Curated Highlights: Zoé Whitley's Selection from Art Brussels Week

Dr. Zoé Whitley is Director of Chisenhale Gallery. A leading non-profit space founded by artists in London’s East End, Chisenhale produces and commissions new works of art. Exhibitions to her credit include co-curating Elijah Pierce's America (Barnes Foundation), curating the British Pavilion (Venice Biennale 2019) and co-curating the award-winning international touring exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power. She writes widely on contemporary artists. Zoé is a trustee of Creative Access and Decolonising Arts Institute. Her prior roles include Senior Curator (Hayward Gallery), Curator, International Art (Tate Modern) and Curator of Contemporary Programmes (V&A).

From the singular 20th century visions of Chantal Akerman or Marcel Broodthaers, to the more recent perspectives of Ann Veronica Janssens and Sammy Baloji, Brussels is a tremendous incubator of and destination for artists and their ideas. It is an art city I love and one to which I am eager to return.

–– Zoé Whitley

Below, discover Zoé Whitley's selection of highlights from Art Brussels WEEK.

'Vivian Maier's street photography was first introduced to me via the documentary film Finding Vivian Maier and subsequently by a wonderful children's book Lei by Cinzia Ghigliano which I bought for my daughter. I find this image very touching and appreciate seeing through Maier's lens.'

'I've always been drawn to Magali's sculptural forms and their vaguely machine-like intricacy. I respect all of the work that goes into them and their ultimate inscrutability.'

'Laure has a language and a humour all her own. What I love about that is how her world-making is very open-armed and she welcomes us to join her.'

'Buhlebezwe is an artist whose work I first saw some years ago in South Africa. I respect her practice which fuses a conceptual aesthetic with a spiritual grounding in traditional forms of healing.'

'The immediacy and intensity of Pélagie's line has always conveyed so much. Naked Writingis a stunning series.'