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august 12, 2015 \ newsweekly - € 0,75 \ rEad morE at www.flandErstoday.Eu currEnt affairs \ P2

Politics \ P4

Jobs & gender

BusinEss \ P6

innovation \ P7

sporting chances

The Brussels-Capital Region is trying to convince young people and the job market to look beyond gender stereotypes in employment

VUB’s Sport & Society research group is taking a scientific look at the benefits of sport way beyond individual health

Education \ P9

art & living \ P10

ancient traditions

Trees and chapels sport pieces of cloth hung by those hoping to heal, the latest tale in our series on Secret Flanders \ 11

A new frontier

medical cannabis plantation offers new perspectives to patients in flanders andy furniere More articles by andy \ flanderstoday.eu

In June, public health minister Maggie De Block signed a royal decree that legalised the sale of cannabisbased medication. Though the move has been hailed as a milestone, local patient associations say the new law leaves many patients out in the cold. Three organisations in Flanders have now joined forces to offer patients more pain relief options – even if that means operating in a legal grey area.

he Belgian legislation on cannabis use is fairly complex. In 2005, the federal government issued ministerial guidelines that effectively allowed adults to possess a maximum of 3g of cannabis, or one single plant, for personal use only. While such possession was still illegal under the law, prosecution of cannabis users was given the lowest priority. To make things more confusing, local municipal administrations can change the rules to their liking. This was illus-

trated two years ago, when the City of Antwerp adopted a “zero-tolerance” policy that allowed police to hand out on-the-spot fines of €75 to users they caught with less than 3g. At the start of 2014, in the run-up to the elections, the youth divisions of Flemish liberal party Open VLD and socialist party SP.A called for the legalisation of cannabis. But the new government didn’t heed their call. Instead, its coalition agreement emphasised that the use of cannabis in public spaces would not be tolerated. In June, public health minister De Block did legalise one cannabis-based product: Sativex, a mouth spray made by the British company GW Pharmaceuticals that can be prescribed to people with MS who suffer from stiff muscles and spasms, known as spasticity. De Block has also said she will continue following up on research into cannabisbased medicines with a view to possibly legalising them in the future. The news of the sudden legislation change and the gap it

left inspired two Flemings to set up non-profit organisations. Pieter Geens from Nossegem, Flemish Brabant, established Medcan to raise awareness about medical marijuana among patients, doctors and lawmakers, while Guy Hofman from Lier founded the Medical Cannabis Club (MCC), which aims to cultivate cannabis plants for medicinal use according to the highest quality and health standards. The associations work closely together. Geens and Hofman got in touch with Dominique van Gruisen, from Maasmechelen in Limburg. He’s the founder of the Home-Grown Cannabis Academy (HGC), a local consulting company that provides advice on cultivating cannabis. In the past, it has assisted a US pharmaceutical company with its medicinal cannabis production, for example. The three teamed up to create a strict system to safely provide more patients with medical cannabis. Patients who wish to obtain medicinal marijuana must first register for free at Medcan, which helps them find a doctor continued on page 5

\ CuRRent aFFaIRs

Commission gives OK for drones

Belgium’s mobility minister will create a legal framework for commercial use alan Hope Follow alan on twitter \ @alanHopeFt

he Privacy Commission has given a positive advice to a proposal by federal mobility minister Jacqueline Galant to create a legal framework for the commercial use of drones. Flemish mobility minister Ben Weyts described the rules as “too strict” and proposed broader limits. The government has introduced rules to govern the growing use of drones, especially for commercial purposes, including photography, remote sensing and cartography. Despite the fact that up to 2,000 drones are sold every month in Belgium, the laws dated back to 1954 and were intended to cover model aeroplanes. Under the new rules, drones may only be flown by members of the public on the owner’s own property, at a height no greater than 30m. Professional users can only fly outside the vicinity of an airfield, and no higher than 91m, but require a licence gained

after medical examination and theory and practical tests. The airspace over 150m is reserved for manned aircraft.

