What's on this week: 7-13 July

Starting this Friday, Brussels Beach is back for its traditional five-week run (Tuesdays to Sundays), at the Quai des Péniches near the Place Sainctelette. For this 16th edition the urban beach fun is no longer just a right bank event. With the addition of an ephemeral but monumental 60-metre-long pedestrian bridge which spans the canal, the left bank will be joining the fun in a big way. Previously the nightlife was limited to moored boats. This year there will be The Bay on the right bank (18.00-23.00, free) featuring a tropical outdoor setting, DJ sets and an L Acoustics sound system. On the left bank, the legendary K-Nal has been completely renovated and renamed The Club. From 23.00-05.00, powered by a brand new Funktion One sound system the club will offer two levels, a ground floor with terrace and vertical garden welcoming 800 partygoers and a first floor fitting 450 with glass walls showcasing spectacular sunrises and sunsets and a great view of Brussels Beach. Between the two venues, 90 artists from 18 Brussels collectives will be spinning techno, house, dub, bass, electronica plus beatmakers and rappers. Daytime activities include the Reading on the Beach lending library, twist and swing stages, Brussels Vintage Market, a celebration of the Peruvian national holiday, playgrounds, concerts, dance and workshops for children, beach volleyball, pétanque, martial arts, tai chi, yoga, small boats and pédalos, sailing, water cruises and just hanging out. Evening activities include music with the Let It Beach Festival on Fridays and Saturdays - and in conjunction with Cinéma Galeries the Summer Hour (open-air movies) which this year features movies set in Tokyo.

As well as the above mentioned Summer Hour, films from Tokyo at Brussels Beach and at Cinéma Galeries, there are a number of indoor/outdoor summer film festivals across the city. Cinematek is presenting Summer Time, 44 films from 11 countries that are all drenched in summerness (1 July-31 August). Iconoclastic Cinema Nova continues to celebrate its 20th anniversary with four weekends in July that become a sort-of movie summer camp with screenings, fiestas, workshops and performances including a weekend entitled Stencil Yourself! (1-23 July). And finally Bruxelles fait son Cinéma harks back to a time when Brussels was filled with neighbourhood movie theatres. From 7-19 July, every day, you will be able to go to a different neighbourhood for a festive open-air screening. Most of the films have a Mediterranean setting.

Modern abstract art is often considered an exclusively Atlantic affair, but the movement had branches around the world. The Musée d'Ixelles’ summer exhibition traces its evolution in post-war China, where civil war and nationalism made artistic experimentation difficult. Much of the canvases on display were created by the Ton Fan group, art students with roots in mainland China but based in Taiwan. These painters and their followers proposed an alternative to both Chairman Mao’s ham-fisted epic folk art and nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek’s conservative obsession with traditional Chinese art.
Until 24 September, Musée d'Ixelles, Brussels

After five years of meticulous restoration, the Vaux-Hall in the Royal Park is open to the public once again. It had been inaccessible for decades - built in 1781, renovated in 1913, then abandoned in the 1920s and then inhabited by the Baron Eric d'Huart for years. Originally a place for amusement and games it has been returned to those pursuits. Saturdays will be devoted to dance lessons and short films - this Saturday from 15.00-21.00 it's Latin Summer with an initiation to Salsa and Bachata, and from 22.00 until midnight, four short films under the title Road Movies including Boulli Lanners' classic Travellinckx and from Australia, probably the most perfect short-film ever produced, Nash Edgerton's Spider. On Sundays it's Summer Games from 13.00-18.00. Organised by the Brussels Games Festival, it's an afternoon of board games, family games, card games, role-playing games and outdoor games including the extremely addictive Finnish bowling game Möllky.
Every weekend until 20 August, Royal Park, Brussels, free

For six weeks this summer, Bruxelles-Chapelle station is the place to be for offbeat entertainment and activities. Recyclart Holidays includes bread-baking workshops, fun fair, food and drink, a free hair salon, “pimp your T-shirt”, art shows, DJs and more.
Thursday and Fridays until 4 August, Rue des Ursulines 25, Brussels; free

As part of Yo Brussels Hip Hop Generations, Bozar is presenting Thursday evening concerts. Next Thursday we get a beatbox showcase by Primitiv who "as an organic sound factory creates powerful music live on stage without machines as he explores electronic, jazz, funk and other styles". Also performing is live music maker DJ Odilon.
13 July, 18.00-21.00, Horta Hall, Bozar, free

The prestigious Prix Marcel Duchamp (80,000 visitors to the Centre Pompidou this year), now has a Brussels offshoot in the 1000m² of Hangar H18. The four shortlisted artists are showing 30 of their works. Duchamp once said: "I think that art is the one endeavour through which man shows himself to be a true individual."
Until 8 July, 12.00-18.00, Hangar H18, Brussels

This summer, the CIVA Foundation offers a unique perspective on half a century of town planning in Brussels. "Save | Change the City – Unbuilt Brussels #01" examines the headlong rush after the second world war for a modern city based on a naive belief in the superiority of the post-war American urban model in which, at the urging of property developers and politicians, everything had to give way to what was called modern architecture.
Until 24 September, tours and lectures available

Brosella Folk & Jazz was created in a folk-only mode in 1977 as a city-sponsored initiative to make use of the acoustically wonderful open air amphitheatre in the Osseghem woods next to the Atomium. The amphitheatre was designed in 1932 and used again for the 1958 World's Fair after which it was deserted. In 1982, a jazz day was added and since then it has been folk music on Saturday and jazz on Sunday. The quality of the acts has always been strictly controlled and many groups such as Ladysmith Black Mombaso premiered there. With its tall beech trees, waterways and glens, the venue is magical.
8-9 July, 15.00-midnight each day (€5). Kids Brosella 15.00-19.00 (free).

Flanders Day (11 July) is celebrated in Brussels with a great deal of dancing in the streets by top professionals and by the likes of you and me. There are stages on the Grand-Place, the Place de la Monnaie and the Place de la Bourse, and in the Mirror Hall of the Brussels Parliament, the Beursschouwberg and in various streets.
11 July, 12.00-23.00 (different hours at the different venues), free

The Festival Ars in Cathedrali has a huge asset in the cathedral's magnificent Grenzing organ and over the past five years has created a sterling reputation for its summer music festival that features top talent. This year the festival is entitled Confrontations and will pit Baroque music against French 19th-century music, the organ vs the saxophone and written vs improvised pieces. On Tuesday evenings at 20.00 in July and August, the festival is presenting sven concerts with Blindman, Bach Plus, Choeur de chambre de Namur and legendary French organist Jean Guillou (still at it at 87 years old). Plus lots of Bach and also Buxtehude, Mussorgski, Franck, Fauré and others.
Cathedral of Saints Michael and Gudula of Brussels, 11 July-29 August

The ruins of the Abbey of Villers are probably the most romantic architectural complex in Belgium due to both the forlorn majesty of the buildings and the sylvan setting. If you haven't been there in a while it's definitely worth giving it another look with the recent complete restructuring of the visit, the enhanced infrastructure, the new working brewery (four beers) and the four restored gardens, not to mention the hidden working vineyard. In fact you can make an afternoon and an evening of it starting next Thursday when this summer's theatre among the ruins opens with Capitaine Fracasse. As usual, the production makes great use of the setting along with a large cast, sophisticated lighting and clever staging. True love, a mysterious birth, a plucky actress, a really bad guy, and a kidnapping keep the plot moving.
11 July-5 August, Villers Abbey