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february 25, 2015 \ newsweekly - € 0,75 \ read more at www.flanderstoday.eu current affairs \ p2

politics \ p4

“Extremely confronting”

A delegation of Flemish politicians were allowed to visit the Gaza strip, where they saw last year’s devastation first-hand \4

BUSiNESS \ p6

innovation \ p7

Fifteen candles

Hands on science centre Technopolis turns 15 years old this month, with a new exhibition and a world record attempt \ 10

education \ p9

art & living \ p10

Sharing the rush

Visitors to the Banff Mountain Film Festival get up close and personal with extreme sports \ 14

© Filip Claus

The ties that bind

Dunya bridges the cultural divide in Flanders’ foster care Daan Bauwens More articles by Daan \ flanderstoday.eu

Foster Care Flanders is walking a difficult line: respecting cultural values and religious beliefs without passing judgement on would-be foster parents, as it seeks to make the process as smooth as possible for the children and adults involved.

D

unya is an Islamic term for the temporal world, with all its concerns and challenges. It’s also the name of a branch of Foster Care Flanders that bridges cultural divides between children, their biological parents and would-be foster parents to make the move to a new home as painless as possible.

When things go wrong in a family, child protection services or family courts may decide to place children in a new home with a caregiver that is from then on referred to as the “foster

parent”. According to figures provided by Foster Care Flanders, 5,046 children, youths and adults with a handicap are currently in a foster family in the region.

More than half of the cases involve minors, and about four in 10 involve children between the ages of one and five years. At the same time, two-thirds of all requests cannot be responded to because of a serious lack of foster families. Consequently, every year up to 500 children cannot be placed in a foster family.

Foster care is not the same as adoption; it is hoped that eventually the children will go back to their parents and that the biological parents will keep in touch with both the child and the foster parents.

Since 1998, Dunya – a branch of Foster Care Flanders – has been advocating for a culturally sensitive approach when

choosing foster families. Dunya actively searches for Turkish, Moroccan or other African families so children with these backgrounds can find a new home that closely resembles the one they came from.

While it is often the parents who ask for their child to be placed with a family from the same culture, Dunya would do this automatically. “We work for the right placement for every child in foster care who runs the risk of being disadvantaged because of their characteristics – be it language, religion or simple habits,” explains Emine Karanfil, a clinical psychologist and co-ordinator for Dunya East Flanders.

When a child is fostered, they are taken away from the surroundings that are most familiar to them, Karanfil explains. “For all of them, it’s a shocking and life-changing experience. Children experience a great loss and have to cope continued on page 5

\ CURRENT AFFAIRS

Acid attack at Delhaize

Supermarket chain increases security after a man throws acid in a worker’s face Alan Hope Follow Alan on Twitter \ @AlanHopeFT

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man threw acid in the face of a cleaning woman at a Delhaize store in Antwerp last Friday morning. The assailant is still at large, but police have issued a description and photos taken from security camera footage.

The attack happened in the Antwerp Zuid branch in Museumstraat. The worker was heading in to the store at about 7.30 before opening hours. She was rushed to hospital suffering from severe burns to the face, neck and arm.

The victim is 52 years old and comes from Westerlo in Antwerp

province. She remains in hospital, but her life is no longer in danger.

It was revealed at the weekend that Delhaize and news agency Belga had received emails last December demanding money from the supermarket chain and warning of acid attacks on customers if they did not comply.

Written in English, the first mail referred to “the social and financial costs if five people were to have sulphuric acid thrown in their faces”. Belga passed the mails on to the federal prosecutor’s office. According to De Morgen, police knew who he was and tried

© Belga

Police are looking for this man, who made good on a threat to harm people at Delhaize

Authorities use police cameras to check road-tax dodgers across Flanders The Flemish Tax Service will soon be using dozens of police security cameras to check whether motorists have paid their annual road tax, Flemish budget minister Annemie Turtelboom has confirmed.

The service currently has five mobile number plate scanners in use. Started in 2011, the scanners have so far brought in €12.5 million in unpaid taxes and fines. The new cameras will make checks more intensive, said spokesperson David Van Herreweghe.

“We will be co-operating with a number of police zones that will allow us to use their security camera network to signal the presence of offenders to local patrols in the area,” Van Herreweghe said. “They can then pull the vehicle over and immobilise it for as long as the road tax remains unpaid.”

The decision to allow local police to lend their cameras to the tax authorities has been

several times to arrange a meeting between him and Delhaize. The plan was to arrest the man, but he failed to turn up each time.

Prosecutors in Antwerp and Brussels, where an investigation was under way, have refused to comment on the situation since the attack on Friday. Delhaize has implemented additional security measures at stores, including placing security guards outside.

The attacker is described as a white male aged 40 to 50 with short brown hair. Tips can be called in to the toll-free number 0800 30 300 or to any police station.

MIVB increases service to 40 routes, as talks at De Lijn collapse

© Courtesy Mobiel Vlaanderen

approved by the privacy commission, the tax service said. Turnhout will be the first zone to take part. Some 30 zones have automatic number plate recognition cameras installed. In Mechelen, for example, there are 60 cameras. Turnhout has 50, which will make it difficult for any driver to avoid being scanned at some point. \ AH

Brussels public transport authority MIVB is increasing the frequency of buses on 40 lines beginning on 23 February. The changes come to peak and off-peak services as well as weekends.

During peak hours, there will be more frequent service on lines 20, 28, 34 and 78. In off-peak hours the changes affect lines 12, 13, 14, 20, 42 and 95. Peak hours are extended for lines 36, 60, 61, 71, 88 and 89. Buses from Brussels Airport will travel later, until 00.15 instead of 23.00.

Trams 31 and 83, which run only in the evening, are being scrapped, while the popular trams 81 and 82 will run every 15 minutes after 20.00. Full details of the changes can be viewed on the MIVB website.

In related news, talks between unions and management at the Flemish public transport authority De Lijn over the implementation of cost-cutting measures have broken down.

“The ball is now in the management’s court,” commented Jan Coolbrandt of the ACV union.

Unions are angry that De Lijn is not proposing an income guarantee for members of staff affected by the authority’s plan to reduce services on Sundays, due to come into force on 1 May. The union threatened actions “in every region and in every depot” if a solution could not be found in the joint committee, where labour issues are worked out at the company level.

Unions are also unhappy about De Lijn’s plan to calculate working hours on a calendar year basis, to introduce part-time contracts for new hires and to simplify the system of premiums and compensation. \ AH

Facebook to work with government on privacy issues Social media giant Facebook is prepared to discuss changes to its privacy policy in response to concerns expressed by Belgium’s privacy commission, according to Bart Tommelein, secretary of state for privacy issues. Tommelein held a meeting with a number of Facebook representatives last week.

The site, where half of the Belgian population maintains a profile, changed its privacy policy from 1 February to allow them to sell any photos posted in advertisements or to use the location of your mobile device to push targeted ads. Face-

book also gathers data from apps that use Parse, a service allowing developers to generate ads and income from their apps.

The privacy conditions are not all new – Facebook has always gathered data on website activity via its Like button – but the privacy commission told the company that it was considering a legal complaint. Facebook then asked for a meeting with Tommelein.

“I expressed my concerns,” said Tommelein, “and I also real-

2.3%

94%

of self-employed people keep on working despite being ill. Nearly half go without breaks during the day, compared to only 20% of employees who did the same

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ised that the company is acting in good faith. But that there are certain growing pains. I advised them to do something about their communications.”

Facebook will have to answer the questions raised by the privacy commission, Tommelein said. “They must ensure that they are complying with the law, both at national and at European level, and take care of any problems.”

Both Facebook and the government would like to see a European regulation on privacy, he said. \ AH

Flemish university professors who teach classes in English have not obtained a language proficiency certificate, either by failing the test or refusing to take it.

of passengers on the Flemish public transport network De Lijn were caught fare-dodging in 2014, the lowest figure in seven years. Last year a record two million passengers were inspected

24%

the average age at which workers in Flanders stop working, up from 58.3 years 15 years ago, according to figures from the Leuven Support Network for Labour and Social Economy

of top level posts in the federal civil service are now held by women, the highest rate ever. The government’s target is one in three

february 25, 2015

WEEK in brief One of the cargo scanners at the port of Antwerp has been out of service for a month, while another is in a lamentable state, according to port unions. Since the scanner broke down, the number of discoveries of illegal cargo has fallen by one-half.

The scanners are used to detect drugs, smuggled contraband, illegal immigrants and false declarations of goods. Customs are currently using two mobile scanners, which produce a poorer quality image.

Technical representatives of the rail authority NMBS and infrastructure company Infrabel are in talks to work out the details of a minimum service to be provided in the event of a rail strike, mobility minister Jacqueline Galant confirmed.

The announcement led to outcry from the rail union ACV, who pointed out that the government had promised consultation with the unions before any steps were taken. Unions oppose the idea of a minimum service, arguing it undermines the right to strike.

A man suspected of being an accomplice of Mehdi Nemmouche, who is in custody awaiting trial for the shooting death of four people last spring at the Jewish Museum in Brussels, was extradited to Belgium from France last week. Nacer Bendrer, 26, from Marseilles, is believed to have met the accused killer in the days leading up to the attack.

New flight paths for aircraft arriving at and leaving from Brussels Airport will come into force on 2 April and will affect fewer residents than those currently in operation, action group Air Libre said. The new routes will involve noise nuisance for 150,000 residents, compared to 600,000 at present. The paths are a return to the situation prior to the introduction of the muchcontested Wathelet Plan, which was struck down by the courts.

The so-called Bend to the Left

face of flanders over Etterbeek, Oudergem and Watermaal-Bosvoorde disappears; the Canal route over the centre of the city carries less traffic; and the Ring route and Eastern route will carry more traffic.

Limburg’s fruit dealers have begun a test project to export pears to Canada, according to the Belgian union of fruit sellers.

Last year growers faced a Russian boycott on their produce, and, while many took a premium to destroy their crop, the industry is now in search of new markets.

If the project is successful in handling Canada’s strict conditions, the new market could take 10,000 tonnes of pears a year.

The city administration in Antwerp is looking into making its 203 cars from car-sharing companies available to residents outside of working hours.

The council is also in talks with the companies to see if civil servants could make more use of car-sharing during work. “We already work with carpools for our employees, but the idea is to extending the sharing to the people of the city,” said mobility alderman Koen Kennis.

Experts from Belgium and the UK are working on a European anti-propaganda office to address jihadist hate propaganda, interior minister Jan Jambon announced. Jambon was speaking at a conference on violent extremism in Washington. Similar agencies exist in the UK and US, which use TV advertising and social media to counter the effects of propaganda on vulnerable young people.

Police in Brussels are investigating nine massage salons in the area of the Grote Markt that they suspect may be acting as a front for money laundering. The salons are run by Chinese and Dutch owners and offer traditional Chinese and therapeutic massages. The problem is, trade alderwoman Marion Lemesre

OFFSIDE Bottoms up

Belgium has many fine beers associated with monks and history, tradition and craftsmanship. If the revered name of one of them were under threat, you would expect a great mobilisation of the beerdrinking public.

