Atelier Ouvert. Around Arié Mandelbaum

Atelier Ouvert. Around Arié Mandelbaum

27.09.2026 – 05.12.2026

With Atelier Ouvert, the Jewish Museum of Belgium extends the exhibition beyond its walls into the surrounding neighbourhood. While the museum building is closed for renovation, around ten paintings by Arié Mandelbaum are presented in venues within walking distance of the museum. Shown in a variety of settings, they engage with new audiences and new contexts. These displacements create unexpected correspondences, tensions and affinities, allowing the works to resonate beyond the conventional exhibition space and into everyday life.

Born in 1939, Arié Mandelbaum grew up in a Jewish family of Polish origin near Brussels South Station. He created the greater part of his oeuvre in Brussels, where he established and relocated his studios over the decades. Since the late 1950s, his paintings have woven together collective history, political commitment and personal experience. Over time, his visual language has become increasingly distilled, placing traces, erasure and memory at its centre. Fragile figures, overlooked histories and the violence of history emerge in compositions where white is not an absence, but an active force.

The exhibition unfolds across CINEMATEK, Cinéma Galeries, Grands Carmes – LGBTQIA+ Center, the Bruegel Cultural Centre, the Brussels Public Social Welfare Centre (CPAS), Maison CFC, Théâtre des Tanneurs and the Jewish Museum of Belgium. Guided tours, public conversations, film screenings and encounters with the artist will accompany the project, extending the resonances the works generate as they move from one place to another.

This project is based on an exceptional donation of some forty works by the artist, received by the museum in 2021. Mostly never exhibited before, the works on display had not been shown as part of the monographic exhibition devoted to Arié Mandelbaum in 2023.

OPENING EVENT:
27 September 2026 at 5:30 pm, Cinematek – Rue Baron Horta 9, 1000 Brussels
Screening of the film “Portrait of the Painter in His Studio” by Boris Lehman (FR – NL subtitles), followed by a discussion with Boris Lehman and Arié Mandelbaum, moderated by Bruno Benvindo, and a drink.

Booking: https://cinematek.be/2026-09-27-17-30/portrait-du-peintre-dans-son-atelier

Events Related to the Exhibition

October 6 at 7 PM – Cinéma Galeries
Screening of the film “A Painter Under Surveillance” (French version) + discussion with Boris Lehman (director) and Justin MacKenzie Peers.
October 8 at 6 PM – Maison CFC
Exhibition “Void and Full” with Arié Mandelbaum and Rémy Hans + drinks.
October 27 at 7 PM – Cinéma Galeries
Screening of the film “Lumumba, the Return of a Hero” (French version – subtitles in EN) + Q&A with Benoît Feyt (director) and Nancy Kawaya (Congolese Cultural Center).
November 12 – Grands Carmes
Photographic exhibition by Anass Elazhar Idrissi.
November 17 at 7 PM – Cinéma Galeries
Screening of the film “Soundtrack to a Coup d’État” (original version in EN) + Q&A with Johan Grimonprez (director).
December 5 – Grands Carmes
Closing of the exhibition “Atelier Ouvert. Around Arié Mandelbaum” in the presence of Anass Elazhar Idrissi.

Guided Tours

Saturday, October 17 – 2 PM to 4 PM
Guided tour with Bruno Benvindo and Ariane Defrain (curators).
- 2 PM: Departure from the Jewish Museum of Belgium
- 4 PM: End of the tour at Maison CFC with a meeting with Rémy Hans.

Saturday, December 5 – 1 PM to 3 PM
Guided tour with Bruno Benvindo and Ariane Defrain (curators).
- 1 PM: Departure from the Jewish Museum of Belgium
- 3 PM: End of the tour at Grands Carmes

The tours will be conducted in French, by reservation, with a maximum of 25 participants.

Admission: Free (except for film screenings).

Partner Locations:

Cinematek
Rue Baron Horta 9
1000 Brussels

Cinéma Galeries
Galerie de la Reine 26
1000 Brussels

Grands Carmes – LGBTQIA+ Center
Rue des Grands Carmes 22
1000 Brussels

Centre culturel Bruegel
Rue des Renards 1F
1000 Brussels

CPAS de Bruxelles
Rue Haute 298A
1000 Brussels

Maison CFC (available from October 8 to 31 only)
Place des Martyrs 14
1000 Brussels

Théâtre Les Tanneurs
Rue des Tanneurs 75
1000 Brussels

Jewish Museum of Belgium (accessible by appointment only, book via expos@mjb-jmb.org)
Rue des Minimes 21
1000 Brussels