Wiels is a contemporary art centre situated in Forest, in the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium in a building of the former Wielemans brewery. Officially opened on May 25, 2007, WIELS has three exhibition platforms with a total exhibition space of 1,800 m2 (19,000 sq ft), an auditorium, studio workshops for artists-in-residence, and a café/foyer and bookshop in the monumental brewing hall. The institution has no collection, instead putting on temporary exhibitions by national and international artists. Wiels has been described as "an international laboratory for the creation and the diffusion of contemporary art" and is the leading contemporary art institution in Belgium. It has nine artist-in-residency studios for which it receives hundreds of applications every year, and numerous programs