But to be frank, Cara Pils was never really identified with any of the above noble characteristics. The beer, brewed by Copimex of Halle in Flemish Brabant, is more closely associated with unkempt men who drink beer on the bus. You won't find this beer at local cafes or upmarket nightspots. You will find it in the supermarket – it’s made

for Colruyt – and in nightshops.

The image problem must have been in the minds of Colruyt executives when they decided to change the name of the beer – one of the cheapest you will find at 0.29 – to Everyday, in line with the rest of its range of in-house products.

“As with the other Everyday products, we intended to change the packaging, to make everything more recognisably part of the

said, is that the salons do not need to apply for a licence of any kind.

The Belgian League against Anti-Semitism has said it will organise a march for tolerance this spring. The announcement follows the attack on a 17-yearold Jewish youth two weeks ago in Antwerp. “Jews are afraid of what has happened in recent weeks in Paris and Copenhagen,” said Joel Rubinfeld, chair of the league. “That sort of thing could happen here tomorrow.” The organisation hopes to attract 100,000 people onto the streets.

Equipping babies with an electronic ankle monitor to prevent them being kidnapped from hospital is a “complete exaggeration,” according to the child protection organisation Child Focus. The ankle bracelets, which send out a signal when the baby is moved from its ward, were unveiled in a pilot project in AZ Groeninge hospital in Kortrijk.

“This seems more likely to create anxiety than safety,” Child Focus said in a statement.

The Brussels Parliament will have a new member for the next six months: Itch, a young Labrador. MP Carla Dejonghe is helping train the dog for Dyadis, an association that trains and assigns companion dogs to people with a physical handicap.

Dyadis assigns some 120 dogs a year.

Police are to carry out increased spot-checks on the blue permit reserved for handicapped parking, after it was revealed that there are 280,000 expired permits still in circulation across the country. Expired permits that cannot be renewed – because of the death of the user or a temporary handicapped status, for example – are supposed to be returned to the social security ministry. Motorists caught with an expired permit can be fined.

© Francois Lenoir/Reuters/Corbis

Luc Coene Luc Coene is an economist who next month moves from his job as governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) to take up a post on the supervisory committee of the European Central Bank (ECB). Sound dull? Keep reading.

Coene,67, was born in Ghent and studied economics at the university there before taking a post-graduate diploma at the College of Europe in Bruges. He started his career at the National Bank in the research department and later in the foreign affairs department.

Following a six-year stint at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC, he returned to hold the post of deputy chief of staff for the finance minister and then, the same year, chief of staff for the budget minister, Guy Verhofstadt.

His career thereafter has all the appearance of someone being groomed for the highest office: back to the IMF as a visiting scholar; economic adviser to the EU Commission; return to the NBB; four years as a co-opted senator, appointed by the party, in this case the Flemish liberals; and into the job of head of the office of the prime minister – Verhofstadt again.

His political loyalty (and service in the Senate) meant he was a controversial figure. Two attempts to seat him on the board of the NBB in 1987 and 1989 failed, until he finally succeeded in 2003. He was accused of partisanship when he tried to push through a report unfavourable to the annual indexation of salaries. He was reprimanded by then Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters for overstepping his authority by stating in an interview in 2012 that Belgium was facing a recession.

Nevertheless, there can be no doubt he has the CV for the ECB. The Single Supervisory Mechanism is an ECB branch that monitors the financial stability of the banks in the Eurozone.

It started its operations last November and is composed of a chair, deputy chair, four representatives of the ECB and representatives of the national supervisors.

Coene remains in his post at the NBB until 10 March, one day before his 68th birthday.

The maximum age for a governor of the Bank is 67 years. His place will be taken by Jan Smets, currently an NBB director. \ Alan Hope

Flanders Today, a weekly English-language newspaper, is an initiative of the Flemish Region and is financially supported by the Flemish authorities.

Everyday range,” Jan Derom of Colruyt told De Standaard. No-one could have predicted the storm of outrage that was to follow.

A Facebook group sprang up with 9,500 backers; a march was called for 28 February in Leuven; an online petition has gathered 3,360 signatures. “Cara is blood; Cara is life,” one protester posted. “Cara is our cultural heritage,” the organisers of the petition argued. The power of the people was felt.

“Maybe we should leave the label the way it was,” proffered Derom.

“In any case, nothing has been irrevocably decided.” \ AH

The logo and the name Flanders Today belong to the Flemish Region (Benelux Beeldmerk nr 815.088). The editorial team of Flanders Today has full editorial autonomy regarding the content of the newspaper and is responsible for all content, as stipulated in the agreement between Corelio Publishing and the Flemish authorities.

Editor Lisa Bradshaw DEPUTY Editor Sally Tipper CONTRIBUTING Editor Alan Hope sub Editor Linda A Thompson Agenda Robyn Boyle, Georgio Valentino Art director Paul Van Dooren Prepress Corelio AdPro Contributors Daan Bauwens, Rebecca Benoot, Derek Blyth, Leo Cendrowicz, Katy Desmond, Andy Furniere, Diana Goodwin, Julie Kavanagh, Catherine Kosters, Toon Lambrechts, Katrien Lindemans, Ian Mundell, Anja Otte, Tom Peeters, Daniel Shamaun, Senne Starckx, Christophe Verbiest, Débora Votquenne, Denzil Walton General manager Hans De Loore Publisher Corelio Publishing NV

Editorial address Gossetlaan 30 - 1702 Groot-Bijgaarden tel 02 373 99 09 editorial@flanderstoday.eu subscriptions tel 03 560 17 49 subscriptions@flanderstoday.eu or order online at www.flanderstoday.eu Advertising 02 373 83 57 advertising@flanderstoday.eu Verantwoordelijke uitgever Hans De Loore

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\ POLITICS

5TH COLUMN Reversal of roles

The problems between nationalists N-VA and Christiandemocrats CD&V, coalition partners in the government of Flanders, continued last week. One was on the allowance for unemployed “informal caregivers”, which is to be cut. The idea is that people can look for a job, even while caring for sick relatives.

Another incident concerned the index adaptation, which automatically links wages to the increased cost of living.

Since wage increases are being skipped this year, should rent increases also be skipped? No, said N-VA minister for housing, Liesbeth Homans.

In both cases, CD&V protested. Informal care is one of the issues the party is deeply concerned about. And skipping the index for employees is much harder to sell if the same does not apply to landlords.

CD&V has vowed to be “the government’s social face”, but it is finding that increasingly hard. While it can never do enough to appease the Christian-democrat union, its coalition partners find CD&V’s endless internal dissent mostly irritating.

The situation between CD&V and N-VA is also a remarkable reversal of roles. For decades, CD&V was the “people’s party”: large in size, it looked after the interests of groups as diverse as workers, farmers and entrepreneurs. Now, the party that attracts voters from every corner of society is N-VA – its electoral strength being the logical outcome.

CD&V therefore finds itself in the position N-VA was when it was founded, at the turn of the century. N-VA never aspired to be big; it preferred being relevant and consistent.

Ironically, N-VA would never have become the party it is now without CD&V. In 2004, CD&V’s Yves Leterme needed nationalist votes, though few at the time, to return to power.

He proposed a cartel between the two parties, who agreed on mutual institutional goals.

Without the cartel, N-VA’s chances of survival were small: at one point the party had just one representative in parliament, founder and now minister-president Geert Bourgeois.

By 2008, when the cartel went bust, it had several MPs, and there was no stopping the appeal of its new leader, Bart De Wever.

This explains part of CD&V’s frustration and sense of entitlement. The party still feels it defends the interests of all people. Whether that also means the best interest of the federal government’s unity is something for prime minister Charles Michel to worry about. \ Anja Otte

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Flemish MPs visit Gaza strip

Arrangement with Israel afforded unique opportunity for Palestine trip Derek Blyth More articles by Derek \ flanderstoday.eu

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delegation of seven Flemish MPs visited the Gaza strip on a fact-finding mission last week. The delegation was made up of five Flemish MPs from the federal parliament and three from the Flemish parliament, representing all of Flanders’ political parties, apart from the far-right Vlaams Belang.

The Gaza visit formed part of a five-day mission organised by the Flemish development aid charities 11.11.11 and Broederlijk Delen. The MPs were taken to see the devastation caused last summer by the Israeli offensive in Gaza that killed more than 2,000 Palestinian civilians.

“No matter where you looked, you saw destruction,” said federal MP Wouter De Vriendt of Groen. “It was extremely confronting,” added Flemish MP Piet De Bruyn of N-VA. Some 100,000 people are still homeless, according to Bogdan Vanden Berghe, the director general of 11.11.11. “Nothing has been rebuilt

© Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Corbis

“No matter where you looked, you saw destruction”: Citizens of Gaza City continue to live amid the ruins

up to this point, except for some small repairs using the limited material available,” he said.

People are living in tent camps, school buildings or temporary structures.

It will cost an estimated €4.4 billion to rebuild

the damaged areas, but only 5% of that amount has been raised so far. The reconstruction is also hampered because Israel restricts the import of building material to Gaza, according to Brigitte Herremans of Broederlijk Delen.

The delegation is unusual in being granted access to Gaza. Delegations from the Netherlands and the European Parliament have been denied entry. Vanden Berghe explained that 11.11.11 was seen by the Israeli government as different from other organisations. “We have an impartial approach and listen to all sides in the conflict. We also met with the Israeli authorities to hear their side of the story.”

Belgium’s federal parliament voted earlier this month in favour of a resolution to recognise Palestine “when the time was right”.

“The failure to reach a solution is a breeding ground for hatred towards Israel that could go on for generations,” said De Vriendt.

Federal government split on rent indexation for 2015

New anti-doping policy extends maximum penalties

The federal government is split on whether to freeze indexation of rental prices. The Christian democrats (CD&V), with the support of the unions, wants to put a brake on automatic rent increases, arguing that this is a reasonable expectation during a year when the annual wage increase based on inflation is being skipped as part of austerity measures.

“It’s only fair to treat other sources of income the same way as wages,” said Servais Verherstraeten of CD&V. “If employees have to do without indexation, then you have to apply the same rules to people who earn their income out of rent-

Flemish sports minister Philippe Muyters has announced the approval of the region’s new antidoping policy, which comes into force on 31 March.

“The aim of the policy is to protect clean athletes and to ensure clean training, in top sports as much as in everyday sports,” Muyters said. “As the dopers become more inventive, so must we become tougher and smarter, without letting go of our humanity. Our aim is to become more efficient and user-friendly.”

Included in the new rules is an extension of the maximum penalty for use of doping, from two years to six years. The statute of limitations, which makes it impossible to prosecute an offence after a certain term, is extended from eight to 10 years.

Athletes accused of doping will retain their right to be heard before any suspension takes effect. A new system of “intelli-

ing a house.”

But Flemish nationalists N-VA want to allow rent increases, as do the Flemish and French-speaking liberals. Housing minister Liesbeth Homans of N-VA said she was not going to impose any restraints on landlords, who are permitted to increase rents annually by a percentage linked to the cost of living.

Homans added that the rents were unlikely to rise much, as the rate of inflation was very low last year.

According to some sources, it would amount to about €0.08 on a rent of €800 per month. \ DB

Prime minister calls on Jews to stay in Belgium Prime minister Charles Michel has made a plea to Belgian Jews to stay in the country rather than migrate to Israel. Speaking on Radio 1, he said that security measures to protect the Jewish community would remain in place even if the national terrorism threat level, which remains at three, was lowered.