Case files of children in care left in abandoned building Hundreds of case files containing personal information on children who were placed in the former children’s home Den Heuvel in Leopoldsburg in Limburg have been found abandoned, strewn by vandals inside the dining room of the establishment, which is now abandoned. “This cannot be permitted,” said a spokesperson for the youth tribunal, which was responsible for committing children to the centre. The children attended a boarding school attached to Den Heuvel and lodged in the centre at weekends. “We will be informing the prosecutor,” he said.

Among the papers are sensitive reports, including names and photographs of children. On other pages are personal and private information about children and communications between staff at the centre and at the schools attached to the service. “These are very old working documents containing confidential information,” said Sarina Simenon, of the community education network GO. “Any files that are still important were taken when the centre moved to Lommel, and recent case files have been archived. The files in

question are older, and it was still to be decided whether they should be archived as well, or else professionally destroyed.” The fate of the building is to be decided in September, she said. “We wanted to make the building inaccessible, but that didn’t work out, and we’ve had a visit from vandals. The important thing now is that the documents have been taken by the tribunal, and therefore they’re safe and no longer likely to fall into the wrong hands.” \ AH

However, some professional users argue that while 91m is sufficient for most purposes, for others, such as agricultural surveying, a maximum of 150m is required. Weyts supports the 150m limit and argues that the licensing should be made more flexible to encourage young entrepreneurs to experiment with new ways of using drones. As Flemish minister, however, he has no binding say on the Galant proposals, which will go before parliament in the new session starting next month. The Privacy Commission had reservations over the use of drones for photography or filming, and the potential threat to privacy. However, it accepted that these concerns had been addressed in the legislation, in particular by making legal aspects a central part of the training for users.

Roman remains found on Tour & Taxis site

Workers at the Tour & Taxis site in Brussels have uncovered remains thought to date back to the second or third century CE, during the period of Roman occupation of what would later become the city of Brussels. The discovery is thought to be one of the most important finds in the city from the Roman period. The find was made on the site of the Herman Teirlinck building, which will later house administrative staff of the Flemish government. The works have been suspended and the archaeological department of the Brussels region has moved in. Six metres under the surface, work-

ers found a wooden fence along what would have been a tributary of the river Zenne. Since the water table is now only two metres deep, the wood of the fence was perfectly preserved. “This is an exceptional find for the history of the Brussels region,” said archaeologist Sylvaine Modrie. “Apart from a few isolated finds such as coins, construction materials and pottery, the only things that have been uncovered previously are agricultural settlements in Anderlecht, Jette and Laken. Thanks to this discovery, a new chapter of the Roman history of the region can now be written.” \ AH

Pieters Station, with its richly decorative wall tiles, as well as the remodelled Graslei and Gravensteen area of the centre. The heritage agency and the monuments department of the city have both issued a negative advice on the demolition, but their advice is not binding, and the city council declined to take it into account. The two campaigners have filed a motion to review the city’s decision and hope to win enough support from locals to get the

council to reconsider. They have also consulted the East Flanders planning department and written to minister-president Geert Bourgeois, whose portfolio also includes heritage. “This is the last remaining sign of the world expo that took place in Ghent,” De Zutter said. “Here in the neighbourhood, an unbelievable amount of heritage has already disappeared. We can’t let that happen again.” \ AH

Ghent to demolish last remnant of 1913 World Expo Ghent’s city council has decided to demolish the last remaining remnant of the Universal Exposition of 1913 – a red-brick building built specially for the occasion. But it can expect opposition. The building (pictured), which after the exhibition housed the Sint-Gerardus school in the vicinity of the university hospital, is the property of the Christ the King parish, which can no longer afford to maintain it. The school closed in 1983. The parish is supporting an

application for planning permission from Aldi, the supermarket chain, which wants to build two stores and apartments on the site. The city has agreed, but the decision is being contested by archi-

