BRUSSELS.- Since 2006, the Centre for Fine Arts (BOZAR) places numerous partners from the world of creative photography and related media in the spotlight during this biennial event. Indeed, the Brussels Summer of Photography now features on the international photography calendar. From a theme proposed by the central exhibition in the Centre for Fine Arts, the programme branches out both spatially and in terms of content.

The central exhibition is open spaces | secret places. Works from the SAMMLUNG VERBUND, Vienna. While the collaboration with this Viennese collection already made for a popular edition back in 2014 with gender equality as its theme, this year curator Gabriele Schor is focusing on the relationship between people and the public space. The artists appropriate specific spaces through the medium of photography. Their artistic interventions and personal outlook influence how we as observers experience different surroundings. It is often hard to distinguish between the two atmospheres as the public and private domain come to light.

Thanks to the intense collaboration with some 30 partners, the 2016 edition of the Summer of Photography is also a unique citywide project that accentuates the immense possibilities of the Brussels public space. This summer immerse yourself in the Urban Vibes of our capital with its numerous secret rooms and public spaces of Brussels.

Highlights
The increasing spatialisation of art goes hand-in-hand with our lifestyle, which has changed considerably in social and cultural terms as a result of new spatial conditions (virtual space, increased mobility). When talking to people on the phone in the past you asked: “How are you?”, now you say: “Where are you going?”. The exhibition showcases the works of twenty-eight contemporary artists such as Francis Alÿs, Eleanor Antin, Anthony McCall, Joachim Koester, Louise Lawler and Jeff Wall. Through their photographs and installations, the artists examine our relationship with space and take us through historical locations, emotionally charged spaces, and imaginary, real and reconstructed places.

The urbanisation that Lagos has experienced is unprecedented. The metropolitan area has become Africa’s biggest megalopolis, overtaking Cairo. Dey Your Lane – Lagos Variations seeks to understand Lagos through the lens of those who can express their reactions and experiences in the city in a creative manner. The exhibition brings together the work of 24 photographers, both local and international. Despite the infrastructure challenges, Lagos is developing successfully: it is the headquarters of Nollywood, a film industry worth several billion dollars, home to the continent’s largest music industry, and a new contemporary art scene.

Following a major retrospective at the Haus der Kunst in Munich, BOZAR opens its doors to James Casebere. The American photographer’s work is marked by a profound interest in architecture. However, instead of focusing his lens on the actual buildings, he makes scale models of them, which he then photographs. During the International Biennial of Photography, Casebere presents an intricate ensemble of domestic interiors and settings in the antechambers of Victor Horta’s Centre for Fine Arts. Three rather disconcerting works mark the historical link between the artist, Brussels and Belgium: Screw Device (1991), Cell with Rubble (1996) and Turning Hallway (2003).

Amos Gitai is an Israeli filmmaker with an international reputation. His latest film “Rabin, The Last Day” deals with the assassination in Tel-Aviv, on 4 November 1995, of the Israeli Prime Minister, the man behind the Oslo Accords and Nobel Peace Prize. Twenty years on, the filmmaker looks back on this event, putting the assassination back in its political and social context. His years of research stand him in good stead to present an exhibition, Chronicle of an Assassination Foretold, which questions the concepts of democracy and political violence through video installations, archives and photos.