Michel was responding to a statement by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Sunday calling on European Jews to migrate to Israel to escape future terrorist attacks. Several European leaders criticised Netanyahu’s comments.

Michel made a statement saying “Belgium without Jews is no longer Belgium. Europe without Jews is no longer Europe”. He called on Jews not to leave because they were afraid. “The primary role of the state is to do everything in its

© Patrick Hattori/Het Nieuwsblad

gent testing” will be introduced, in which the World Anti-Doping Authority supplies information on the most likely substances and the most likely means of delivery, which will determine the methods used by authorities to track down the use of the drugs concerned.

At the same time, the anti-doping authority in Flanders will be able to decide whether to apply its own sanctions or to leave the question to the sports federation in the case of elite athletes. \ Alan Hope

Government grants to homebuyers hit record levels © Courtesy Het Nieuwsblad

power to keep citizens safe,” he told Radio 1.

In an interview with De Morgen, Michael Freilich, editor of the Antwerp-based Jewish newspaper Joods Actueel, said that the local community had mixed feelings about Netanyahu’s offer. “On the one hand, it is encouraging,” he said. “Whatever happens, we know that we can always move there. But on the other hand, people here feel that they are Jewish and Belgian, not Israeli.” \ DB

Some 7,000 homebuyers received mortgage loans from the government of Flanders last year, which saw the largest amount of money provided for “social loans” ever – €1.2 billion, or around €170,000 per household.

The loans are for low-income families unable to obtain conventional mortgages. “People are applying for social loans more readily because banks are less willing to lend money or because the buyer can’t raise the deposit,” confirmed Tine Hendrickx of the Flemish Social Housing Association.

Banks have also reduced borrowing terms to a maximum of 25 years, compared to 30 or even 40 years a decade ago, which means buyers face higher monthly payments. A deposit, meanwhile, is often as much as 20% of the sale price.

The government offers the social mortgage loans through the Flemish Housing Fund and the Flemish Social Housing Association. The housing organisations are able to borrow the money from banks and then lend to home buyers, often at a low interest rate. \ DB

\ COVER STORY

february 25, 2015

The ties that bind

Culturally sensitive foster placement programme has become international example continued from page 1

WWW.PLEEGZORGVLAANDEREN.BE

On the cover: Nuri and Bahriye Özlü from Ghent, pictured with their own daughter, have been foster parents since 2010

with that loss. It is our responsibility to ensure that no child experiences any extra pressure by having to learn another language or to adapt to radically new rules or habits.”

That is our Dunya’s approach with every child, she continues, “regardless of their background: finding a family that resembles the biological family as much as possible. To make sure that the foster child doesn’t miss out on chances in life and regains the exact same chances he or she had before the placement.”

The original idea for Dunya sprang from the mind of one woman: Mady Fernande. In 1998, Fernande was a foster care social worker in Antwerp province. “It started quite simply by reading an article”, she remembers, “about an Egyptian sociologist researching foster care by and for people with an immigrant background in the Netherlands.”

Back then, she continues, “the Netherlands had a growing number of foster children with a foreign background, and there was an urgent need for families mirroring this new diversity. Foster children need a good foster family match.”

Faced with the same need in Antwerp province, she saw it as her moral duty to contact the Egyptian researcher and start looking for foster families from different cultural backgrounds. “We absolutely needed immigrant families to volunteer for foster care,” she says, “and to get them, I knew I had to crawl inside the heads of the people of those communities.”

© Corbis

Conflicting goals She was also working against Flanders’ integration goals, which prefer to see Dutch learned and taught wherever possible and to give no special treatment to specific communities. “I started designing posters and writing texts in the languages of the Islamic communities in Antwerp. I used words and themes that referred to religion or other important values in their cultures.”

Then Fernande created a broad network of representatives from Muslim organisations and mosques to spread the word. “Soon, we found the first families with immigrant backgrounds to volunteer, who then served as an example for their communities.”

Fernande’s approach was not applauded by the local administration. “It was not the politically correct approach,” she explains.

“But I was convinced that, in the beginning, we needed to take small steps. We needed to address a small group to make an opening.”

Targeting the whole immigrant community from the start, she continues, “wouldn’t have delivered any results, and the project would have been scrapped. We needed quick results on a small scale to show the administration that it was worth following this through.”

The last step: convincing judges in family courts of the need for culturally sensitive placement for children. “It’s not that the

“The right placement for every child”: Clinical psychologist Emine Karanfil is the Dunya co-ordinator for East Flanders

judges were opposed to the idea ” she says.

“They simply didn’t believe we could find families with the right background who

With every passing day, our society grows more multicultural would volunteer. But by then, we had their names and addresses.”

Seventeen years after Fernande’s first attempts, culturally sensitive placement is anchored in the standard policy of Foster Care Flanders. Flanders has even surpassed the Netherlands – from where the inspiration had come but where intercultural foster care is limited to piecemeal initiatives.

Dunya’s success was quickly recognized

across border: A few years after its inception, the initiative and its non-orthodox methods sparked interest from the Finnish and Dutch governments. In recent years, Dunya has been invited to congresses in Turkey and Morocco and is internationally recognised for its pioneering work. Within Belgium, Dunya’s methods are being copied by intercultural initiatives targeting Arabic and Jewish communities.

Today, Dunya’s core team consists of a dozen intercultural specialists, spread all over the region, safeguarding cultural sensitivity in the foster care sector. In recent years, at least one out of four foster placements is categorized as a “Dunya” placement.

“We are still looking for more foster families with different cultural backgrounds,” says Fernande, “but we also must keep on raising awareness in the sector – with the judges, the administration and the other social workers – about the importance of culturally sensitive choices and guidance.

“It has been an uphill battle, but we made it.

We planted a seed and now we see it taking root. It was needed back then, and it will be needed even more in the future. With every passing day, our society is growing more multicultural.”

But Dunya is still often met with criticism.

“People can’t understand why children with a different cultural background need special treatment,” Fernande says. “They question why so much time and effort is spent on so few people and our approach, which they regard as being contrary to integration goals.

After all, we look for foster families that have the same religion, beliefs and language as the child.”

For instance, in some cases, Dunya will advise against placing a child with an Islamic background with a same-sex couple. “That sounds harsh and conservative,” says Karanfil, “but say a child aged nine from an Islamic background is placed with a foster family in which the foster parents are gay. The child being this young, there probably won’t be problems. But when the child reaches puberty, they will soon realise the difference between the cultural norms of their biological family and those of their foster family.”

The child could then easily rebel, she says, “as kids going through puberty do. But in this case, the revolt can swell and easily spill into other areas of the child’s life, possibly threatening their futures. In cases like these, we should ask ourselves if such a situation could have been prevented – without judging the educational capacities or orientation of the foster parents.”

According to Fernande, there are other ways society should tackle issues regarding gay rights and diversity. “We are dealing with children coming from poignant situations,” she says, “with all sorts of problems. Do we need these children to be used as guinea pigs to settle ideological discussions on what the ideal society should look like, bringing them into a situation that might cause extra problems for them? The answer is no.”

\5

\ BUSINESS

week in business Avionics Airbus The defence and space affiliate of the French aerospace group, based in Oostkamp, West Flanders, and specialised in electronic components, radar amplifiers and transponders, has been sold to the Swiss Partner Capital group investment fund.

Building products Etex The Brussels-based building products producer, previously known as Eternit, has sold its German Flachdach affiliate to the French Soprema company.

Chemicals Solvay The Brussels-based chemical products and plastics group has sold its German refrigerants and pharma propellants activities to the Japanese air conditioning systems manufacturer Daikin.

Dredging Deme The Antwerp-based dredging company has won contracts worth €1.5 billion since 1 January. Included are a $650 million deal to build an 8.5-kilometre container quay in the port of Singapore, a dredging contract to deepen the Scheldt river’s accesses to the port of Antwerp, a maintenance agreement to dredge the Weser river in Germany and additional work in India and Nigeria.

Insurance Nationale Suisse The Swiss insurance company has sold its local affiliate and two related underwriters to the Bermuda-based Enstar group for €33.7 million.

Steel wire Bekaert The steel wire producer, based in Zwevegem, West Flanders, has further developed its capacities on the market for steel cord, used to strengthen tyres, by finalising the acquisition of production units in Turkey and China from Pirelli.

Bekaert has also acquired the cable activities of the Australian Arrium mining company and will integrate them in the newly created Bekaert Rope Group.

Transport Van Hool The Lier-based bus and coach manufacturer has won a €33 million contract to supply 120 buses to the Walloon public transport authority TEC.

Web applications Dmitry Alimov The Russian web developer who founded Ivi.ru, Russia’s YouTube, has set up Investment Research Advisors in Brussels to support his activities in developing countries.

\6

Most SMEs in Flanders unable to find qualified staff Technical skills are lacking in job applicants across region Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

T

he vast majority of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Flanders find it hard to fill vacancies with properly qualified applicants, according to a survey carried out by Unizo, the organisation that represents the self-employed.

The availability of appropriate job candidates is the greatest hindrance to SME growth, Unizo found, with 87% of businesses reporting the problem. The organisation called on the government of Flanders to provide more education subsidies for students following courses need in the current economy. “Students need more opportunities to gain work experi-

ence,” said Unizo director-general Karel Van Eetvelt.

Flemish training and employment agency VDAB agreed that

little progress was being made to shorten the list of “bottleneck jobs” – those jobs where the shortage of candidates is acute – despite growth in the number of students signing up for courses in technical subjects.

Last year the number of people employed by SMEs fell by 1.4%, representing 8,677 jobs, Unizo said.

That figure is expected to improve in the coming months, based on a turn-around in the last quarter of 2014. Three sectors went against the trend with increased employment: transport (up 1.1%), services (0.5%) and professional services, such as doctors and lawyers (up 0.4%).

Sinksenfoor operators accept move to Spoor Oost

Smet’s taxi plan leaves way for Uber to be legalised

Operators of fairground attractions associated with the traditional Sinksenfoor fun fair in Antwerp have accepted a move to the Park Spoor Oost site, regional broadcaster ATV reports.

Sinksenfoor, an annual fair dating back to the Middle Ages, was taken to court in 2013 by a group of residents of Zuiderdokken, its traditional location. The group won a court order stopping the summer fair from going ahead because of noise nuisance.

The city offered the event a new location along the banks of the Scheldt, leading to protests from both the owners of attractions as well as from residents living in the new location.

It was then decided that Sinksenfoor would move to a new site in the Borgerhout district, former land owned by the rail authority NMBS. This led to a massive protest by fair operators and vendors last March that shut down Antwerp’s streets and led to 43 arrests.

“The city has made some concessions that the majority of opera-

Pascal Smet, mobility minister of the Brussels-Capital Region, has unveiled a proposal for taxi services that could pave the way for ride-sharing service Uber to operate legally for the first time.

Smet’s “taxi plan” has not yet been approved but has already come under fire from the capital’s official taxi companies. The companies consider Uber to be unfair competition: Uber drivers are not licensed and do not have to comply with the strict regulations governing Brussels’ official taxi drivers. In addition, prices are lower than the government-regulated tariffs.

