Belgian photographer and founder of the Festival Balkan Trafik, Nicolas Wieërs spent four years in Moldova documenting the lives and tattoos of ex Soviet era criminals now living on the street. The show, entitled Surrounded by Criminals, comprises 140 photographs as well as videos and painted portraits and is spread across central Brussels in six atypical locations including the ground floor of the Bourse building. Nicola Wieërs recounts his entry into this hermetic world.
Through 9 November.

Explore.Brussels has taken its two biennial festivals (Neo-Classic and Eclectic architecture) and merged them to create the annual ANTE Festival which covers all the styles and movements in Brussels architecture from 1780 to 1920 that led to Art Nouveau and Art Deco. There are 25 locations to visit, 23 guided tours.and numerous activities. Greta Horgen, chargée de mission for Explore.Brussels, explains how it all works. 
www.ante.brussels
Photo: © EB. Endre Sebok

The Maison Hannon is the Art Nouveau setting for Echoes of Dreams, a detailed exhibition of the art of the Belgian Symbolist movement. Luna Spruyt, assistant curator, tells us of the multifaceted reach of the movement and what we can expect to see.
https://maisonhannon.be/en
© Photo: J. Geleyns

The Comic Art Museum is presenting Visionary Comics Hidden gems from the Van Passen collection. Curators Maaheen Ahmed and Hugo Frey have pulled together a cross section of some of the most vibrant, surrealist, often science fiction tinted, breath-taking visionary comic book panels from the extensive Van Passen collection. They tell us how the show came about. A companion book The Visionary Art of Franco-Belgian Comics 1930's to 1960's is available.
www.comicscenter.net
Through December 7th
Photo: © Daniel Fouss / Comic Art Museum 

The Comic Art Museum is holding a British Contemporary Comics weekend October 18 & 19. Belinda Billen, Head of International Projects at the museum tells us all about it.
www.comicscenter.net

BOZAR is famous for its excellent acoustics when it comes to acoustic music but things weren't perfect with amplified music. That's all changed thanks to a brand new sound system. Aurore Aubouin, head of music, explains what's been done.
www.bozar.be

Up on the sixth floor of the House of European History the education department is presenting ECHOES, an exhibition put together by young adults from across Brussels. Project manager Annelies van Rijen explains.
https://historia.europa.eu/en

Alice Austen has so many accomplishments, in law, in state building, in playwriting and now with her first novel takes us by the hand and leads us straight into
Brugmann Place in Ixelles, increasingly under Nazi German occupation beginning in 1939. The lives of each of the tenants at number 33 Brugmann share their fears and tense surroundings as world war two increasingly becomes reality and its impact is inescapable.

Alexandra Huddleston talks us through her voyage, and pilgrimages that took her into the world of publishing, and how she created a house in New Mexico via Iceland and artistic collaboration.

We talk to linguistic seeker Eleonora Balsano, a podcaster, journalist and author in Brussels who shares her fascination with writing in another language, and introduces the European Writers Salon.