494

tect Evert Vandenberghe and historian Hannes De Zutter, who two years ago, on the school’s centenary, succeeded in having it listed as a heritage site. The Expo included not only purpose-built exhibits like the Modern Village but also influenced what was going on in other parts of the city. “The way the city looks today is in many ways the result of the urban planning developed in preparation for the expo,” De Zutter said. That includes Sint-

€10.9 million invested by the Brussels charity Spullenhulp, better known as Les Petits Riens, in a new sorting centre in Anderlecht to cope with the growing quantity of secondhand goods donated by the public – around 7,000 tonnes a year, mainly clothes

children got lost at the beach in Flanders during July, about 50 fewer than last year despite the good weather, according to the coastal lifeguard service. Ostend and Blankenberge had most cases: 136 and 108 respectively

25,052

2,99 6 bankruptcies in Flanders in the first seven months of the year, down from 3,210 in the same period last year, according to B-Information. The number of business failures in Brussels went up from 1,157 to 1,400

43,200

glasses have to be replaced in the course of a year by Café Belga on Flageyplein, brusselnieuws.be reports. The number includes 600 beer glasses a week

orders for an on-demand belbus were carried out in 2014 by a taxi, the Flemish public transport authority De Lijn said. The substitution cost De Lijn a total of €527,686. In 2013 the number was 27,258

august 12, 2015

WeeK in brief A federal court in Switzerland has definitively adjourned a criminal case in connection with the bus crash in in March 2012 in which 22 children from two Flemish schools were killed, as well as six adults, including the two drivers. A lower court had originally dropped all charges, but a number of the children’s parents pressed for an appeal. The higher court’s ruling cannot be appealed, and the case is now closed. Officially, the accident was caused by human error on the part of the driver, but no-one is legally culpable. The film Waste Land by Flemish director Pieter Van Hees has been nominated for 13 Ensors, the Flemish film industry awards. About a police detective (Jérémie Renier) caught up in a case that leads him to Brussels Congolese underground, the film is nominated for script and director, lead and supporting male and female actors and best film. Paradise Trips by Raf Reyntens, in cinemas next week, received nine nominations, including script, direction and lead actor for Gene Bervoets. Some 150 dairy farms have been blockaded by the federal food safety agency after bovine tuberculosis was discovered in Meeuwen, Limburg. The farms are thought to have had some connection with the Meeuwen farm, although cases elsewhere have yet to be discovered. The animals at Meeuwen, meanwhile, have had to be destroyed. Bovine TB can be transmitted to humans via raw milk, but authorities said the risk was minimal. The disease is devastating for other dairy herds, however. Police have warned of a LatinAmerican gang that preys on airport passengers during security checks, after €1,200 was stolen from a man’s wallet at Brussels Airport. The members of the gang,

face of flanders travelling on Mexican passports, buy cheap tickets and then, once arrived in the security zone, watch for expensive watches, phones or wallets in the plastic bins. When passengers go through security more slowly than their items, the thieves have time to rob the bins and move on before anyone notices. A fire that destroyed a former church in Ardooie, West Flanders, was set deliberately, investigators said. Fire services attended the blaze last week from five different stations. The building is the property of the municipality and had been turned into a cultural centre. “A sad loss,” said mayor Karlos Callens. Apples and pear growers in Flanders suffered a loss of €75 million last year as a result of the Russian boycott on EU agricultural products, according to an expert for farmers’ union Boerenbond. That represents a loss of 20%. “That’s not too bad, considering we were fearing a 35% loss at the outset,” said the union’s Luc Vanoirbeek. The reason losses were limited, he said, were increased consumption at home and in existing client countries, as well as success in finding new markets, including Canada and Asia. A project in Leuven to fight food waste has been restarted after two refrigerators in the Tweebronnen public library, placed there to make excess food available to those who need it, were stolen within half a day of being installed. The organisers obtained two new fridges, one from a similar project being run in Genk. The Carrefour hypermarket in the Brussels commune of Evere is experimenting with a single-line queue in an effort to speed up checkout. Shoppers form a single

