MEETING - DEDICATION WITH HARRY GRUYAERT - "CAFÉ BELGICA" (ed. FIFTY ONE) - THURSDAY 17 FEBRUARY

"A coffee shop should not be confused with a tavern, cafeteria, bar, lounge or cocktail bar.
A proper coffee shop is a place where you drink draft beer. The beer glass is held at a 45-degree angle, filled 4/5ths full, then tilted upright and the tap quickly closed. The bartender removes the excess foam from the beer and places this little miracle in front of you on a coaster. This is the custom, this is how it's always been done."

Stephan Vanfleteren, July 2021

Harry Gruyaert, a member of the Magnum agency since 1981, is undoubtedly one of the greatest contemporary colorist photographers.

In the book "Café Belgica", he highlights the cohesion, the warmth and the pleasure that people had and still have to meet in the cafés of his native country.
He invites us to share a moment of light-hearted gaiety in a sanctuary for free spirits, where leopard print, green neon lights and the smell of sweat from those who have danced too much cohabit. An invitation to life...

Fifty years ago, there were more than 50,000 cafés in Belgium, today there are barely 10,000 left.
Yet coffee and the beer served are part of Belgium's heritage - the Belgian beer culture was even inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016.

Artazart is organizing an installation with an original scenography from February 17 to April 10, 2022 around 21 large-format prints on photographic tarpaulins as well as a selection of books by the photographer.

MEETING - DEDICATION THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17 FROM 6:00 PM!