Most of the pieces that will be exhibited at the Grand Curtius in Liège between 8 June and 20 August 2012 come from the private collection of Isy Halpern. An antiques dealer from Liège, who has been passionate about history for more than thirty years, he "hunts" and – driven by his passion for Jewish history – has built up a significant collection of objects that evoke the great moments of Judaism through their variety and the diversity of their origins, from its glory days to its major tribulations.

Luis Salazar is certainly THE Liège painter when it comes to forms and colour. Always faithful to the same aesthetic choices, he understands how to use unique and recognisable pictorial language.

Liège, the 1930s. Joseph and Chaia Wygocki, who did not return from Auschwitz. © Coll. Sophie Kornowski, Dannes-Camiers Fund. Approximately ten years ago, sons and grandsons of former Jewish deportees from the Liège region in the camps of northern France committed themselves to keeping the memory of this tragic episode alive.

Both police and photography are lawful forces: one through its attempts to maintain order and the other through its technique and power to bear witness. It is no wonder, then, that they came together and that investigative work quickly came to view the photo as a valuable tool for determining facts and establishing evidence.

The works proposed by this Canadian artist – who was the winner of the 8th International Biennial of Contemporary Engraving – are strangely similar to aerial photographs, when, in fact, they are freehand drawings produced on a graphic tablet.

In spring 2011, the Grand Curtius museum presented the Curtius Circus exhibition, which was the result of a pilot project carried out with students from the 1st year of the Advertising Masters at the ESAL (Liège Royal Academy of Fine Arts). This aimed to be a playful reinterpretation of the objects in the collections, offering a new, altered perspective. The exhibition broke away from the still well-rooted stereotype of a "dead” museum, turning this inwards.

Sophie Langohr photographed the faces of statues of virgins and saints that she exhumed from the museum's reserves.

This exhibition will present the winners and works selected during the 23rd edition of the competition, which is organised, with the support of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, by the Domaine de la Lice, an association of Belgian creative artists working with tapestries. Tapestries are a means of expression in their own right and are a part of several studies in contemporary art.

The City of Liège and the Lion’s Club Liège Val Mosan have created a Painting Award in memory of former member Georges Collignon, who died in 2002.

Since ancient times, water has played a key role in India, as evidenced by the Sarasvati river goddess, who has been invoked and sung about since the Vedic period (2000 BC– 500 BC). Since then, Indians have always honoured their rivers and associated them with their main rituals.