What's on this week: 1-8 July

Brussels Beach is back for five weeks of beach fun on both sides of the Beco Basin section of the canal. On Friday, it kicks off with The Abyss, a light parade that puts marine life in the sky for a magical spectacle in which outsized puppets including a milky way of giant jelly fish will parade to the beat of taiko drums and electro music (starts at the Sainctelette bridge at 17.00 and 22.00). All the old favourites, the nautical sports, the beach activities, the many food and drink choices and the deck chairs are all back. New this year is the only nautical flea market with 50 vendors selling everything from windsurfing equipment to fishing gear to model boats to marine antiques and much more, on Sunday 3 July from 10.00-18.00.
Brussels Beach, 1 July-7 August

The Harry Potter Exhibition is an immersive experience that features sets, props and costumes from the movies, including the Gryffindor common room, Hogwarts classrooms and the Forbidden Forest. Visitors can throw a Quaffle in the Quidditch area and sit in Hagrid’s giant armchair. Reserve a slot in advance to avoid a long wait at the door.
30 June to 11 September, Palais 2, Brussels Expo, Place de Belgique 1, €15-€20

I Don’t Know Where This Is Going is a group installation exploring the relationship between art, society and technology. Brussels arts association Constant invited six international multimedia artists, including locals Julien Deswaef and Pascale Barret, to create an alternative to Google Maps. The final product is an interactive mechanism with no simple itineraries but rather circuitous journeys complicated by social forces and disrupted by conflicts like the civil war in Syria. This exhibition takes place in the context of Iterations, an itinerant arts-and-technology festival that was inaugurated last year in Graz, Austria.
Until 29 July at iMAL, Brussels

After last year’s hiatus, Cinema Nova’s open-air film festival, Plein Open Air, returns with a programme dedicated to citizenship and urban planning. To illustrate the concrete effects of urban policy, the festival occupies two totally different urban spaces: the Marolles, one of central Brussels’ oldest and grittiest neighbourhoods, and the trendy suburban Forest municipality. The festival shines a spotlight on urban issues from Detroit (Liz Miller’s The Water Front) to India (Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar’s Powerless). Screenings are free but require registration. Fringe events include guided neighbourhood tours, concerts, debates, workshops and a historical exhibition on the changing face of the Brussels-Capital Region
1-9 July, across Brussels

The Brussels Vintage Market is back. This is a popular local market with dozens of vendors selling vintage clothes and accessories as well as second-hand designer furniture and decoration.
3 July 12.00, Halles Saint-Géry, Brussels

To round off Serve The City's Big Volunteer Week, the organisation is putting on a community Party in the Park on Saturday 2 July, providing an opportunity to meet current volunteers and find out about projects on offer. Find out more about what the Serve The City volunteers have been busy with this week in this article…
Ferme du Parc Maximilien, Quai du Batelage 2, Brussels

Every year the Ommegang (Walkabout) of 1549 (special because it was performed for the Emperor Charles V) is recreated in Brussels on the first Thursday in July and the previous Tuesday. There are two ways of enjoying it. One way is to spend the afternoon in the Royal Quarter where the thousands of participants don their historical apparel and prepare for the procession amid the jousting, the eating and drinking, and the medieval village. The other is to go to the Grand-Place at 21.00 to watch the historic spectacle complete with the battle of the men on very tall stilts. Or you can do it all by following the procession from the upper town to the lower. Read more here about what the Ommegang tradition is all about…
July 5 and 7, central Brussels

The work of Mozart is celebrated with a new festival at several of the heritage sites in the Royal Quarter of Brussels this week, with a selection of exceptionally talented young artists. There are three venues for three different programmes: the opera Le Nozze di Figaro will be performed in the Théatre Royal du Parc, which dates from Mozart's time, as does the Salon de Lorraine of the Cercle Gaulois where recitals of themed pieces of Mozart's work will be held. And finally there will be free concerts in the bandstand in the Royal Park.
Midsummer Mozartiade, 3-9 July

Photo: Eric Danhier