130 years after the inauguration of the Hotel Tassel, an emblematic building by architect Victor Horta, the Brussels-Capital Region has dedicated 2023 to Art Nouveau.

Born at the end of the nineteenth century, this artistic movement was based both on the enhancement of metal structures and on the aesthetics of curves, all associated with intense craftsmanship centered in particular on sgraffito (graphic wall decorations on the façade) and stained glass windows.

Among the events proposed in the Belgian capital, a singular idea: to bring acrobats into these places with an often museum dimension.

Their performances are the subject of a photo and video exhibition entitled "Arabesque", which opens Saturday at the Halles Saint-Géry, in the center of Brussels, with the aim of offering "another look at the Art Nouveau current".

Acrobats participate in the "Arabesque" project, at the Art Nouveau house designed by Victor Horta, on May 14, 2023 in Brussels © Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP

Trapeze artist suspended in the middle of a majestic stairwell, acrobat perched on a ramp in front of a multicolored stained glass window: we see the students of the Ecole supérieure des arts du cirque de Bruxelles (ESAC) evolving in places unaccustomed to so many movements.

"It's an architecture that is inspired by the living, the body, the plant," Michael Hottier, co-director of the Brussels acrobatic company Back Pocket, which designed the project, told AFP. "You very quickly have the connection that is natural on grace, the organic side," he adds, during the shoots at the Hotel van Eetvelde, a mansion designed by Horta.

This "staging of bodies in new spaces" comes up against the fact that these buildings are classified and that it is difficult to bring in large audiences for shows: hence the idea of working in photo and video to make the experience accessible to as many people as possible.

An acrobat participates in the "Arabesque" project, at the Art Nouveau house designed by Victor Horta, on May 14, 2023 in Brussels © Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP

Many of Brussels' Art Nouveau buildings have had turbulent histories. Forgotten, even denigrated for part of the twentieth century, some were damaged during the Second World War, others purely and simply destroyed in the years 1950-1960 under pressure from promoters in relative indifference.

But those that survived are now restored and enhanced.

An acrobat participates in the "Arabesque" project, at the Art Nouveau house designed by Victor Horta, on May 14, 2023 in Brussels © Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP

This is the case of the Solvay Hotel, Victor Horta's masterpiece, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the early 2000s and open to the public since 2021.

"These are buildings in which we feel good, where the light is beautiful," says Michael Hottier, who hopes the exhibition will rotate and will be able to "radiate beyond Belgium" to discover this singular architectural heritage.

© 2023 AFP