“The plan imposes more obligations on the official taxi services but at the same time leaves the door open for other operators who have far fewer rules to comply with,” Taxis Verts said in a statement. “In any case, the conditions would be impossible to enforce.”

The plan would oblige Uber to use only drivers over the age of 21 who have had a clean driving record for at least three years and who obtain a certificate of good

© Courtesy Het Nieuwsblad

tors can live with,” said Guillaume Borremans, speaking on behalf of the operators, told ATV. Those include the city footing the bill for advertising for the fair, a cut in fees of 25% and a licence for two weeks longer than usual – eight weeks instead of six. The city will also provide security cameras and a third entrance to the park along the Singel thoroughfare.

The city, in the longer term, intends to situate the fair on the banks of the Scheldt to the south of the centre, but the site there requires reinforcement works. In the meantime, Sinksenfoor is due to open at Park Spoor Oost in May. \ AH

© Courtesy Taxis Verts

conduct from the police. They must also be registered as a taxi driver or as self-employed.

Uber would be responsible for insurance for customers and for the state of the vehicle. Ride-sharing services could only be offered via the Uber app, and payment only accepted electronically. Uber vehicles would not be able to use bus lanes or taxi ranks.

Smet has turned his proposal over to the government, which could amend it before proposing it as legislation. Taxi Verts representatives have threatened industrial actions such as those held in Brussels near the end of last year, which closed down some main arteries and crippled traffic, if their concerns are not addressed. \ AH

Record number of “risky” drivers refused insurance Car insurance companies last year declined coverage to 29,340 drivers considered too risky, according to the Classifications Office, which provides alternative options for drivers turned down by commercial insurers.

The figure is up by 28.5% compared to 2013 and more than 60% over the last two years. The Classifications Office can write an insurance policy for any driver who has been refused coverage by three commercial insurers.

The main reason for refusal by commercial insurers is accidents on the driver’s record.

But Consumer organisation Test-Aankoop

described the trend as “worrying” and accused some insurers of turning down way too many average drivers.

“In the case of one major insurer, you can be shown the door if you are involved in a single accident – even you were not at fault,” said TestAankoop’s Geert Danckaert. One driver was turned down after being involved in three accidents in five years, although in each case his car was parked, and he was not present.

Insurance industry federation Assuralia pointed out the exceptional risk insurers are running, “a risk that can hardly be estimated at the time

© Courtesy Tim Dobbelaere/Wikimedia

of signing a policy,” said spokesperson Wauthier Robyns. “It’s only when an accident actually occurs that the extent of the damage becomes clear. That makes car insurance exceptional.” \ AH

\ INNOVATION

february 25, 2015

Android eyes

week in innovation

West Flemish company Sensotec develops app that helps the blind read Andy Furniere More articles by Andy \ flanderstoday.eu

WWW.KNFBREADER.COM

T

he West Flemish company Sensotec is on a roll.

When the company launched its KNFB Reader last September for users with visual impairments and dyslexia, the app was quickly embraced by many users across different countries. Just a month later, the Royal National Institute of Blind People in the UK, for instance, chose it as its app of the month, while AppleVis.com, the online community for blind and partially sighted Apple users, awarded it its annual Golden Apple for best accessibility app for iOS devices. The company also placed second in the AppleVis.com Developer of the Year competition.

The KNFB Reader app takes pictures of texts and then reads that text aloud. It can be downloaded to smartphones, iPods and tablets.

It’s no coincidence that many international users and associations rapidly became convinced of the usefulness of the app. Based in Jabbeke, Sensotec closely collaborated with the National Federation of the Blind in the US and the tech company K-NFB Reading Technology for this project. The K in the company name is for Kurzweil; the company was founded by technology pioneer Ray Kurzweil, now director of engineering at internet giant Google.

KNFB Reader was originally created by K-NFB Reading Technology. This older version only worked on Nokia devices and was less powerful and user-friendly than the new one developed

by Sensotec.

“We completely updated the previous version,” says Sensotec CEO Falk Beerten. “At the same time, we managed to reduce the price of the app significantly.”

While the previous version cost about €1,500, Sensotec was able to push the price down to €100 using more modern technologies.

An important feature of the new app is user assistance to better position the device’s camera in front of text. This is achieved through a vibration system and spoken messages that provide instructions to, for instance, move the device a little to the left or right.

Once the app has taken the photo, it reads the text out loud just a few seconds later using text-

© Sensotec

The Sensotec app converts text into speech in a matter of seconds

to-speech technology. In the previous version developed by K-NFB Reading Technology, the process of converting the text into speech took much longer.

All manner of text can be read out loud this way.

The app can, for instance, help visually impaired people to read letters, invoices, newspaper articles, menus and food labels. Sensotec technology also automatically identifies the text format and can, for instance, assess that the text is formatted in columns. Users can even read long, complex files like a PowerPoint presentation.

The app is currently available in 12 languages, including English, Dutch, French, Spanish, Polish and Turkish. “We are also preparing Chinese and Russian versions,” says Beerten.

The next step for Sensotec will be to develop features that enable the app to automatically recognise what language a text is written in and to even translate the text into other languages.

To install the app, users need an Apple device, such as an iPhone or iPad. “Most visually impaired people opt for Apple devices because they have the exceptionally good VoiceOver technology, which makes them more accessible,” explains Beerten. “By the end of April, however, we hope to bring an Android version to the market.”

This is not Sensotec’s first breakthrough. Back in 1986, when the company was launched as a research spin-off of the Royal Medical Pedagogical Institute Spermalie in Bruges, Sensotec premiered a pioneering device called Braildec.

Braildec, which decoded braille and converted it into writing, was used to mainstream blind children in primary education until the end of the 1990s. It was mostly used in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Norway.

“The Braildec was about the size of a lunchbox, a big difference compared to the mobile applications of today,” says Beerten.

Though it still focuses on accessibility software and hardware for the visually impaired, Sensotec has also devoted increasingly more attention to the difficulties faced by people with dyslexia. “Dyslexia is also known as ‘word blindness’,” says Beerten, “so many applications to assist the visually impaired are also to the benefit of people with dyslexia.”

The West Flemish company has, for instance, developed a software programme called WoDy. Designed specifically for dyslexics, the software functions as a word predictor that corrects texts and provides support through speech technology. The software can even adjust to users’ personal profiles – their typical mistakes and lexical preferences.

“We are also more and more aware of the possibilities that our technology offers to elderly people who don’t suffer from a disability but whose eyesight worsens gradually,” says Beerten.

“As the ageing of our population progresses, our solutions will be useful to a growing number of people.”

Bacteria in North Sea “telephone” each other Researchers from the Free University of Brussels (VUB) and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ ) have discovered that a certain type of bacteria found in sediments in the North Sea are using an electrical network for signal transmission, much like in a telephone system.

“We already knew that there are bacteria living in the soil of the North Sea that are shaped like wires and conduct electric currents,” explained team leader Filip Meysman of NIOZ. “We have now discovered that these bacteria can adapt their currents rapidly and drastically and thus pass on information through the seabed.”

The micro-organisms that are situated higher in the seabed let other micro-organisms in the deeper sediments know whether it is light or dark and if there is oxygen available. With this information, the lower bacteria can adjust their behaviour accordingly.

Scientists knew already that micro-organ-

isms communicate with each other by detecting all kinds of chemical signals. This mechanism, however works slowly and over very short distances. The new discovery shows that communication can bridge larger distances and is faster because it works via the transmission of electric signals. The bacteria were found to be sending signals over several centimetres in fewer than 10 minutes.

“We basically found a bacteria that has developed the tools to generate signals and transmit them, all on their own,” said Meysman. “If we figure out how the bacteria do this, this can lead to opportunities for innovative research on bioelectric materials and applications. For example, solar panels or smartphones could in the future work with minuscule bacteria wires.”

The study was carried out with support by the Flemish Fund for Scientific Research, the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research and the European Research Council. \ AF

WWW.MICROBIAL-ELECTRICITY.EU

Flemish app teaches children how to sing

iMinds, Flanders’ digital research centre, has presented a demo of a mobile application that helps children to develop their singing talents. The demo is the result of 15 months of work in the framework of the MELoDiA project, carried out by iMinds, the Free University of Brussels, the University of Leuven and the Media, Arts and Design school in Hasselt.

The researchers surveyed both families with children and music educators about their experiences in learning and teaching music. The app includes coaching technology, has a strong game factor and uses a reward system to motivate children. Game company Cartamundi in Turnhout will now develop the demo into a commercial app.

KU Leuven discovers brain process behind gripping Researchers from the University of Leuven have discovered the processes that take place in the brain during a grasping movement. The research team, led by professor Peter Janssen, have found that information first passes from the back to the front subsector of the partial cortex and then stimulates the brain areas that start off the movement of the arm. The research results, published in PLOS Biology, provide an important insight in the working of the brain as it’s just the communication between its cells that make the brain such a complex organ. “These new findings can be used in a lot of applications,” professor Janssen told De Morgen.

Improved treatment of ASVD in children Researcher Luc Bruyndonckx of Antwerp University has found a way to improve the treatment of arteriosclerotic vascular disease (ASVD) in obese children. ASVD refers to the thickening of an artery wall, which increases the risk for cardiovascular disorders. Overweight children can develop ASVD because of the malfunctioning of the cells in the interior surface of the blood vessels. But the problem also appears in the smaller blood vessels, a problem that scientists did not know how to treat until now. Dr Bruyndonckx’s study showed that the microvascular malfunction in children can be repaired after a treatment programme of about 10 months that combines an adjusted diet with physical training. \ AF

Electricity-producing bacteria in the seabed

\7

The really warm and positive atmosphere, coupled with a variety of in and outdoor activities, makes it the ideal place for Benjamin to feel happy among his new friends and to be cared for in the most optimal way by the wonderful BSB staff.”

• 1,350 students from Lysanne and Benjamin ages 1-18 years (who chose BSB’s Early • 70 nati on alities Learning & Development • British-based curricul Centre - Kindercrib) um up to age 16 • Students aged 16-18 ye to offer A Levels, IB Dars - on ly sc hool iploma and BTEC • French/English bilin gu al education available for ages 4-14 years • Outstanding academic results • Wide choice of extracurricul ar activities

For more information visit www.britishschool.be/earlyyears/

\ EDUCATION

february 25, 2015

“Nobody said anything”

Klasse calls on educators to create safe schools for LGBT students Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

WWW.TINYURL.COM/LGBTATSCHOOL

B

ullying has been in the press a lot lately, and there is one group for whom bullying is often a way of life: lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students.

That’s why Klasse.be, the multimedia platform that provides information to teachers, students and parents, recently produced a brochure on preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and on creating a safe environment for all students.

The problem is not to be underestimated. According to one survey cited by Klasse, the worst incident of bullying suffered by 47% of LGBT students took place in school.

Homophobic attacks can take the form of physical violence, but they can also include bullying, cyberbullying and spreading gossip.

The consequences are also serious and can range from anxiety and problematic behaviour to selfharm and suicide attempts. Among lesbian and bisexual girls, 15% had made at least one suicide attempt by the age of 23.

Saskia Aerts is a sociologist by training who now works for the suicide prevention non-profit Vlesp. For her doctorate, she carried out research into the school experiences of LGBT children.