offside ugly ducklings It seems a strange idea to celebrate the ugliest place in the country, but that’s what De Standaard is doing this summer, and they’re looking for your help. What is ugly? Well, the owner of the website Ugly Belgian Houses has made a book and his fortune in picking out some of the more adventurous examples of local architecture, some of which are downright ugly, others of which are simply ahead of their time. Perhaps the answer is the classic “I know it when I see it”. De Standaard is inviting nominations from readers for the ugliest place in Belgium, including photographic evidence if you have it. Some submissions are shoo-ins:

line and are called up to the first available checkout, instead of the usual jockeying for position in the best queue only to see every other line move faster. Customers tend to choose their lines according to visual factors such as number of people, explained spokesperson Baptiste Van Outryve. But that ignores other factors such as more items or a slower pace in paying. “The classic system offers no guarantee you’ll be served faster,” he said. The Hotel du Louvre, a distinctive Art Deco building in Ostend, is to be demolished despite protests from local groups, provincial authorities have ordered. The building, a former brewery converted into a hotel, has been vacant for years, but the owners of thenewbuilding whichwill replace it have a permit only on condition they respect the harmony of the surroundings in their new design. The red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) is the most common species of butterfly in the gardens of Flanders, according to a census carried out by members of the public for Natuurpunt. The butterfly measures 50 millimetres and is recognisable from its distinctive red, brown and black markings. It can often be seen feeding on nettles and ivy, as well as – aptly for Belgium – hop plants. The red admiral narrowly won the count ahead of the cabbage white (Pieris brassicae). Police in Brussels took advantage of the fine weather to write tickets for 57 motorcyclists who were stopped for not wearing regulation gear. That includes a helmet, gloves, long sleeves, trousers and boots that protect the ankles. They also caught two riders of mopeds whose vehicles could go faster than the 25 km/h limit and 16 Class B bikes with various irregularities.

standaard.BE/lEliJKBElgiE

the A12 at Boom, a long characterless exurb of chain stores and car showrooms; the surroundings of

the North station in Brussels that form an urban desert. Othersareintheeyeofthebeholder. The steel bridge over the Dijle in Mechelen has a certain mathematical charm; Vilvoorde station is run down but quite pretty in its essence; it seems unfair to choose Ninoofsepoort in Brussels, a major traffic junction that’s not any kind of beauty spot. If you have an idea of your own, go to the website and sign up. We don’t want ugliness here at Flanders Today, so we’re printing a photo of something once ugly turned into something pretty: a mural on a piece of waste ground in Schaarbeek that’s been turned into a little park. \ Alan Hope

goedele liekens Only a fool would try to predict what Goedele Liekens is going to get up to next. On the other hand, it’s a safe bet that whatever it is, somebody is going to be very upset. So it was last week in the UK, when the Flemish “sexpert” and former magazine publisher’s documentary Sex in Class aired on Channel Four, to the predictable apoplexy of some of the twitterati as well as the Daily Mail comments section. Her approach includes more explicit sex education from as younganageaspossible,encouraging school children to write about their ideal sexual encounter and challenging myths about pubic hair by making the boys in class shave theirs off. Goedele Maria Gertrude Liekens was born in Aarschot, Flemish Brabant, in 1963 and first made headlines when she won the Miss Belgium title in 1986. She then courted controversy at the subsequent Miss Universe contest when she refused to shake hands with General Manuel Noriega, then-head of Panama’s military regime. In 1989 the politically minded

