Brussels highlights its Art Nouveau thanks to its acrobats

130 years after the inauguration of the Hôtel Tassel, an emblematic building by architect Victor Horta, the Brussels-Capital Region has dedicated the year 2023 to Art Nouveau.

Born at the end of the XNUMXth century, this artistic current was based both on the enhancement of metal structures and on the aesthetics of curves, all associated with intense craftsmanship centered in particular on sgraffito (graphic wall decorations on the facade) and the stained glass windows.

Among the events offered in the Belgian capital, a singular idea: to bring acrobats into these places which often have a museum dimension.

Their performances are the subject of a photo and video exhibition entitled "Arabesque", which opens on Saturday at the Halles Saint-Géry, in the center of Brussels, with the aim of offering "another look at the current Art Nouveau ".

Trapeze artist suspended in the middle of a majestic stairwell, acrobat perched on a ramp in front of a multicolored stained glass window: we see the students of the School of Circus Arts in Brussels (ESAC) evolving in places unaccustomed to so many of movements.

"It's an architecture that is inspired by the living, the body, the plant", explains to AFP Michael Hottier, co-director of the Brussels acrobatic company Back Pocket, which designed the project. "We very quickly have the connection which is natural on the grace, the organic side", he adds, during the shots at the Hotel van Eetvelde, a mansion designed by Horta.

This "staged of bodies in new spaces" comes up against the fact that these buildings are listed and that it is difficult to bring in large audiences for shows: hence the idea of ​​working in photo and video to make the experience accessible to as many people as possible.

Many Art Nouveau buildings in Brussels have had turbulent histories. Forgotten, even denigrated for a whole part of the 1950th century, some were damaged during the Second World War, others purely and simply destroyed in the years 1960-XNUMX under the pressure of promoters in relative indifference.

But those that survived are now being restored and enhanced. This is the case of the Solvay Hotel, Victor Horta's masterpiece, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the early 2000s and open to the public since 2021.

"These are buildings in which we feel good, where the light is beautiful", says Michael Hottier, who hopes the exhibition will rotate and will be able to "radiate beyond Belgium" to make people discover this unique architectural heritage.