In 2003, President Bush claimed that the enemy is invisible and everywhere. Harlan Levey, an American artist living in Brussels, didn’t buy it. So, a year later, he co-founded No New Enemies, an international network of artists, activists, academics and passionate people whose aim is to support free expression, emerging arts and collaboration. “In name, it is a simple idea, which reflects the wish for a culture of empathy, sharing and sustainable evolution. In practice, it is a structure to support artists and increase the place of art in public life,” says Levey. Simply put, the collective – which includes a crew of highly-regarded street and fine artists from L.A. to Amsterdam to Milan – rejects the culture of fear. Here, Levey, who also edits Modart Magazine, takes us on a happy-go-lucky tour of his adopted hometown. In his own words: 

You can find a bit of everything in Brussels. That mix of French and Flemish, the waves of immigration from North and Central Africa, from Portugal, Spain and Italy, from all over the world. Brussels is the Washington D.C. of the EU. There are areas in Brussels where you’ll find certain communities living together, but there are no walls between them. The Arab quarter now stretches and sprawls throughout the city. The only people who live in ghettos are the politicians. 

Growing up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Brussels is the first melting pot I ever bubbled in. Ohio was much more of a salad bar. In Brussels, there is one neighborhood called Ixelles that has just over 100,000 officially registered residents from more than 170 different countries (last stats from ‘04).  Though this number is impressive, check this too: Belgians have invented more than that number of beers; and incredibly, the monks, on their search for salvation, were able to select and sculpt the perfect glass for each beer … Brussels and the art of boozing bible-style marches on, out of the mayonnaise and towards some fancy fusion cuisine prepared by a guy whose dad ran a kebab shop.

I played tourist for a day to share bits of Brussels with you. I started with a walk and lunch with friends. We ordered food at 1pm and it arrived just before 3. I recommend Le Chaff anyway, especially for a coffee in the morning or anytime before 2, so you still have time to check out the flea market. If we translated ‘flea market’ directly from Flemish, we get ‘trash market’ – and it is. However, valuable paintings have been found, and five years or so ago, I bought a leather jacket for 5 euro … it still keeps me warm throughout the ten-month season I refer to as Bleeding Sky. (Belgium has two other seasons: Miserable Grey and Humid Sweat).

After lunch, head through the city center to digest. You don’t need to walk. But when the weather’s right, most everybody does. The city isn’t built for bikes or boards. Brussels has good public transport, but if you’ve got time and can stand the weather, almost everything is in walking distance. From the market, walk up or down through Les Marolles; old streets lined with antique shops, galleries and cafes, where Peter Bruegel once lived and Brussels’ best-known club, The Fuse, is located. I prefer to follow the trail towards Recyclart.

Recyclart is on it. I don’t know the history, but their offices are beneath a train station between the Central and South stations. Since I moved to Brussels, they’ve been a constant source for good music, art and parties. But it’s not a purely hedonistic project. Recyclart maintains a strong social consciousness, and is active in education, public projects and a string of other kewl initiatives.”

If you’re gonna be a tourist, you gotta see the Manneken Pis (famed bronze statue of a little boy urinating into the fountain) – though the merchandising is more amusing than the real thing. Next to him, you can buy some real Belgian chocolate from a store that shows Chinese TV and has all of their communications in Cantonese. On this street you can stop and have a waffle. I like mine with nothing on ‘em, soft and gooey and no need for frilly cream. After a few hundred meters, you’ll hit the Grand Place/Grote Markt – it is magnificent, but don’t drink a coffee or beer or anything else there, not even for the view, because the prices are hitched up to rip off tourists big-time.

The chocolate and the waffle didn’t turn you on? Try the cheese store, a US-military-type nostril invasion that’s awful, but strangely enough makes you want to linger. This is where I buy my cheese and sausage. The picture above is of the owner. She runs the place with her daughter who’s surely over 60 and was moving too fast to be photographed. 

Just around the corner you’ll find the independent fashion shop, Mr. Ego. Pass by and say hello. Mr. Ego is the new home of the No New Enemies Office/Gallery space and has been supporting No New Enemies and local artists for the past few years.  The 06 Shop is a skate shop a block away and run by the same people. Big-ups to all of them. It’s a la grace de this twisted family tree that I’ve met some of the nicest people in Belgium.

In this same neighborhood, you’ll find a lot of nice places, from music shops, to video or comic stores, concert venues and loads of cafes. I photographed the waitress who once shocked me by cold-clocking an abusive customer with a glass ashtray and giving him a good kick for measure. I am extremely polite to this lovely woman.

After 6pm, you’re pretty likely to find me in one of three places besides my flat: hanging out outside the White Night (a sort of 7-11) and having a beer with the endless stream of people who pass there; 50 meters further at the Plattesteen, where the steak is great, the atmosphere is old-school and the ambience is reflective of the neighborhood; or, just next store in the DNA, my second office and a place that has supported the local punk-rock scene for over a decade. It has weekly concerts, and even if it looks rough, it’s one of the few places in Belgium where customer service doesn’t mean saying: ‘I’m sorry I can’t help you.’ The owners are behind the bar and you feel the difference.

Go There:

Harlan’s Recommended Cafes:

DNA, Plattesteen 18 – 20, 1000 - Bxl 32 2 512 59 92

Fontainas, rue Marche au Charbon 91, 1000 Bxl - 32 2 511 19 72

El Metteko, metteko.com

A.M.Sweet, rue des Chartreux 4, 1000 Bxl

Greenwich, rue des Chartreux 7, 1000 Bxl - 32 2 511 41 67

Le Chaff, 21 Place du jeu de Balle, 1000 Bxl; chaff.be

Best Cheap/Tasty Eats:

Le Fin de Siecle, rue des Chartreux 9, 1000 Bxl - 32 2 503 33 53

Asia Grill, rue Marche au Charbon 98, 1000 Bxl

Music and Video:

Excellence, 94-96 boulevard Anspach, 1000 Bxl - 32 2 502 84 68

Lost in Music, Second Hand Record Shop, lostinmusicrecords.com

Arlequin, arlequin.net

Shopping:

Le Vestiaire, rue des Chartreux 37, 1000 Bxl - 32 2 474 601 490

L & Mathger, l-a-maethger.com

O6 Shop, 06shop.com

Going Out:

Recyclart, recyclart.be

Café Central, lecafecentral.com

Beurschouwburg, beursschouwburg.be

Archiduc, archiduc.net

Art & Cinema:

Ateliers Mommen, ateliersmommen.collectifs.net

Les Bains :: Connective – Bruxelles, bains.be

Magasin4, magasin4.be

Cinema Nova, nova-cinema.org

Le Styx –rue de l’Arbre Benit 72, 1050 Bxl - 32 512 21 02

Musee du cinema, cinematheque.be

For more info on No New Enemies: nonewenemies.net

Check out their first big show in collaboration with Mr. Ego (mr-ego.be) featuring the work of Logan Hicks (Workhorsevisuals.com), Lucy McLauchlan (beat13.co.uk) and Ephameron (ephameron.com). Runs September 22-24, 2006.

Check out Harlan’s other projects at modarteurope.com and beliomagazine.com