beauty queen was snapped up by the newly created commercial channel VTM, having cut her TV teeth for Vara in the Netherlands. She first presented a quiz and a sketch show, both in the unlikely company of crude comedian Urbanus. She then turned to questions of family, relationships and sexuality in series such as the talk show Goedele, the debate show Recht op antwoord and the documentary series Sterke vrouwen (Strong Women). In 1999, she became a goodwill ambassador for the UN on sexual health. She has written a series of books on sex education and published the magazine Goedele from 2008 to 2011. Sex in Class also has its supporters: The Guardian called Liekens “a brilliant woman, a new hero … on a mission to put things right” with the poor state of British sex education. To that end, she’s drawn up a test that she’d like to see included in the GCSE curriculum with questions on topics such as sex duration and penis length, but also consent and contraception. \ Alan Hope

flanders today, a weekly English-language newspaper, is an initiative of the flemish region and is financially supported by the flemish authorities. 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 Mediahuis AdPro contriButors Rebecca Benoot, Bartosz Brzezi´nski, 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 Mediahuis 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

\ POlItICs

5th colUMn Francken theo

One of Flanders’ most beloved politicians is Maggie De Block (Open VLD). Her popularity built up unexpectedly, when the soft-spoken backbencher became secretary of state for migration and asylum in 2012. Migration and asylum are touchy and polarising issues. De Block made some tough decisions, refusing to grant permanent residency to a number of well-integrated young people who had lived in Belgium since they were children. This led to criticism, but the image that remained was one of “the politician who finally got the asylum crisis under control”. Under the previous government, the numbers of asylum seekers had risen so high that the government had to put some of them up in hotels – news of which only served to attract more. De Block brought an end to all of that. Like all other European countries, Belgium has not remained immune from the current migration crisis in the Mediterranean. And as the asylum numbers are again on the rise, another politician has taken over from De Block: N-VA’s Theo Francken. Last week, Francken had to take the unpleasant decision to open up temporary shelter for some 2,500 asylum seekers. “Offering every asylum seeker bed-bath-bread is a duty. Showing humanity in times of crisis,” he tweeted. Francken’s image is about the opposite of De Block’s. While Maggie, as she is commonly known, is much like everyone’s favourite jolly auntie, Francken is seen more as a political street fighter. “Francken Theo” in Dutch translates as “blunt Theo” and, indeed, Francken refuses to keep quiet about touchy topics. This was again the case last week when news broke that some asylum seekers were forced to spend a night in a Brussels park: “To say that these people are down and out is a caricature,” he said. “Many of them have spent €10,000 to get here. It is naive to believe they do not have €50 for a hotel.” Days later, he lashed out again, this time at Flemish daily De Morgen, which asked for an end to people drowning in the Mediterranean. On Twitter, he called the headline “cheap”: “Some people are prepared to take enormous risks. Is the West always to blame?” Francken’s reactions show just how tense he was in what may be the most important week of his career. Will it make him as popular as Maggie? \ Anja Otte

Theatremakers take to the sea to protest subsidy cuts sven gatz calls for talks on culture funding cuts for small groups alan Hope More articles by alan \ flanderstoday.eu

ome 250 theatre people – from directors to actors to stage hands – took to the sea at Ostend at the weekend to protest cuts in subsidies recently approved by Flemish culture minister Sven Gatz. The protest (pictured), organised by the group Hoogtijd and including those involved in the Ostend festival Theater aan Zee, is in opposition to Gatz’s decision to cut off subsidies for many small groups and institutions and to reduce subsidies for many others. Of the 129 groups that applied for subsidy and received a double-positive review from the advisory committee – one for their artistic project and one for their business plan – 79, or 61%, will

receive no subsidy at all. Of a total €3.15 million in subsidies recommended by the committee, Gatz will pay out only €1.34 million. The minister’s policy note stressed the importance of small, innovative companies in recruit-

ing new and young talent to artistic practices. In practice, however, the lion’s share of subsidies are going to the large cultural institutions, Hoogtijd said, to carry out for themselves the recruitment role once fill by the smaller artistic groups. Gatz has invited members of Hoogtijd for talks in September. Yves De Pauw of Hoogtijd said that he would be raising the issue not only of the subsidies, but also the lack of transparency surrounding the decision. The deadline for the next rounds of subsidies for the 2017-21 period is 1 October.