Her research showed that boys received more negative comments from schoolmates than girls. On the other hand, girls scored less well on almost every indicator: feeling left out, motivation, academic results, acceptance of their own identity, etc. Girls also took longer than boys to come out.

According to a survey mentioned in the new Klasse brochure, 6% of students in the second, third and fourth year of secondary school have felt attracted at one time or another to a member of the same sex – one in every classroom on average.

Dylan (pictured) is now 23, and his testimony features in a short video

week in education Lecturers fail or refuse to take English test About 7% of lecturers who teach in English at Flemish universities or colleges failed or refused to take the compulsory language test to prove sufficient knowledge of the language. The test was introduced by Flanders’ previous education minister Pascal Smet. Across Flanders, 2,163 lecturers were required to take the test by 1 February. Of these, 153 failed the test or refused to take it. Current education minister Hilde Crevits said she would look into the situation to ensure universities and colleges aren’t hindered by the language test in their efforts to profile themselves internationally.

Student rooms booming business on the Klasse website. After being outed as gay by a classmate, he began to suffer bullying at the hands of not just other male students, but also teachers.

“It was tolerated; nobody said anything to condemn it,” he says.

“During PE lessons, my classmates asked if I shouldn’t go and get changed with the girls. The teacher said nothing for about a minute, and I saw him thinking: ‘How should I react?’ Every second, I sank deeper into the ground.”

Dylan went on to play truant, his marks declined and his behaviour became ruder and more aggressive. In the end, he obtained only a C-certificate, which meant he had to retake that year. Eventually, he changed schools and found one where he managed to fit in better.

Transgender students face a different set of problems, says Joz Motmans of Transgender Infopunt in Ghent.

“In the school context, it’s very upsetting if you’re constantly addressed as one gender when you identify as another,” he explains. “Schools are rarely prepared. It’s all a bit ad hoc – reacting instead of acting.”

According to Motmans, questions often arise around gym class, changing rooms, school trips and

administrative rules. “Is it okay for a child like that, for example, to fill in an exam form with his or her new first name? In Flanders, there’s a rule that the first name shown on a diploma can very easily be changed.

That’s something that sadly still doesn’t exist in Brussels.”

According to one set of figures, transgenders represent about 0.6% of the population. “For a lot of people, it's something they only dare to talk about later in life,” notes Motmans. “We can be sure there are an awful lot of young people in the closet.”

In another film featured on the Klasse website and made in conjunction with the VRT's documentary series Koppen, we see the diversity of circumstances that exist for transgender youth. Yordan identifies as male but receives little support from his school, with one teacher refusing point-blank to use his new name.

At a different school, meanwhile, Milo and Lau work with a pro-active team under the guidance of Steven De Baerdemaeker of LGBT rights organisation Cavaria. As a result of the school's positive approach, the boys' classmates seem to have accepted the situation.

In the wrong circumstances, the

consequences can be tragic: 62% of transgendered people report having had suicidal thoughts; 22% have made at least one suicide attempt.

Klasse has drawn up a 10-point plan for the creation of a safe school. That advice includes making a diagnosis of the current situation: Do the school rules clearly prohibit bullying and harassment on grounds of sexual orientation and do they have possible sanctions in place? For Klasse, the creation of a safe environment should include clear definitions of what respectful behaviour is and isn’t, while the school’s open and accepting attitude should be made obvious.

The plan also calls for teaching staff to be trained in sexual diversity and for each school to have at least one person to whom LGBT students can turn in confidence. Finally, students need to be involved in the creation of policies and the establishment of a safe environment.

A conference organised by the European Professional Association for Transgender Health, which takes place from 12 to 14 March in Ghent, includes a public event that features a keynote speaker on transgender adolescents. To attend, register at www.epath.eu

International school lays first stone of new sports centre The British School of Brussels (BSB) in Tervuren, just outside of Brussels, recently laid down the first symbolic stone for its new sports centre during a festive ceremony (pictured).

The construction works on the school campus began last October and should finish by the spring of 2016.

The construction work, which will replace a now demolished, much smaller sports centre, was dubbed Project 3-2-1 by BSB – a title that symbolises more than just the countdown process.

The number “3”, for instance, refers to the new centre’s three main facilities – a swimming pool, gymnasium and sports hall. The centre will also house a dance studio, eatery and offices. The buildings will cover a 7,700 squaremetre surface area, while the entire site is 8.3

© Courtesy BSB

hectares large.

The “2” in the project name refers to the estimated two-year duration of the construction, while “1” is the address number of the centre.

When the centre is completed, the international school’s 1,350 students will be able to practice

a large variety of sports on their campus, both during and after school hours. According to BSB principal Sue Woodroofe, the most popular sports at BSB are swimming, rugby, hockey, gymnastics, football, cross country, basketball and tennis. “Our swimming and tennis teams both consist of 300 students each,” she says.

The principal stresses that the sports centre will also invite students’ families. The facility should furthermore provide opportunities to help local charity organisations by having students volunteer to assist individuals with disabilities during sports exercises, for example.

Woodroofe says that Project 3-2-1 is the most prestigious initiative in the school’s history.

“Our ambition is to construct the best school sports centre in Europe,” she says. \ Andy Furniere

Increasingly more buildings in Brussels are being bought up

by Flemish developers to be turned into student residences and then sold to small investors, reported Brussel Deze Week. The developers are responding to the shortage of student housing in the city.

According to Brik, the capital’s Dutch-speaking student services, there is a shortage of 9,000 student rooms.

But Brik director Koen Van Ryckeghem warned for a lack of vision on the part of the developers. “They sometimes just put up a complex of units,” he said. For Brik, it’s important that student residences be situated close to campuses, public transport, bars and cultural services so that students develop a connection with the city.

UGent, VUB reconsider year-long courses Both Ghent University (UGent) and the Free University of Brussels (VUB) are considering re-introducing courses that extend over a whole year.

The semester system, with two exam periods per year instead of one at the end of the year, was introduced about a decade ago.

Under the new plan, students would take just one exam at the end of the academic year.

The changes are particularly targeted at helping firstyear students pass their exams. “Youngsters who just come from secondary education often experience problems with taking difficult exams after just a few months in higher education,” UGent policy advisor Tom Dekeyzer told De Standaard. At VUB, the year-long courses would remain more of an exception, said vice-rector of education Yvette Michotte. \ AF

\9

\ LIVING

week in activities Historic church tours Free guided tours of two of Brussels’ most beautiful churches: the gothic Kapelle Church in the Marollen and the baroque Begijnhof Church in the city centre, the only part of the begijnhof that still exists. Reservations required on 0484 79 25 75. 26 February, 12.30-13.30, Begijnhofplein or Kapellemarkt, Brussels; free \ www.tinyurl.com/churchtours

Mysterious islands A multidisciplinary, interactive, performance and play space for kids and adults.

This temporary “amusement park” takes you on a voyage to mysterious islands populated by strange characters.

27 February to 1 March; Les Halles de Schaerbeek, Koninklijke Sint-Mariastraat 22, Brussels; €5 \ www.halles.be

Flanders Horse Expo The biggest and most diverse horse show in the Benelux, with information sessions, demonstrations and competitions. Show jumping, dressage, barrel racing and more, with activities for children. 27 February to 1 March, Flanders Expo, Maaltekouter 1, Ghent; €18 \ www.flanders-horse-expo.be

Torchlight tour Make sure your child aged six to 12 has a torch with batteries fully loaded and warm clothing for this fun annual walk in the woods, followed by a camp fire and hot cocoa. There’s also an activity for younger siblings. 28 February, starting at 18.45; Jeugdhuis Tongeluk, Bosstraat 10, Brussels (Ganshoren); free \ www.kwbganshoren.be

Hiking and biking fair Start the season with new ideas and products for your outdoor activities. Exhibitors include tourist bureaus, bike manufacturers, clubs and travel agencies. Test areas for bikes and tandems.

28 February to 1 March, 10.00-17.00, Antwerp Expo, Jan Van Rijswijcklaan 121, Antwerp; €9.50 \ www.fietsenwandelbeursvlaanderen.be

Fair Fashion Fest A festival dedicated to fair trade in the fashion industry, with information sessions, DIY workshops, fashion shows and lots of vendors selling ethically manufactured clothing. 1 March, 13.00-18.00; MIAT, Minnemeers 9, Ghent; free \ www.fairfashionfest.be

\ 10

When science goes mainstream Technopolis lifts curtain on the science powering our everyday lives Senne Starckx More articles by Senne \ flanderstoday.eu

WWW.TECHNOPOLIS.BE

S

cience is everywhere around us in our daily lives. But most of the time, our contact with science is quite superficial. Does general relativity, say, often spring to mind when you use your GPS*? Or do you perhaps often ponder quantum mechanics while playing mindless games on your smartphone**?

The sad thing about our relationship with science is that, while it’s the driving force behind nearly every form of modern technology, it’s not very visible to the end user. Consequently, the public still often thinks of science as something that doesn’t have any impact on their lives.

Science and technology centre Technopolis has made it its mission to raise awareness of and instil an appreciation for science among the general public – children and teens especially.

Based in Mechelen and funded by the government of Flanders, the centre is this year celebrating its 15th birthday.

Every year, approximately 300,000 visitors pass through the doors to learn where science hides in our daily lives, often by way of hands-on experiments. By focusing on secondary school students, the government hopes to whet their appetite for science education, which in turn should result in universities and high school sending more engineers and scientists into the job market.

“During these 15 years, the inflow of students in scientific disciplines has steadily grown,” says Technopolis spokesperson Bart Vande Vyvere.

“But it’s a continuing exercise to maintain their interest in science.”

That explains why Technopolis decided to celebrate its anniversary by opening a brand new exhibition, Het geheim van vuur en lijm (The Secret of Fire and Glue). The show, which runs until August, demonstrates how chemistry shapes our daily lives and how the science behind atoms and molecules can offer solutions to everyday problems.

The exhibition is divided into four themes, which are explored through sets of interactive displays. “Chemistry has many angles,” explains Vande Vyvere. “It goes from how individual molecules are built, via how a hydrogen rocket

© Courtesy Technopolis

The Secret of Fire and Glue teaching youngsters – and not a few curious adults – about the nature of chemistry

works, to what exactly are these butterflies in your stomach.”

The show focuses on chemistry as a tool for adding strength (glue is pure chemistry), a regulator of our bodies (here come the butterflies), an enabler of cosmetics (perfume and soap) and, finally, a field that keeps surprising consumers (grapheme has been called the plastic of the 21th century).

A special event associated with The Secret of Fire and Glue will take place on 5 May, when Technopolis will attempt to break the world record for the biggest chemistry lab in the world. They are amassing 838 students for the project. Hopefully, no-one will skip class that day because the current record holder, a secondary school in the UK, managed to assemble 837 pupils in 2012.

But not everything will revolve around chemistry at Technopolis this year. Next month, the centre will give the floor to “makers” – inventors, designers, builders, artists, entrepreneurs and DIYers.

Focused on adults, this Maker Festival will provide creators with the opportunity to show

off their skills to the public. The festival is part of a four-day event that celebrates makers and their skills and will transform Mechelen into “Maker City”.

“It’s a unique opportunity to connect new technology with extraordinary craftsmanship,” explains Vande Vyvere. “Every discipline is allowed: from 3D printing to welding, from making bobbin lace to ironwork.”

