The new, visible to the general public entrance to the Central art centre should change its fate dramatically. I really like the old one, with graffiti and some spirit of ‘for the initiated’ in contemporary art. But art needs to be brought to the masses and the new storefront next door to the Mer du Nord fish bistro, which was created in 6 months of renovation, will do that.

The new entrance, which used to be the finale of the exhibitions, gives a glimpse of the original constructivist building with an abundance of glass and metal, but also brick signs of Flemish neoclassicism.

The first exhibition after the rebranding is a group exhibition, and what a huge group! 353 works by 247 artists from Brussels and the periphery. The last word excites interest. What is meant by ‘periphery’, what are these mysterious lands? The curators are referring to the immediate neighbourhood of the Belgian capital.

Central’s art director Tania Naselski was inspired by the Summer Exhibition, which has been organised by the Royal Academy of Arts in London since 1769. The main principle is the anonymous selection of art objects, eliminating bias and nepotism, the dictates of political correctness and a current agenda.

The curators have created a kind of ‘cabinet de curiosité’ out of this gigantic number of paintings, collages, sculptures, textiles and videos for one exhibition.

The eyes are scattered, but since the architecture of the Italian-Brazilian modernist architect Lina Bo Bardi, with her concept of a single urban organism for ‘la vie cotidien’, is used as an example of scenography, the exhibition is perceived with ease.

In addition, this is an exhibition and sale, in a tiny catalogue book you can find out the title of the work and which artist is behind its serial number.

The result is a lot of strong, curious, unusual projects by artists of different ages, degrees of fame and cultural baggage from Brussels (and the periphery))), a city of more than 180 national identities.