What’s on this week: 21-27 September

Not that Bozar has anything against the brilliant symbolist painter Gustav Klimt, but Beyond Klimt: New Horizons in Central Europe, 1914-1938 looks at the dozens of art movements that sprung up in Eastern Europe between the world wars. It was a time when artists thought of their genres, rather than their nationalities, as defining who they were. Some 80 artists are included in the art centre’s flagship autumn show, including Oskar Kokoschka, Koloman Moser, Frantisek Kupka and … Gustav Klimt. Don’t miss the accompanying Klimt’s Magic Garden, a virtual reality experience that topples visitors into the artist’s world. Both are part of Bozar’s celebration of Austria as the current president of the council of the EU. 21 September to 20 January, Bozar, Rue Ravenstein 23

Does the European Union serve your needs, and if not, why not? The first Jubel Festival brings citizens together in Brussels to talk European democracy and what they think the EU should be doing. It also wants to discover how communication works between politicians and citizens and how it could be improved. Aside from that, there are loads of speakers addressed topics like populism, the welfare state and the refugee crisis. Extras includes games, quizzes and food & drink. Most talks and workshops are in English. 22 September, Léopold park, Rue Belliard & Chaussée d’Etterbeek

A premiere event in the capital, the Des Kites Survolen les Quais international kite festival will see hundreds of kites flying above the canal, from simple one-stringers to intricate designs in different shapes that move in all directions and need 50 strings to operate. Workshops and an exhibition on global kite culture take place simultaneously in the Kanal Centre. Exhibition 19-23 September, Kanal Centre Pompidou; festival 22-23 September, Quai des Péniches

Time travel this weekend at the Maison D’Erasme’s Renaissance Festival. The dress, art, music and food of the 14th to the 17th centuries in Europe await, as do philosophical discussions, dance and period games. There’s a costume ball on Saturday night. 22-23 September, Maison D’Erasme, Rue de Formanoir 31 (Anderlecht)

Back by popular demand, Sally-Anne Hayward takes the stage for the next English Comedy Brussels. The award-winning British stand-up is super popular on the UK comedy circuit and at Glastonbury for her down-to-earth approach to picking apart daily life, and especially gender and relationships. Also on the bill is Michael Odewale, on the BBC new talent hot list last year, whose average guy approach makes his zingers about racism all the more sharp. 25 September, The Black Sheep, Chaussée de Boondael 8 (Ixelles)

“Take a moment to pause under the great trees and listen carefully to the stories they tell us. They took them from the sap of the earth. They heard them in the wind. Their voices are sometimes soft, sometimes creaky. And they love to talk to us.” We couldn’t have said it better than the Boghossian Foundation, which welcomes professional storyteller Marie Rose Meysman for Lebanese Tales under the imposing cedar trees on their site in Villa Empain. Good for kids aged 6+ who understand French, reservation required. 23 September 15.00, Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 67 (Ixelles)

Just when you think you’ve crossed a human rights boundary that is far out of sight, something like #metoo – and its ensuing backlash – bursts onto the scene, showing us just how much further there is to go. At Transpoesie: Female Poets After #Metoo, five poets from different parts of Europe read from their work, in which freedom, equality and justice take centre stage. The second half of the evening is devoted to Sylvia Plath, with an interpretation of her work performed by the Belgian singer Daan and Brussels-based pianist Grażyna Bienkowski. 26 September 20.00, Bozar, Rue Ravenstein 23

The War Heritage Institute’s big autumn exhibition opens in style with a roaring ’20s party. Quite appropriate for the show Beyond the Great War: 1918-1928, the grand opening launches visitors into the economic and social Renaissance that followed the First World War and was brought to an abrupt halt at the onset of the Second. Surrounded by period décor and performers, you’ll meet the exhibition’s curators, order a gin rickey or a bee’s knees from the bar, learn the Charleston, join in for family activities and be the first to see the exhibition. Come in flapper fashion to get in for free. 23 September 10.00-18.00, Avenue de la Renaissance 30

What happened to Palestinian villages in 1948 still resounds today, and one of the greatest recorders of its impact on ordinary people was the poet Taha Muhammad Ali. His work detailed his personal exodus as well as the one that hundreds of thousands of people faced during what Israel calls the War of Independence and Palestine calls the Nakba (Catastrophe). Amir Nizar Zuabi’s theatre and dance production Taha is based on a touching 2009 biography of Muhammad Ali that sketches the portrait of a man who never stopped loving and never stopped hoping. 21-22 September, Bozar, Rue Ravenstein 23

Looking ahead a wee bit, Ella van Loon is the next guest for Lunch with an Architect, a series of English-language lunch conferences featuring some of Europe’s most prominent names in the field. Van Loon is a partner in Oma, the firm set up by Rem Koolhaas, with offices in Rotterdam, New York, Beijing, Hong Kong, Doha and Dubai. The price for Lunch with an Architect is steep but comes with lunch and networking. Sign up now to be sure of a place. 1 October 12.00-14.00, Flagey, Place Saint-Croix (Ixelles)

OUTSIDE BRUSSELS

Whether it was the lack of formal training or of expectations of a woman artist, French sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle went her own way, exhibiting a refreshing approach to conceptual art in general and nouveau réalisme in particular. Though her early pieces had her taking a shotgun to bags filled with colourful paint that they sprayed themselves on mounted assembled objects painted white, she is best known for her art brut style of sculpture, some utilitarian some figurative. This first retrospective of her work to ever be shown in Belgium is the kick-off event in the new Mons, Cultural Capital biennial. Until 13 January, Bam, Rue Neuve 8, Mons

The Festival of Flanders runs pretty much the whole year long, with cities and regions staging their own versions. The Klara Festival, for instance, is the Brussels leg of the event. This month, there are two versions running at once: Ghent Festival of Flanders and Festival 20/21, which takes place in Leuven. Both of them feature classical, new music and world music, often quite creatively, such as the Ghent festival’s Parklife, a family-friendly musical tour through a forest, and Leuven’s Preludes for Piano, wherein pianist Abdel Rahman El Bacha – a previous winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition – takes the audience through 24 preludes each of Bach, Chopin and Rachmaninoff, for a total of 72 pieces of music spanning 200 years. Ghent Festival, until 6 October, across Ghent; Festival 20/21, 24 September to 25 October, across Leuven

Photos: Beyond Klimt, Gustav Klimt, detail from “Johanna Staude”, 1917-1918, ©Belvedere, Vienna / English Comedy Night courtesy Sally Anne Hayward / Roaring ’20s courtesy wallpaper.com / Niki de Saint Phalle, “Lili ou Tony” (cropped), 1965, ©2018 Niki Charitable Art Foundation, all rights reserved, photo by André Morin, Courtesy Galerie GP & N Vallois, Paris