Makers who want to show off their talents are advised to register as soon as possible, as spaces are limited. * GPS satellites carry clocks that need to be extremely precise. Because the mass of the Earth warps space-time so that time is distorted just a tiny bit – as predicted in Einstein’s general theory of relativity – these clocks need to be adjusted. ** Every chip in every computer, laptop and smartphone in the world makes use of transistors. This tiny piece of semiconductor technology wouldn’t exist if quantum mechanics hadn’t developed in the first part of the 20th century.

BITE Heavenly cod This Valentine’s Day, my husband came home with an unexpected gift – a hefty chunk of fresh cod. It was skrei, to be exact, often called valentine fish for its seasonal character, and caught off the coast of Norway.

From now through March, the North Atlantic will be teeming with Arctic skrei (“wanderer” in Norwegian) in the prime of their life, as they make the journey back to their birthplace around the northern Norwegian Isles in search of a mate. For centuries, fishermen have braved the icy winter waters to cull boatloads of this fish.

What says “I love you” more than a delicious and highly nutritious meal? By serving up a plate of the robust white fish, my husband was in essence saying: “Here, have some omega-3 fatty acids; live long and prosper.”

Who needs a box of chocolates when you have delicate skrei, poached to perfection in a court bouillon and served alongside simple potatoes and two sauces: one made with zesty horseradish and sour cream and the other with warm,

buttery capers and lemon juice.

Here are his recipes, which I’ll take over flowers any day: Ingredients (serves two) 400g fresh skrei 1 tbsp olive oil 2 bay leaves 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1 tbsp salt 2 or 3 potatoes, any kind small chunk of fresh horseradish handful of fresh parsley cream sour cream knob of butter 1 tbsp capers lemon While court bouillon may sound fancy, it’s really just a way of gently poaching the fish by popping it into a pot of hot, but not boiling, water infused with a tablespoon of salt, a tablespoon of olive

oil, a couple of bay leaves and two crushed cloves of garlic. Allow the fish to simmer for two to three minutes, being careful not to overcook.

Afterwards, boil bite-size chunks of potato in the same water to infuse them with extra flavour.

As an accompaniment, grate fresh horseradish into a mixture of cream and sour cream (to taste, horseradish is spicy).

For sauce number two, warm up a knob of unsalted butter and add a handful of snipped flat-leaf parsley, a tablespoon of capers and a few squeezes of lemon (again, adjust the amounts to personal taste). \ Robyn Boyle

february 25, 2015

Throwback travelling

Hostel transports backpackers to 1930s Ghent, typewriters and all Daan Bauwens More articles by Daan \ flanderstoday.eu

WWW.BACKSTAYHOSTELS.COM

G

lobetrotters are an exigent breed. Not only do they want to see the world and spend the night in accommodations “with character”, they want to do it all on a shoestring.

Fortunately for them, some places are easy both on the eye and the wallet. A hostel in Ghent, for instance, is offering travellers the chance to daydream about the magic and excitement of the interbellum at chump-change rates. Though Backstay Hostel opened just last summer, it’s already won an award for “Best Innovative Tourist Product” from Flanders’ tourist board.

Located in the city’s university quarter, the impressive art deco building in which Backstay Hostel is housed has had a tumultuous past. Designed and built in 1930 to promote the socialist legacy in architecture, it was the home of the socialist newspaper Vooruit.

The paper was launched by the co-operative of the same name, which was also responsible for Ghent’s celebrated eponymous arts temple just opposite the street, built in 1913.

While the Vooruit arts centre eventually revived its function, the Vooruit editorial staff moved out of their stained-glass press palace for good in 1983. Seven years later, the building was converted into a theatre and given a new name, Backstage.

While immensely popular among young would-be actors, this new lease of life didn’t last long. In 2010, Backstage was sold off to the real estate group Upgrade Estate – a move that stirred quite the uproar since it was considered one of the city’s interbellum architecture gems and a symbol of the labour movement – Ghent still being a socialist stronghold.

On the first night of the city’s annual Gentse Feesten in 2009, activists even occupied the listed monument to protest it against the real estate group’s plans to convert it into student housing units.

Those activists’ fears have since been proven unnecessary.

While the theatre has indeed had to make way for student housing, the stately facade was kept intact. Inside, all the original features have either been preserved or restored.

“Each move was discussed with the city department of monument conservation,” says hostel manager Ellen Vanasten, sitting behind one of the entrance hall’s picturesque counter windows. “The colours of the paint, even the painting technique, was chosen based on how historians think this building looked in the 1930s. It might sound absurd, but it does guarantee you are walking into a piece of history.”

The building’s storied past is certainly being put to good use by hostel staff. “We are bringing history to life,” says Vanasten, 38.

Travellers can, for instance, find radiators covered with photos taken in the 1930s, while the entrance hall and bar are stacked with newspapers and books. Walls in the corridors show large black-and-white pictures of the printing presses. Taken together, Vanasten says, they constantly remind guests of the original function of the building.

“Each room also sports the name of an international newspaper, starting with Flemish newspaper De Morgen. Why? De Morgen was born here, as the successor of newspaper Vooruit.”

In addition, staff do everything they can to introduce travellers to modern-day Ghent. “This place is open to everyone,” the hostel manager explains. “Our bar is open from eight in the morning until late at night. With regular concerts, game nights, dance lessons and cooking sessions, we attract travellers and locals alike, so young people from all over the world get to meet our locals. That’s when real discoveries take place.”

© Photos: Luc Roymans

The Backstay building has been renovated to look like it did in the 1930s, and a blog room has been added inside the once-empty narrow tower

Rooms at the Backstay are brightly coloured if frugally equipped. They just about fulfil the needs of modern travellers: clean linen, night lamps, enough electric sockets to recharge a plenitude of gadgets and large lockers to store oversized backpacks.

And, of course, most hostel-dwellers spend little time in their rooms. The rates range from €19 for a bunk bed in a 15-person dorm to €72 for a private room with a double bed, breakfast included.

While most rooms at the Backstay are hidden behind the facade’s famous stained-glass curtain, the remarkable glass column towering over the building has been put to use for the first time in the its history.

Though art-deco architect Fernand Brunfaut designed the tower to symbolise the enlightenment of the spirits, it has only ever functioned as a dusty dovecot. Until last year, that is, when the hostel turned the top of the column into a writer’s den where travellers – surrounded by countless posters of famous literary quotes – can work on typewriters or computers to express their deepest thoughts.

Flemish model front and centre at New York Fashion Week Flemish model Ine Neefs made a big splash on Tuesday night at New York Fashion Week during the most talked-about show of the world-famous event: the Oscar de la Renta catwalk show. With de la Renta’s favourite runway model in the front row (next to US popstar Taylor Swift), Neefs both opened and closed the show.

De la Renta died last year, but his successor, British designer Peter Copping, took up the reigns

to complete the new line, which was full of both smart daily wear and colourful, red carpet-worthy gowns with a youthful touch.

Neefs’ first look was a black “cashgora” (mix of cashmere and angora) coat over a turtleneck ivory dress, cut just about the knee. Her final look was a short, sleeveless party-girl dress, accented with long, pink gloves (pictured).

At 19, Neefs has not only become one of the de

la Renta house’s most popular catwalk models, she has also worked for Chanel, Valentino and Dior. She currently features in a new campaign for Zara. Hailing from Wuustwezel in northern Antwerp province, Neefs was discovered on the street in Antwerp when she was 16 by a representative from the Dominique Models agency. \ Lisa Bradshaw © Fairchild Photo Service/ Condé Nast/Corbis

\ 11

WASHINGTON With smooth connections to more than 50 US destinations. brusselsairlines.com

or at your travel agency.

WE GO THE EXTRA SMILE.

The Bulletin and ING Belgium invite you to a seminar on

ProPerty today •

•

•

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March 11, 2015

Alexis Lemmerling,

(nearest subway station: Trône)

Domoxim Real Estate, “The ten mistakes to avoid in property” Berquin Notaries, “The new legislative environment”

Dave Deruytter,

ING Head Office - Marnix. Entrance via Rue du Trône, 1 – 1000 Brussels • Registration: 17:30 • Presentations at 18:00 sharp • End by: 21:00

Head of Expatriates and Nonresidents, Privilegio, ING Bank-Belgium, “ How to finance and insure?

How about taxation?”

Vastgoed - Immo -Real Estate

Free entry • Register before March 9 at www.thebulletin.be/realestate

\ ARTS

february 25, 2015

Temporary tranquillity

Antwerp illustrator Ephameron creates a mesmerising account of her father’s dementia Rebecca Benoot More articles by Rebecca \ flanderstoday.eu

WWW.EPHAMERON.COM

W

ij twee samen (The Two of Us Together) isn’t just the title of Eva Cardon’s new novel. They are also the last audible words that her father, a former art history professor, has ever uttered.

In her new graphic novel, Cardon, known by her artist name Ephameron, depicts his decline as she sees him fall victim to primary progressive aphasia, a rare form of dementia that targets language and orientation.

“My father was diagnosed about 10 years ago,” she says, “and this book is about his turmoil and about us, his family, who take care of him. Mostly it deals with what we feel and experience and how he perceives the world, which is slowly coming to a halt.”

Most of Ephameron’s work has been somewhat autobiographical, so it was obvious to her that one day she would produce something reflecting this ordeal. “In a review of my previous book, Weg (Gone), someone said it was a shame that I hadn’t written it myself, as I only did the illustrations,” she says.

That made me consider what I could write about.

“My father had been ill for some time then, and I was busy collecting photographs of him, so he became a great source of inspiration. Initially I thought it would take me a year, but ultimately it took me five years to complete Wij twee samen.”

Ephameron (pictured), whose nom de plume was loosely inspired by the word ephemeral, is intrigued by life’s temporary and transient state of affairs. It is a theme that surfaces in all her work as well as her methods, collage being her

writing a literary text before, so I started by writing down memories and then deleting many of them. I didn’t want it to become a ‘dear diary’ kind of novel. I tried to boil it down to its essence, and that’s how I found my style. The text ultimately also becomes a part of the illustrations.”

opus. “It was such an emotionally draining experience,” she explains. “The whole process of turning these drawings and collages into an actual book was quite an endeavour as well, but worth it in the end.”

Just like Tom Lanoye, who wrote about his mother’s deteriora-

I wanted to confuse the readers, to make them feel what my father feels

© Patrick De Roo/ImageDesk

preferred technique. “I’ve always loved collage,” she says, “and I prefer using perishable material such as paper and tape. In this case especially, it adds a certain depth to the story.”

Her previous illustrations in books are known for their vulner-

ability, unique composition and haunting tranquillity. Green, grey, brown, black and white are the dominant colours, creating a natural but delicate vibe.

“It was difficult in the beginning to get started,” she admits. “I love language, but I’d never tried

In all her work, Ephameron challenges her readers to draw their own conclusions, casually guiding them through a maze of intimate images and wafting words.

“In the first draft, I worked with text balloons,” she says, “but they seemed redundant, so I started erasing all the dialogue and added my own thoughts and feelings, those of my father and several bits from his diary.

“I consider my work art rather than a comic. Like with conceptual art, you have to look further than what you see in front of you; there’s this extra layer of reality.

