Art Brussels 2025 has opened its doors: the first images and the announcement of the winners of the different prizes

Today, Thursday 24 April, the 41st edition of Art Brussels opened its doors at Brussels Expo. Until Sunday, Aril 27, Art Brussels brings together 165 galleries from 35 countries in five curated sections - Prime, Solo, '68 Forward, Discovery and Invited. In addition to showcasing more than 800 artists, the fair introduces a curated and compelling selection of artistic projects that expands its programme and brings all forms of contemporary art into focus.

Art Brussels 2025 introduces two major new initiatives: The Screen, a curated video art programme featuring works selected by Eliel Jones (Curator of Performance and Time-based Media at KANAL-Centre Pompidou) and Brussels-based filmmaker Alex Reynolds, and Monumental Artworks, an exhibition of large-scale installations curated by public art expert Carine Fol (City of Brussels). These projects reflect the fair’s commitment to fostering experimentation and providing a dynamic platform for artistic expression.

Beyond these new additions, visitors will encounter striking site-specific projects, including a special entrance installation by Céline Condorelli (represented by Galeria Vera Cortês, Lisbon) and Carton plein, an archival project led by Juan d'Oultremont. The KickCancer Collection also returns, this year featuring curator Zoë Gray (Bozar), who will activate the project during the fair. Additionally, the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles presents young artist Maëlle Dufour with a monumental installation, while Maison Ruinart will present guest artist Lélia Demoisy with new works made in the context of Conversations with Nature.

The 75th anniversary of the Belgian Art Prize will be marked by the special exhibition Back to the Futurein the Stibbe Lounge of the fair, and SOFAM will present the artists which were granted with the recently founded Pomona Art Prize. 

With this dynamic and diverse programme, Art Brussels 2025 reaffirms its role as a leading platform for contemporary art, bringing together artists, galleries, collectors, and curators who want to explore contemporary art in all its forms in an environment that encourages discovery and dialogue.

The first images of the fair can be downloaded here

WINNERS OF THE PRIZES

You can download the images of the winners here

SOLO PRIZE, Supported by TheMerode
WINNER 2025: Julien Creuzet
Represented by Mendes Wood DM (Brussels)

Since its establishment in 2008, the Solo Prize has recognised outstanding artistic presentations at Art Brussels. For Art Brussels 2025, the prize money will be increased from €10,000 to €15,000, further enhancing support for the winning artist. The jury members of the Solo Prize are Ann Demeester (Director, Kunsthaus Zürich), Jérôme Sans (Independant Curator), and Bruno Verbergt (Director, MuZee, Permeke Museum, and Luc Peire museum).

Julien Creuzet’s works are critical expressions at the intersection of Caribbean history and European modernity. In the installation at Art Brussels he combines the Greek myth of Andromeda with the figure of the red devil in Martinique, where he spent his childhood.

The installation at Mendes Wood’s booth brings the viewer into a next level of imagination. A three-dimensional installation of ceramic shell like creatures is set on a bright coloured wall paper of the sea that includes historical and displaced museum artefacts. The sculptures are incorporating 21st century remnants of the sea, like plaster rests of fisher nets and copper wire. They take the viewer into a realm that surprises, inspires, saddens and fills him/her with joy.

The work confronts us with the allegory of life and death and reflects on the complexity of our current times: the difficulty of keeping the fluidity in a world obsessed by boundaries, and submerging us in the sea as a memory of our ecological mistakes.

DISCOVERY ACQUISITION PRIZE, supported by Moleskine

WINNER 2025: Thomas Verstraeten
Represented by FRED&FERRY (Antwerp)

Formerly the Discovery Prize, this award now focuses on supporting museum collections. Instead of rewarding the winning gallery for the best booth presentation in the Discovery section, the prize will now take the form of an increased acquisition budget—up to €10,000 (previously €5,000)—for purchasing an artwork for a museum collection.

For Art Brussels 2025, the selected institution will be the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium,with Inga Rossi-Schrimpf (Director of Collections) and Pierre-Yves Desaive (Curator) joining the previously announced jury – Marjolaine Lévy (Independent Curator), Tim Roerig (Curator, Z33), and Axel Wieder (Director of the Berlin Biennale).

