3 minute read
A fresh wind is blowing through Brussels this summer. Not a faint breeze but a warm, bold wave of colour, character and conviction. It smells of watermelon and tequila, sounds like a cheeky remark at the bar and feels like a world where you can simply be yourself.
That summer begins at VIAGE with Frida Kahlo, Fran Lebowitz and a message we’re proud to share: queer is more than a label, it’s a mindset.
Queer avant la lettre
Frida Kahlo fills our halls, walls and minds with her fire. In Viva Frida Kahlo – Immersive Experience, you literally walk through her rage, her love, her colours and her struggle. Her world is rich, intense and deeply human, just like the artist that inhabited it. This special woman didn’t hide her gender, her sexuality or her pain but instead transformed them into visual truth. Bisexual, feminist, politically engaged and radically true to herself, she was a queer pioneer long before the word made it onto T-shirts. She didn’t shout it out. She painted it.
The façade stripped away
While Frida immerses us in emotion, Fran Lebowitz tears down the façade. On 20 September, she comes to VIAGE with An Evening with Fran Lebowitz, ending summer, flirtation, lightness and complaisance in a single evening. Fran is simply Fran: openly lesbian, razor-sharp, scathing, dry, brilliant and always impeccably stylish. Her queerness is not a brand but an unfiltered expression of what it means to be queer. Freethinking, nonconforming and refusing to bend, this intellectual icon mocks everything that is taken too seriously – except being true to yourself.
“Success didn't spoil me, I've always been insufferable.” – Fran Lebowitz
Frida and Fran are polar opposites but nevertheless kindred spirits. One overflows with emotion, the other with irony but both are radically themselves: two women who, each in their own way, refused to be tamed by rules, expectations or gender roles. That’s why they are a perfect match with VIAGE. As the first casino in the world to earn the Queer Destinations label, we don’t use diversity as a calling card but as a promise. Not a ‘safe space’ but a real space. There’s no need to fit in here, our guests are free to flourish.
“It’s a smile, it’s a kiss, it’s a sip of wine… it’s summertime!” – Kenny Chesney
Mexico or Manhattan
Up on the rooftop, among the weathered wood of Casa Alta, the scent of summer hangs in the air as you sip a tequila-and-lime-laced cocktail. Or maybe you’re downstairs on the pavement terrace, sipping The Frida, our rebellious smoothie of watermelon and green apple. The air is warm, the music is electric, and all of a sudden Brussels feels like Mexico or Manhattan, or somewhere in between. Because summer at VIAGE isn’t an escape from reality but a celebration of our true selves. Frida. Fran. You.