And in this case, I also wanted to confuse the readers, to make them feel what my father felt.”

In the end, Ephameron lures the reader in to explore the multitude of emotions and voices behind this deceptively simple account of loss, longing and life.

Her father is still battling this disease, but after years of chronicling and care, she was tired and decided to conclude her magnum

tion after a stroke in Sprakeloos (Speechless), or Judith Vanistendael, who created an account of her father’s battle with cancer, Ephameron created this novel not simply as a quintessential part of her oeuvre but also as an ode to a beloved relative. And, last but not least, because it might help others, illustrating that you’re not alone in the struggle against mortality.

Haunting, harrowing and humane, Wij twee samen is a multi-layered graphic novel that will make you ponder the essence of both language and life. Its poignancy and powerful images create an air of recognition and reassurance in the otherwise troubled terrain of the human mind. It’s a delicate profound deep narrative that depicts the cataclysmic repercussions of dementia.

Wij twee samen is published by Oogachtend. An exhibition of images from the book runs until 20 March at Sint-Lukas Antwerpen

Fresh fiction Panter (Panther) Brecht Evens • Oogachtend The story of Brecht Evens’ third, glorious graphic novel is quite simple. Kristientje, a lively little girl, loses her cat. She is devastated, but, later that day, a panther crawls out of her wardrobe, and the duo soon become the best of friends, talking for hours on end. It may seem childish at first, but there’s a lot more than meets the eye, as darkness soon descends. The illustrations are vibrant and wild, the emotions deep and occasionally shocking; Panter is a true gem.

Toewijdingen (Dedications) Bernard Dewulf • Atlas Former Antwerp city poet Bernard Dewulf has been writing about art for 20 years.

Published in various magazines and newspapers, his work made art – its function

and the way it makes us feel – accessible to the masses. Now all these columns and ponderings have all been collected in a comprehensive book in which he occasionally combines well-known paintings with his own poetry. An interesting look at the interplay between language and representation.

triangle with siblings Jasper and Kristien.

What was once love quickly turned into something very nasty. But how did things go so horribly wrong? Choices, identity and the hidden realms of the human psyche flourish in this perfect page-turner.

Caravantis Liefde bij wijze van spreken (Love, So to Speak) Yves Petry • De Bezige Bij After winning the Libris Prize for Literature in 2011 for his sensational account of a cannibal in De maagd Marino (The Virgin Marino), author Yves Petry returns with a dark and intense work that proves once and for all that he is one of Flanders’ finest storytellers. Alex Jespers, former A-list novelist, is trying to come to terms with the past – a past in which he was part of a love

Frank Albers • De Bezige Bij In his latest novel, professor and essayist Frank Albers writes about the fictional republic of Caravantis, a once revolutionary experiment now on the brink of annihilation. Jakob, an American journalist, travels there to make a documentary and meets Suzanne, who takes him behind the scenes of the crumbling land. Jakob will soon discover the blackened core of this once wonderful nation. Albers has written a political allegory that asks a lot of questions but never quite hits its mark.

\ 13

\ ARTS

week in arts & CULTURE Caviar film wins grand prize at Berlin The Diary of a Teenage Girl, the first feature film produced by the Los Angeles branch of the Brussels-based Caviar production house, has won the Grand Prize from the 14plus international jury at the Berlin Film Festival.

The Flemish film and television production company opened its LA location on Sunset Boulevard just over a year ago. Other projects in the pipeline include remakes of the hit Flemish TV series Clan and the 2010 movie Smoorverliefd (Madly in Love). The Diary of a Teenage Girl is based on a graphic novel about a teenage artist in 1970s San Francisco who gets involved with her mother’s boyfriend. It opens in Belgium this summer. \ WWW.CAVIARCONTENT.COM

De Keersmaeker wins Austrian Cross of Honour Contemporary dance legend Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker is receiving the Cross of Honour for Science and Arts in Vienna today, which will be given to her by the Austrian minister for arts and culture, Josef Ostermayer. De Keersmaeker and the Rosas dance company have a longrunning relationship with Austria, including 25 choreographies for ImPulsTanz, Vienna’s international dance festival. De Keersmaeker received the award of Golden Order of Merit from Vienna in 2011. The award citation refers to the Flemish choreographer as “one of the most influential choreographers of our time,” renowned for her “exceptional sensitivity for the relationship between movement and music”. \ WWW.ROSAS.BE

New info board on Van Gogh in Brussels The City of Brussels has installed an informational board on Sint-Katelijneplein about Vincent Van Gogh’s time spent in the city in 1878.

It was in fact in Belgium that Van Gogh became determined to follow a path in the arts, when his religious studies here proved to be just as unsuccessful as they had been in his Dutch homeland. Van Gogh stayed on the west side of Sint-Katelijneplein in the residences of the Reformed Protestants.

He studied there for three months before being placed with a preacher in Colfontaine in Wallonia, where he soon decided to pursue painting.

\ 14

Adventurous cinema Awesomely insane sports on view at Banff Mountain Film Festival Lisa Bradshaw Follow Lisa on Twitter \ @lmbsie

WWW.BANFF.BE

F

ull disclosure: I am not exactly a person who is into extreme sports. I gave up skiing when I got too cold. I get winded hiking uphill. I don’t really like boarding an airplane let alone “speed riding” above craggy rock cliffs.

So imagine my surprise when I found myself getting into the movies that make up the Banff Mountain Film Festival. To be honest, the title had me fooled: I thought I was going to see nice nature films about mountain climates, flora and fauna.

It quickly became apparent that this festival, though, wasn’t about discovering the forces of nature as much as about challenging the forces of nature. Californian Faith Dickey, who makes it her business to string narrow straps across mountaintops and then cross them on her bare feet, says in the film Wild Women that “people who don’t participate in those types of activities just think we’re crazy”.

After spending your evening at Banff, you might be hard-pressed to disagree with those people.

Take the aforementioned speed riding. This is an activity that combines paragliding – free flying around in a harness attached to a giant wing made of fabric – with skiing. As seen in The Unrideables: Alaska Range (pictured), enthusiasts hurl themselves over the sides of snowy mountains and paraglide around on the wind, occasionally touching down to ski until the wind picks them back

Prepare to be amazed at what humans dare to do during the Banff Mountain Film Festival

up and they go flying hundreds of metres further before touching down again. These are no ski slopes, mind you, this is pure wilderness.

You’ll also see a short film featuring a famous paraglider who sails over gorgeous southern countries, expertly controlling his height so he can whip his foot through your rooftop swimming pool or land – I kid you not – on a moving busload of tourists.

You can imagine that one need not be an extreme sportsperson in order to have a lot of fun with these short movies. “The most important thing about this festival is that people get inspired by the wonderful adventures, good stories and beautiful land-

scapes,” confirms Patrick Toby, who began organising the festival six years ago. “There are climbers and hikers who come but also just people who enjoy three hours of fantastic stories. After six years, I’m convinced: People are really intoxicated by this festival.”

More and more people come every year, and Banff has expanded from its original home in Brussels to several other stops across Belgium, including Antwerp and Ghent. Toby, whose company Cap Mundo brings adventurers and explorers to give talks in Brussels and also sponsors the annual Ocean Film Festival, was once

3-24 March

himself a paraglider. “I’m also a traveller. I’ve been across the Amazon, and I crossed India by motorcycle.”

When he discovered six years ago that the Banff Mountain Film Festival in Canada was accepting applications for cities to host its world tour, he applied to host it in Brussels. Each sponsor chooses a handful of films that screen at the original Banff that they want to show in their own cities. The whole festival takes place in one long evening. All the films are either segments from longer films or shorts in their own right.

Other highlights of the festival are The Ridge, featuring a man who takes the term “mountain bike” very, very seriously, and And Then We Swam, which is the one that will probably appeal most to the masses of the less adventuresome. British blokes James and Ben decide they are going to row across the Indian Ocean. Not only are James and Ben not remotely athletic, they have never rowed in their lives.

Aside from featuring the kind of everyman heroes audiences love to cheer for, the movie is amusing in a way the others are not. “A lot of people looked at us and genuinely thought there was no way that we could do it,” notes one of the men. “Because they know us.”

The title of the film provides a clue as to the ultimate outcome of the endeavour.

Across Belgium

Antwerp artist Vanriet explores what it means to be human WWW.ROBERTOPOLOGALLERY.COM

The exhibition Losing Face by Antwerp contemporary painter and poet Jan Vanriet, earlier on view at Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen, will end at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Centre in Moscow. The event reached the international press when Vladimir Putin showed up at opening night, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Vanriet’s confronting yet subtle portraits, all of Jewish and Roma deportees leaving for Auschwitz from the Dossin Barracks, work on different levels. They not only make people who were considered numbers real, they are also reminiscent of how Vanriet’s very personal, almost autobiographical art is often influenced by the memory of history. His parents, uncle and grandmother were all deported because of their involvement in the Belgian resistance.

His mother and father met in the

Mauthausen concentration camp.

The moving portraits, based on mug shots from Dossin’s photographic archives, were created between 2009 and 2012. What the artist painted afterwards is now on view at the Roberto Polo Gallery in Brussels.

The 40-odd oil paintings shown in the exhibition Vanity emphasise Vanriet’s wide range of work. In the accompanying book, by British art critic Charlotte Mullins, there are more than 100 paintings chaperoned by poems, songs, sketches and watercolours, presenting a wider understanding of the Flemish artist’s motives.

The poem he wrote last year as a companion to the painting “Bracelet” (pictured) is especially revealing: ‘Links around her wrist / the gold carat gleam // Rudi Schuricke singing / Komm zurück / Komm zurück // and the gypsy’s / roving violin / a lark warbling / black eyes, fiery eyes / you ruined me // Matinee at Billiard Palace: / above our heads / a gilt spider chandelier / and my mother and I / we desire nothing more / than magic and lemonade.

Vanriet’s mother died shortly before he painted “Bracelet”.

Mullins explains in the prologue of her book: “The bracelet is … an embodiment of her … its shiny golden surfaces reminiscent of the polished brass fittings in the theatre, which they frequented together when he was a young

Until 19 April

child.”

Vanriet described “Bracelet” introverted and controlled. The “Salted Meat” paintings you see when you enter the gallery are anything but. Mullins says they are a metaphor for the body, “paring down all human suffering, and yet remaining full of energy”. The biggest one refers to Ensor’s grandeur and political stance. Think social struggle.

These new oil paintings talk about the past, the present and the future. Divided into nine series, Vanriet explores what it means to be a painter, but more profoundly what it means to be human. \ Tom Peeters

Vanriet | Vanity by Charlotte Mullins is published by Uitgeverij Lannoo

Roberto Polo Gallery

Lebeaustraat 8-12, Brussels

\ AGENDA

february 25, 2015

When only the best will do

CONCERT

Silver: Art | Object | Story Until 12 July

C

an you imagine being the primus, the student with the highest score in your faculty in the 17th or 18th century? Well, if you had been studying at the University of Leuven, you would have remembered.

Not only would your party have been one of the highlights of the year for your fellow students and the academics, your entire home town would have celebrated your result with loads of drinks and, yes, silverware.

