No name tag needed: 330 Brussels artists take over Vanderborght

From 13 to 15 November 2026, Carte de Visite | ARTopenKUNST brings 330 Brussels artists to Espace Vanderborght for a free weekend of exhibitions, workshops and encounters. Around 150 are taking part for the first time, with work spanning painting, photography, sculpture, installation and more. For queer audiences, the invitation goes beyond looking: workshops on self-representation and practical support for blind and partially sighted visitors open up different ways to take part in the city’s cultural life.

A snapshot of Brussels, made by its artists

What does Brussels look like through the people creating here? Carte de Visite offers hundreds of answers, without asking everyone to fit the same aesthetic.

The exhibition welcomes both amateur and established artists who live or have a studio within the City of Brussels municipality. Each can present up to three works across approximately 6,000 square metres of Espace Vanderborght. That makes this a broad collective exhibition, rather than a showcase built around one medium or a single curatorial theme.

Around 150 of this year’s 330 participants are newcomers to the event. For some, it will be a first encounter with a public; for others, an opportunity to share the results of a year’s work. The mix is part of the attraction: a chance to meet artists at different stages, rather than only those already familiar from gallery programmes.

The official website identifies Carte de Visite as an initiative of the City of Brussels’ culture department, with Vanderborght as its exhibition venue. Its homepage currently displays a different edition’s dates, so the November schedule below follows the supplied 2026 announcement.

Introduce yourself without the usual labels

Saturday’s workshop starts with a small act of refusal: make a business card without your name, job title or contact details.

Led by visual artist Lucie Lenardon, Carte de visite sans nom asks participants to find another way to represent themselves. Running from 2pm to 6pm on 14 November, the intergenerational workshop turns an everyday networking object into a more open-ended exercise.

What would you put on a card if your profession could not do the talking? A colour, an image, a texture, something harder to explain?

For queer participants, that can be a resonant starting point: an invitation to express something about yourself without having to make it legible through the categories other people expect. That is one possible reading of the activity, not a claim that the workshop is specifically LGBTQIA+-focused.

A self-portrait, one stitch at a time

On Sunday 15 November, artist Sophie Schmit leads Autoportrait brodé, an embroidered self-portrait workshop on paper.

Taking place from 2pm to 6pm, the session introduces the basics of the practice through a playful, intuitive approach. It is intergenerational and welcomes children, making it an option for families and mixed-age groups as well as individual visitors.

Placed alongside the nameless business-card workshop, it creates a thread through the weekend: self-representation does not have to begin with a polished biography or a conventional portrait. It can begin by making something with your hands.

For LGBTQIA+ people today, that matters because cultural participation should include opportunities to shape our own images, not only to recognise ourselves in somebody else’s work.

Meet the people behind the work

There are also ways to enter the exhibition through conversation.

Off Centre, a collective of women art workers founded in 2025, leads guided visits on Saturday and Sunday between 2pm and 4pm. Its wider practice supports artistic and social initiatives across the Brussels-Capital Region, with an emphasis on independent, self-managed spaces, including artists’ studios and residencies.

That background brings a community-minded perspective to navigating a large exhibition. Mutual support and learning from local collectives are central to Off Centre’s approach, particularly in response to the cultural and economic pressures facing the sector.

On Sunday, from 4pm to 5.30pm, artists Kemy Obafemi and Serena Vittorini discuss their practices and trajectories with moderator Tania Nasielski, who oversees contemporary art projects at the City of Brussels. Vittorini was a Carte de Visite laureate in 2022. The conversation is free, with registration required.

Access is part of the experience

Free admission removes one barrier to visiting. Carte de Visite also renews its partnership with Fondation I-See, which will provide image describers to accompany blind and partially sighted visitors in discovering the works.

That is a concrete form of accessibility: offering another route into an exhibition whose content is predominantly visual.

The announcement does not specify the hours of this support or whether it needs to be reserved. Nor does it detail step-free routes, accessible toilets or the languages used during workshops and tours. Visitors who need those arrangements should confirm them before coming.

The event is not presented as a specifically queer exhibition. Its relevance for KET readers lies in the combination of local discovery, opportunities for self-expression and practical efforts to widen participation — without assuming that one measure makes every part of the experience accessible to everyone.

Practical information

• Event: Carte de Visite | ARTopenKUNST.
• Dates: Friday 13–Sunday 15 November 2026.
• Venue: Espace Vanderborght, Rue de l’Écuyer 50, 1000 Brussels.
• Admission: Free.
• Opening evening: Friday 13 November, 6pm–10pm.
• Exhibition hours: Saturday 14 November, 11am–7pm; Sunday 15 November, 11am–6pm.

Workshops and encounters

Activity	When
Carte de visite sans nom with Lucie Lenardon	Saturday 14 November, 2pm–6pm
Guided visits with Off Centre	Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 November, between 2pm and 4pm
Autoportrait brodé with Sophie Schmit	Sunday 15 November, 2pm–6pm
Conversation with Kemy Obafemi and Serena Vittorini, moderated by Tania Nasielski	Sunday 15 November, 4pm–5.30pm; free, registration required

• Access support: Image describers provided through Fondation I-See for blind and partially sighted visitors; confirm availability and arrangements.
• Registration: The supplied announcement requires registration for the Sunday conversation but does not provide a booking link or specify booking conditions for the other activities.
• Updates: cartedevisite.brussels and Instagram @brusselsculture. Check for the November 2026 update, as the website currently displays another edition’s schedule.

Come across a painting, stay for a conversation, leave with a self-portrait made of thread. This is a weekend to discover the people making Brussels — and perhaps make something of your own.

KET Magazine is a community‑driven, non‑profit magazine run by volunteers and based in Brussels. You can find our other music and nightlife stories on ket.brussels, and you can always write to us to share your projects or pitch a story: info@ket.brussels