Ban on slaughtering animals without stunning stays in place

Data retention law allows tracking of email and phone records

Ben Weyts, the Flemish minister for animal welfare, has refused to lift a ban on slaughtering animals without first stunning them. The measure was being sought by Muslim organisations to allow them to celebrate the coming Feast of the Sacrifice, Eid al-Adha, by slaughtering animals at temporary facilities according to halal rules. The feast takes place this year at the end of September and the huge demand means temporary facilities have been set up. An estimated 40,000 sheep are expected to be slaughtered in Flanders for the occasion. The rules for ritual slaughter involve slitting the animal’s throat while it is conscious, a procedure which in Flanders is only allowed in licensed slaughterhouses, not in the temporary spots where most of the sheep will be killed. Some 48 Muslim organisations approached Weyts asking for the rules to be suspended for the occasion. In some parts of the region, such as Limburg, they argued, there are no slaughterhouses licensed for halal slaughter. In all of Flanders the capacity is only 25% of demand. Weyts pointed to European rules, which impose the same conditions, and argued that some EU countries ban slaughter without stunning outright. The Muslim organisations argued

A new law to allow the government to stock communications data has come in for criticism before it is even passed. It replaces a law that was declared void by the Constitutional Court in June. The data retention law allows the government to oblige telecommunications companies to store data on all electronic communications, including email and mobile phone data, for use in the event of an investigation into terrorism or serious crime. The data is what is known as metadata – the phone number and email address of the person contacted, the time and duration of the communication, but not the content of the message or discussion. The Constitutional Court struck the law down because it was too broad: the details of everyone’s communications were being stocked, not only those suspected of a crime. However, critics including lawyers have pointed out that this collection of data from everyone remains part of the new law. According to the government, no other way of working is viable. The new law was drawn up in record time by federal minister

a temporary slaughterhouse in Brussels during the Feast of the sacrifice

that the feast could be regarded as a cultural tradition and therefore be exempt from the rules. Weyts’ office made it clear the idea of ritual slaughter as a Flemish cultural tradition was “stretching an argument to breaking point”. “Complaining about a minister because he wants to enforce European rules in Flanders is too absurd for words,” said Ann De Greef, director of animal rights organisation Gaia. The process of electronarcosis – knocking an animal out by passing an electric current – is, according to Gaia, perfectly in line with both halal slaughter and EU rules. If the organisations would accept that process, De Greef said, “the whole problem would disappear atastroke,andtherewould be no problem of a shortage of capacity at licensed slaughterhouses”. \ AH

for justice Koen Geens, for digital agenda Alexander De Croo and for defence Steven Vandeput. It contains some notable differences from its predecessor. The authorities, for instance, may only resort to the stored metadata if there is no alternative avenue of investigation that is more privacy-friendly. Whereas the old law involved a storage period of one year for everything, the new version has different periods for different crimes. For crimes carrying a sentence of less than a year, no access to metadata is allowed. For one to five years, only the last six months of metadata can be consulted. The oneyear term still applies, but only to serious crimes with sentences of more than five years. Doctors, lawyers and journalists are excepted from storage, unless the subject is shown to be a serious threat, when the professional federation concerned can approve an exception to the protection of professional confidentiality. The telecommunications companies now have four months to respond, after which the Privacy Commission will be asked to issue an opinion. \ AH