That’s just one of the stories revealed in the exhibition Silver: Art | Object | Story in Leuven’s M Museum. You’ll find silver objects made over the last five centu-

Brussels

M Museum, Leuven WWW.MLEUVEN.BE

ries in Leuven and Brabant and historical facts (as well as more profane background information) about the town’s first silversmiths and the tableware commissioned by the city, her citizens, guilds, university, churches and abbeys.

The museum exhibits for the first time an impressive collection of silver cups awarded to primi from cities such as Mons, Breda, Bruges, The Hague and Maastricht, all very eager to organise feasts for their smartest citizen. Acclaimed Dutch craftsman Cornelis Van Dijck spent a whole month making the silver cup the city of Delft commissioned for primus Gerard van Loon in 1723.

The collision between the city’s silver heritage and its current role as a drinking capital is further emphasised by a number of silver chalices, used in liturgy. The unique and very elegant Renaissance windmill cup, the oldest of its kind from the Southern Netherlands, is on loan from the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum and shows drinking games were also popular among the

bourgeoisie.

Don’t skip the very last room, where you you find luxurious and colourful Art Deco designs by silversmith Dom Martin (1889-1965), a monk at the local Keizersberg Abbey.

He is known for combining silver with other materials, such as opal, ivory and wood, attracting customers from both the royal palace and the US. \

PERFORMANCE

Chantal Acda All Star Big Band

Sounds and Lights of Greece

Chantal Acda performs with a little help from her friends. The Antwerp-based pop/rock singer’s latest album may be a solo effort, but she is not alone. After a decade of paying dues in projects like Sleepingdog, Isbells and True Bypass, Acda’s Rolodex is

De studio, Antwerp www.destudio.com

brimming with the names and numbers of Flanders’ top rockers.

Now she’s calling in a favour, inviting members of dEUS, DAAU and Marble Sounds on stage for one night only. \ Georgio Valentino

1 March, 15.30 The recent debt crisis has made Greece an object of either pity or scorn. But nobody should forget that the tiny Mediterranean country has already given the rest of Europe so much. After all, it’s the cradle of classical democracy, Orthodox Christianity and good eats. This sound-and-vision

\.www.abconcerts.be

CLASSICAL

Bozar, Brussels www.bozar.be

spectacle celebrates Greek folk culture with panache. A family of bouzouki-strumming Greeks provide the soundtrack, while dancers from Brussels and Paris demonstrate traditional steps from Thessaloniki in the north to Kalamata in the south. \ GV

get ti

Brussels

ckets

now

Russian Festival: The Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra presents three great Russian works, including the fairy-tale opera Ruslan and Lyudmila

by Mikhail Glinka, Rachmaninoff ’s Piano Concerto No 2 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 4. 3 April 20.00, Royal Conservatory, Regentstraat 30 \ www.bpho.be

Tom Peeters

CONCERT 28 February, 20.30

Guido Belcanto: The Flemish singer performs songs from his new album Cavalier Seul, a mix swing, melancholy, romance and rock’n’roll.

27 February 20.00, Ancienne Belgique, Anspachlaan 110

Five Years of Solidarity: Clarinettist Géraldine Fastré performs works by Mozart and Beethoven, with proceeds going to a development project in support of hospitals and training centres for nurses and midwives in Togo, West Africa. 27 February 20.00, W:Halll, Charles Thielemanslaan 93 \ www.bpho.be

VISUAL ARTS Brussels Gao Xingjian: Retrospective of the Nobel Prize-winning author, playwright, filmmaker and contemporary artist whose work is devoted to the free exploration of a stream of consciousness through the movement of ink on paper.

26 February to 31 March, Museum van Elsene, Jean Van Volsemstraat 71 \ www.museumvanelsene.be

FAMILY

VISUAL ARTS

EVENT

Chagall Retrospective

Folk Ball

28 February to 28 June

Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels

28 February, 20.00

www.expo-chagall.be

A Gaelic hootenanny is brewing in deepest Flanders. This folk ball recreates the atmosphere of the rural Irish tavern of yesteryear, where hardworking villagers convened periodically to forget their collective troubles with the aid of song, dance and drink.

Traditional dance collective Ol da Folk (pictured) demonstrates the appropriate moves before Bruges

Twentieth-century painter Marc Chagall is lauded for marrying the internationalist avant-garde of St Petersburg, Berlin and Paris with the Jewish folk culture of his rural hometown in Russia, and creating something entirely new in the process. Brussels’ Royal Museum of Fine Arts holds six of the ground-breaking modernist’s works in its permanent collection.

Not bad. This retrospective, which pools Chagalls from 20 worldclass institutions, augments that number with 194 pieces spanning the breadth of the painter’s career, from early days in pre-Revolution Russia to his death in Paris in 1985 (with two World Wars in between).

Turnhout

Het Anker, Bruges www.de-kade.org

folk band Malahide perform a jaunty set of authentic Scottish and Irish folk songs. If that’s not enough, there’s whiskey a-plenty and Irish burgers for the famished.

Proceeds benefit local non-profit De Kade and its games library, which is an indispensable educational and therapeutic resource for many in the community. \ GV

Aromagic: Children’s theatre group Laika presents the pilot for a new television programme about food and flavours, including tastings and magic tricks (ages 8 and up; in Dutch). 26 February to 1 March, De Warande, Warandestraat 42 www.laika.be

LITERATURE Brussels Ben Okri: One of Nigeria’s most influential authors talks about his literary work in conjunction with the screening of N: The Madness of Reason by Flemish director Peter Krüger, for which he wrote the screenplay (in English). 4 March 19.00, Bozar, Ravensteinstraat 23 \ www.bozar.be

\ GV © Sabam

\ 15

\ BACKPAGE

february 25, 2015

Talking Dutch I want to ride my bicycle Derek Blyth More articles by Derek \ flanderstoday.eu

HTTP://TINYURL.COM/BIKE-JUNGLE

I

t has to be said that Brussels is not the most bicycle-friendly city in the world. Sometimes it almost seems as if the city wants to put you off cycling. Wie in Brussel regelmatig de fiets neemt kan spontaan een handvol absurde en gevaarlijke situaties opsommen – Anyone who cycles regularly in Brussels can readily tell you about all the absurd and dangerous situations, reports the website brusselnieuws.be.

Now you can share these urban horrors with your Facebook friends, the website explains. Het hilarische filmpje ‘Brussels’ Bike Jungle’ maakt die lijdensweg van Brusselse fietsers nu wel erg aanschouwelijk – The hilarious video Brussels’ Bike Jungle (pictured) now shows just what the city’s suffering cyclists have to endure.

Paaltjes midden op het fietspad – Posts in the middle of the cycle lane. Een verkeerslicht midden op het fietspad, een boom midden op een fietspad, een hek midden op een fietspad – A traffic light in the middle of the cycle lane, a tree in the middle of the cycle lane, a fence in the middle of the cycle lane.

The cyclist Bastien De Zutter made his funny little video in the style of a slapstick movie. In de video zoekt hij een hele reeks pijnpunten – He tracks down several “sore spots” in the video. De kijker ziet Bastien dan ook keer op keer tegen de grond gaan – The viewer sees Bastien falling off his bike, again and again.

“Het idee voor het filmpje is ontstaan uit onze dagelijkse ervaring op de fiets” – “The idea for the film came out of our everyday experience cycling in the city,” De Zutter told brusselnieuws.be. “We hebben een longlist gemaakt met een twintigtal pijnpunten in Brussel”

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Davy Kestens @davykestens #BEStartupManifesto We need a direct flight between Brussels & San Francisco. Come on @FlyingBrussels!! I have like 500k miles AMS-SFO…

– “We made a longlist of 20 dangerous situations in Brussels.” “We pakken het ludiek aan” – “We take the subject on playfully.”

Poor Bastien comes flying off his bicycle on numerous occasions. “Ik heb er wel serieuze blauwe plekken aan overgehouden” – “I ended up with some serious bruises,” he admits.

But what about the bike? De makers van het filmpje kregen een fiets cadeau van fietsenherstellingswinkel Velosofiets in Vorst – The filmmakers were given a free bike by the Velosofiets bike repair workshop in Vorst.

Aan het eind van het filmpje blijft er van die fiets niet veel over – By the end of the filming, there wasn’t much left of the bike.

Or, to be honest, of Brussels’ claim to be a bike-friendly city.

Tweet us your thoughts @FlandersToday

Andy Kirk @visualisingdata Heading back after a splendid long weekend break in Belgium: Bruges is lovely, Ghent is ace. Frites. Chocolate. Beer.

Alison Rose @alisonrosefco Four magical moments in Antwerp: station, crocuses, snowdrops and clarinettist by Sint Carolus Borromeus.

Jim Manico @manicode Made landing at @SecAppDev in Leuven, Belgium. Let’s get readdddy to write secure code. ;) Aloha!

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the last word

Do you think that retail shops and supermarkets in Belgium should be allowed to remain open until 22.00? a. Why not? If shop owners see a market, let them keep the doors open

60% b. No, but until 21.00 would be OK. That’s currently the limit at weekends, so that would make it uniform across the week

13% c. No. Longer hours come at a cost to workers and their families. No-one should be forced to work just so you can shop at night

27% after work.

Belgium, some of you commented on our Facebook page, has not adapted with the times, still putting up the closed sign at 18.00, which made more sense in the days when fewer women worked full time.

Critics of the idea, though, point out that the market’s interests do

not necessarily coincide with the people who will have to put the measure into operation – shop staff. Indeed, like in those other countries, workers would be expected to work nights, giving up their own evenings for the sake of our convenience.

\ Next week's question: The government of Flanders is split over the question of indexation of rents while skipping the indexation of wages (see p4). What do you think?

Log on to the Flanders Today website at www.flanderstoday.eu and click on VOTE!

\ 16

In response to: Industry lukewarm on shops being open late Nicola Mills Don’t do it. We don’t need more shopping time. People shop enough as it is.

In response to: Bite: heavenly cod Pedro Anselmo Does anyone know where to find hake here in Brussels?

Poll

Flemish political party Open VLD has proposed allowing shops to stay open later in the evening, and you agree, voting convincingly in favour of letting the market decide.

Many of you possibly come from countries where this is already the norm, while others might just want to have the flexibility to shop for groceries – or shoes – at ease

VoiceS of flanders today

Spreek je Engels?

Upset stomachs

“We have to replace 16 professors. That’s dramatic. This rule is an example of … over-zealous bureaucracy.”

“The rotten apples give the street a bad name, but let’s not forget that some of the restaurants in the Beenhouwersstraat do a great job.”

Didier Pollefeyt, vice rector of the University of Leuven, on the institutions 10% failure rate on the English proficiency test for lecturers teaching in the language

Terminally frustrated “We were given no information, no water, no blankets, nothing.

The only thing we got was news that our flight was delayed yet again.”

Passengers of a Jetair flight from Miami to Brussels, among them Björn Van Bunder from East Flanders, finally took off 44 hours behind schedule at the weekend

Marc Van Muylders of the Brussels restaurant federation, after a poll of tourists showed subterranean scores for the businesses in Brussels’ (in) famous restaurant street

Damaging diets “We’ve noticed that one in five children who end up in hospital are in a poor nutritional state.

Most need to lose weight, but the opposite can also be true: a sort of malnourishment through an unbalanced diet.”

Dr Yves Vandenplas, head of paediatrics at Brussels University Hospital

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