The Discovery Acquisition Prize 2025 is awarded to Thomas Verstraeten for his video work URBI ET ORBI (2024) and the accompanying scale model. Verstraeten is a significant figure in the Belgian arts. His work stands out for its integration of visual and performing arts, as well as its ability to evoke the surreal within everyday contexts. URBI ET ORBI is notable for its ambition: it restages a street scene from his hometown of Antwerp inside a theatre, accompanied by a commissioned musical score and live performance, and is transformed into a video artwork through deliberate cinematic techniques.

The jury values the work’s ambition on multiple levels. It engages directly with current social realities and local communities while avoiding sentimentality. The piece rethinks the notion of performance — not merely documenting an event, but reworking a found situation into a new artistic form.

URBI ET ORBI also raises questions about access to art, merging references to both high art and urban life. It blurs the boundaries between the street and the stage, aligning with the museum’s mission to reflect on its role as a public institution — both as a civic actor and a constructed space within the city and society.

The jury also acknowledges the commitment of the gallery, which has taken a risk in presenting a complex, performance-based work within the commercial context of an art fair. The presentation functions as an exhibition format rather than solely a sales platform.

68 FORWARD
PRIZE WINNER 2025
Ewa Opalka Gallery (Warsaw)
With Eva Partum

In reviewing all the booths in the 68’ Forward section, the jury appreciated how the galleries in this section highlight artists whose work has been historically overlooked or is at risk of being forgotten. This includes both artists who passed away at a young age and those who are still living but have not yet received the recognition they deserve.

Through solo presentations and group shows, the section succeeds in reintroducing important voices to a contemporary audience. From this compelling selection — which we hope everyone had the chance to experience up close — one gallery stood out to the jury. A solo exhibition booth dedicated to a feminist artist active from the 1970s and 1980s to the present day. While feminist voices from both past and present are increasingly gaining global recognition, we believe this subject remains highly relevant and timely, particularly in light of current global conversations around women’s rights.

The jury awards the prize to Gallery Ewa Opalka, presenting a remarkable selection of works by polish artist Eva Partum. The museum-quality presentation highlights the artist’s hybrid practices and the range of strategies she employs to engage critically with institutional and market structures, using humor as an accessible and deliberate form of resistance. Through the intelligent references embedded in her work, viewers are reminded of how vital and interconnected feminist voices have been — and continue to be — in the history of art.

In other words, it is with great pleasure, that the jury commends both Eva Partum’s powerful artistic practice and the strong curatorial vision of Gallery Ewa Opalka for the 68’ forward award.

INVITED PRIZE, Supported by NATAN
WINNER 2025: Night Café (London)

Invited is a diverse section that champions the evolution of the art market and provides booths to young and upcoming galleries who have never participated in Art Brussels before and who stand out for their ambition, programming, and curating, and in some cases, in ways they challenge the traditional gallery model. Participants have carte blanche for their presentation at the fair. The best Invited booth at the fair is rewarded with the Invited Prize and will be endowed a voucher of €5.000 for a guaranteed participation in Art Brussels 2026. This year, the members of the jury are: Galila Barzilai Hollander (Art Collector), Koi Persyn (Curator, Jester), and Ariane Sutthavong (Independent Curator).

Night Café impressed the jury with a thoughtfully curated group presentation that deeply engaged with the broader practices of its artists. The display challenges the rapid consumption of images, instead inviting visitors to slow down, offering a quiet resistance to the fast-paced nature of an art fair. The works whisper of their durational and intensive creation process, entering into a tranquil dialogue with the (un)seen, the perceptible and the cropped, enticing the audience to be attentive to what emerges beyond the frame.

Their small formats foster an intimate, attentive relationship with the viewer, reflecting the gallery’s ethos. Night Café demonstrates a generous and supportive bond with both its artists and visitors, signaling a promising future for this emerging gallery.

First images of Art Brussels 2025 (download them here)