to the world
  • LGBTQIA+ identities
  • Decolonization of cultural narratives

Rhythms from Cuba, a multilingual improvisation theatre, drag shows or a choir in sign language: the choice won’t be easy, but it’s all yours! With this article, Open Museum would like to give you an idea of what to expect from the activities with the Open Museum label, to guide you along and help you decide where to spend your evening.

Art et marges museum

In the Art et marges museum, you can journey to Athosland, the imaginary world of German outsider artist Michel Golz. Here you can listen to the voices and instruments of the queer newcomer musicians of LIAISON MUSIC, who bring an immersive hand-drawn map installation to life. The musicians of LIAISON MUSIC will perform 3 times during the evening, at 8:30pm, 9:30pm and 10:30pm.

Also at Art et marges museum, makeup artist MEELPOMENE invites you to meet your alter ego and transform your look to fit the Athosland aesthetic. She’ll be doing visitors’ makeup all night long, until 0:30am. The perfect place to add the finishing touch to your Museum Night Fever look!

Bozar

At Bozar, renowned choreographer and performer nora chipaumire will take over the Palace with her ensemble to perform Dambudzo. This powerful ​‘concert dance’ criticises colonial legacies and challenges stereotypes around Africa and the Black performing body. Together with performers Tatenda Chabarwa, tyroneisaacstuart, SoKo Jena, Beauty and Fatima Katiji, Jonathan, Kudakwashe Daniel and Mohamed Y. SHIKA, you’ll pass a night of bold and critical music and dance amid the current exhibitions at Bozar. The performance starts at 10pm and lasts until 1am.

Contretype

Contretype is the place to be for experiencing dance like you’ve never seen before. Expressing themselves and their identities through dance and pole dance, Angèle Virago, Dominette, Al’X, and Dgin de Marbre perform solo, in duo or in trio. The performances take place 2 times an hour over the course of the evening.

De Munt/​La Monnaie

What happens when drag queens take over the opera? An unforgettable party of course! All evening long, from 7:30pm to 12:50am at De Munt/​La Monnaie, you’ll encounter drag artists from Brussels who bring both famous and lesser-known opera arias to life.

Sint Gorikshallen/​Halles Saint-Géry

When a fashion designer, dancer, beatmaker, singer and painter of African descent revisit Art Deco and fashion, the result is a committed, multidisciplinary performance. For Museum Night Fever, Sint Gorikshallen/​Halles Saint-Géry opens up a critical dialogue on cultural heritage and contemporary issues through a performance on the intersection of fashion, dance, visual arts and sound. This performance takes place at 7:30pm, 8:30pm and 9:30pm.

House of European History

Plenty to do at the House of European History! In the heart of the European quarter, you can experience Babel Games, a multilingual improvisation show that blends French, English, Dutch, Spanish, Greek and other languages. United by their energy and enthusiasm, the actors of Babel Games welcome you for a performance you won’t quickly forget.

Also at the House of European History, the drag artists from IN VITRO aim to broaden your perspective on minorities and the invisible walls that cage them. Their performance includes a transparent cage called The Box, from which the artists try to both physically and metaphorically break free.

Centrale for contemporary art

Feel like experiencing a whole new culture? Then, Centrale for contemporary art is your place to be! Artist Làzara Rosell Albear invites you on a journey through her soundscape called Gao, between Brussels and Cuba. Gao means ​‘house’ in Cuban slang and is here made out of recycled materials and shapes, combined in photo and video installations. The musical performance accompanying this installation is performed throughout the evening.

Brussels City Museum – The King’s House

Have you always wanted to be part of a unique performance? At the Brussels City Museum, you can join in the participatory performance by Hands & Voices, that combines singing, gestures, and sign language. A musician, actor and 2 Belgian French Sign Language interpreters (LSFB) guide a fleeting choir of participants towards a common note. In 25 minute-workshops, you can get a playful introduction to sign language, allowing you to communicate and connect without spoken words. The workshops take place at 7:45pm, 8:45pm, 9:45pm, 10:45pm and 11:45pm.

Old Masters Museum

Old Masters Museum has collaborated with several performers to give you a night to remember. In the Forum, the dancers of the Quelqu’aine Production Collective invite you to celebrate diversity with them and explore the various facets of our identities. Their performances take place at 7:30pm, 9pm and 10:30pm.

Old Masters Museum also provides a calmer activity, with the poetic tale Le Chercheur, told in French and in Belgian French Sign language (LSFB). Guides and storytellers Sarah Navarro and Akim Hida, hearing and deaf respectively, tell their story at 8:30pm and at 10pm. 

Train World

At Train World, you can laugh out loud with the actors from the Sur le bout des doigts company, who will be telling witty stories in both spoken and sign languages. French and Belgian French Sign Language (LSFB) and Dutch and Flemish Sign Language (VGT) duel with each other in a performance to remember! The actors perform 20-minute shows, at 7:45pm, 8:45pm, 9:45pm, 10:45pm and 11:45pm.