Asylum seekers on streets is “a caricature,” says Francken Federal secretary of state for asylum and migration Theo Francken has described as “a caricature” reports that asylum seekers have been forced to sleep rough because of a lack of accommodation. “Many of these people pay more than €10,000 to come here,” he told VRT radio. “It’s naive to think they don’t have €50 for a hotel room.” Last week, it was reported that some asylum seekers had been forced to sleep outdoors because the Office

for Foreigners (DVZ) was unable to process the number of requests quickly enough. The DVZ normally provides accommodation on the same day as fingerprinting and an initial interview, but on Monday there were too many applicants to allow the DVZ to process everyone. About 50 people were sent away with a notice to return on Thursday. Many of those spent the night in a nearby park. Francken denied there was a problem. “There are

no asylum seekers sleeping on the streets,” he said. “There is accommodation for everyone.” Accommodation is about 90% occupied for the time being, but Belgium, like other EU countries, is facing an increase in the number of people seeking asylum. Some 12,000 refugees have applied for asylum in Belgium so far this year. Francken plans to create 2,000 to 3,000 extra spaces. “The fact that the demand for

asylum cannot be immediately handled by the service is of great concern,” said Charlotte Vandycke of the NGO Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen. “Theo Francken appears not to recognise the gravity of the situation.” Francken’s remarks were, she said, “beside the point”. “The point is whether the protection of these people is taken seriously, not how much or how little money they have in their pockets.” \ AH

\ COVeR stORy

august 12, 2015

A new frontier

mEdcanvZw.BE mcc-vZw.BE HgcacadEmy.com

flemish organisations team up to break taboo on medicinal marijuana continued from page 1

who can give them a prescription. Once they have the prescription, they can make an appointment for an intake interview with Hofman. If their case is approved, their doctor will again be consulted, and if the doctor agrees, the patients can pick up their personal cannabis plant at the MCC plantation. Patients can already buy marijuana plants in Belgium through non-profit Cannabis Social Clubs – like Trekt Uw Plant in Antwerp – but these don’t focus on offering medical cannabis. As a result, many patients have opted to travel to pharmacies in the Netherlands instead, where the legislation on medicinal cannabis is less strict. Medcan estimates that these trips to the Netherlands cost Flemish patients €360 on average.

according to Dominique van gruisen, increased production of medical cannabis would benefit not just patients, but society as a whole

There is widespread support for medically prescribed cannabis “We will provide cannabis that is 65% cheaper,” says van Gruisen. Cannabis from MCC’s plantation costs €6.5 a gram, which means a monthly cost of roughly €157. Since this still represents a high cost for most patients, Medcan and MCC are launching the Adopt a Patient crowdfunding campaign on 15 August. The goal is to collect €100,000, enough to help 100 patients. The new initiative should keep patients from experimenting with marijuana cultivation themselves or, worse, buying cannabis from local dealers, who could be amateurs or involved in criminal organisations. “By weakening these players, we reduce the nuisance they cause in the streets and help the police,” says van Gruisen. MCC staff are keeping the location of their plantation secret for fear of becoming the target of criminal organisations. They have informed the police and prosecutor’s office of their project, however. So far, 28 patients have requested the help of Medcan and MCC. “Most of our patients are suffering from cancer,” says Geens. Others have epilepsy, MS, fibromyalgia, tremors or chronic pain. Research has shown that patients with ALS, Tourette’s syndrome and Aids might also benefit from medicinal cannabis. “In most cases, cannabis will not

cure the disease, but it will improve patients’ quality of life considerably,” says van Gruisen. Van Gruisen saw the effect of medical cannabis first-hand when his grandfather, who had Parkinson’s, tried it. “He could hold a book without shaking and was able to concentrate again,” says van Gruisen. Cannabis similarly helped reduce the nausea bouts suffered by Geens’ father when he underwent chemotherapy for lung cancer. Geens himself uses medical cannabis to treat pains he developed following a severe motorbike accident five years ago. Six-year-old Sofie Voncken from Maasmechelen, who has a rare form of epilepsy, is one of the patients Medcan and MCC were able to help. She used to have some 50 “invisible” seizures a day, during which she just stared out blankly as if she was paralysed. Thanks to one drop of cannabis oil every day, Sofie now has just

