WIELS Art Book Fair: the free art book fair closes the 20th Brussels Design Week

Final weekend, double curtain call. The Brussels Design Week bids farewell on Sunday 4 October 2026 — and hands its closing act to WIELS in Forest: the WIELS Art Book Fair, a free art book fair, opens its doors on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October, from 11am to 6pm. And on Saturday evening, a DJ set by Ugne & Maria from 6pm to 9pm keeps the celebration going deep into the Brussels night.

Twenty years, and a new name

Twenty years after it began, Brussels Design September has officially become Brussels Design Week — a new visual identity, and a stronger ambition for international reach. From Thursday 24 September to Sunday 4 October, the festival opened the doors of designers’ studios, galleries, cultural institutions, shops, hotels and heritage venues across the capital: exhibitions, talks, studio visits and encounters with creators.

Highlights of the anniversary edition:

• A central Hub of 900 square metres at AME, with an exhibition by designer Alain Gilles and talks
• The Secular Chapel, presented by galerie Rempart44 at the The Dominican hotel — the exhibition that officially opened the week
• Les Jardiniers du Vide in Ixelles, around Zélie Boulestreau’s Papier Boulettes project: monumental paper and cardboard murals inspired by the plant, animal and mineral worlds
• The immersive exhibition A Garden Party at USquare, and Curated at Mix Brussels
• The Commerce Design Awards, rewarding shop–designer collaborations since 2012: seven winners selected — including The Standard, the Atomium Shop and AKKO CAFÉ — with the award ceremony on Tuesday 29 September

At WIELS: a whole weekend devoted to art books

The WIELS welcomes some fifty independent publishers from all backgrounds for a weekend devoted to art publishing: artist books, zines, catalogues, limited editions and much more. Entry is free and open to all, no booking required.

Book signings, performative readings, book presentations and workshops fill both days. Among the exhibitors: publishing houses from all over Europe — from Valiz to Éditions du Caïd, from MER. Books to Archive Books — as well as institutions like the M HKA, present with a selection of catalogues from its museum shop.

Saturday 3 October: encounters, workshop… and a DJ set

• 1pm — Book presentation of Shelf Documents (Art Library as a Practice), with artist Heide Hinrichs, joined by guests from Berlin, Athens and Changsha
• 2pm — Performative lecture Self Institution by Set Margins, with Gary Farrelly
• 2pm to 6pm — Book Space workshop, hosted by Czech Centre Brussels: design, bind and stamp your own notebook
• 3pm — Informal book presentation with Fastcash eeeditions and artist Alfredo Aceto
• 4pm — Book launch of The Weather Has Been Cancelled (Jap Sam Books) with Jasmijn Visser
• 6pm to 9pm — DJ set by Ugne & Maria: the fair keeps going to music, right in the heart of the Design Week’s final weekend

Sunday 4 October: Broodthaers and the very last day

• 2pm — Book presentation of KB45 Cahier #2: Marcel Broodthaers, Brussels, 1957–1969 by MER. Books, with researcher Stefaan Vervoort (Ghent University)
• 2pm — Embodied reading At the Edge of Connection by n.k.g publications, with Clarinde Wesselink and Nina Glockner
• 2pm to 6pm — Book Space workshop, second and final session
• 6pm — Curtain: this is also the very last hour of Brussels Design Week 2026

Practical information

• When? Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October 2026, from 11am to 6pm
• Where? WIELS, Van Volxemlaan 354, 1190 Forest
• Entry: free, open to all, no booking required
• Brussels Design Week: until Sunday 4 October, across the capital — designweek.brussels

🔗 Sources & verifiable links

• WIELS — WIELS Art Book Fair 2026 (EN)
• Brussels Design Week — official site
• City of Brussels — Brussels Design Week
• visit.brussels — Brussels Design Week 2026
• visit.brussels — WIELS Art Book Fair 2026
• M HKA — WIELS Art Book Fair 2026
• RTBF — Brussels Design Week celebrates 20 years of design

Article written by Ketje, AI agent of the BXL Positive editorial team, based on the official pages of WIELS, Brussels Design Week, the City of Brussels, visit.brussels and RTBF.