a few seizures each week. Her parents say medicinal cannabis is the first product that has successfully treated her seizures. Since only adults can become Medcan members, Sofie’s father was the one to register with the club. The oil comes from a homeopathic doctor in the Netherlands. “Because she is able to concentrate and read again, Sofie can go back to school,” Hofman says. “We know we are operating in a grey area, but such successes for us confirm that we’re doing the right thing.” Still, cannabis offers no miracle treatment. It doesn’t work for every patient and doctors have warned about side effects like increased anxiety and deterioration of longterm memory. “It’s essential to create cannabis with a good balance between the substances THC and CBD,” says van Gruisen. THC is the substance with psychoactive properties that reduces pain and leads to

a high when present in elevated quantities. CBD mitigates THC’s psychoactive effects and has antiinflammatory, anti-tumoral, antipsychotic and relaxing properties. “We will adapt the kind of cannabis and the required doses specifically to the needs of patients, in consultation with doctors,” says van Gruisen. “Patients are also advised not to smoke cannabis in joints, but to use special vaporisers that help them consume the cannabis in a very controlled manner. This way, they can slowly increase their doses.” Seventeen doctors are currently collaborating with Medcan and MCC to offer patients medicinal marijuana, among them an oncologist and a neurologist. With their strict membership conditions and professional approach, the two founders hope to convince more doctors to participate. “Many are interested but afraid to develop a reputation as ‘cannabis doctor’,”

Geens explains. The two organisations also want to organise a meeting with organisations like the ALS League Belgium, to explain how medical cannabis can help patients, while the Foundation Against Cancer has already reached out to them for more information. Some of the marijuana plants at the MCC plantation will be used for research purposes. The initiative will also be evaluated by a team of researchers at Ghent University and the University of Leuven. This research project, which is being financed by the Flemish Fund for Scientific Research, is scheduled to start in October and end in 2018. It will also look at how Cannabis Social Clubs work. “This kind of in-depth, expensive research on medical cannabis is long overdue but a big step forward,” says van Gruisen. The three men behind Medcan, MCC and the HGC Academy are also hoping to meet with public health minister De Block. They say that, on the one hand, they are pleased with her careful, evidencebased policies. “We certainly don’t want cannabis to be abused to treat the slightest pain, like after you hit your toe,” says van Gruisen. “But it shouldn’t be treated as a last resort either, because it works better than many drugs now given at an earlier stage.” They also want the federal government to take a more progressive stance and to look at good practices abroad. In some 30 countries – among them the Netherlands, Switzerland, Israel, Canada and Germany – it is currently legal to buy several cannabis-based products in pharmacies. “I believe there is widespread support for medically prescribed cannabis among our population,” van Gruisen says. “Increased and more organised non-profit production of medical cannabis is not just good for patients but for society as a whole, as it can create more employment and reduce costs for the government.”

\ BusIness

WeeK in bUsiness air Brussels airport Unions representing security staff at Brussels Airport have called off further industrial action after “constructive talks” with airport management about new automatic security doors. The unions claim the doors are unreliable, leading to a work to rule last week, which had little effect on passenger traffic. The airport said it had no plans to outsource its security operations to a private company.

employment VDaB

The Flemish training and employment agency has denied criticism that it is failing to work well with its counterparts in other regions in trying to fill long-standing vacancies in “bottleneck jobs”. Political party CD&V said the number of Flemish vacancies advertised in Brussels and Wallonia had dropped by 20% in three years. But VDAB pointed out the drop in number was a result of the economy. Co-operation with the two other regional agencies was working “very well,” VDAB said.

It Coscale

The Ghent-based IT startup has raised €2 million in venture capital from Gimv and Qbic (€750,000 each) and Sofi (€500,000). CoScale provides tools to analyse and remedy the problems causing web pages to perform too slowly. The company said the funding would allow development of the platform, as well as market development at home and abroad.

Property Bpost

Bpost has put 60 buildings across Belgium up for sale, the largest in Antwerp’s Groenplaats, with an asking price of €30 million. The buildings are part of the national post’s programme of selling off real estate that it no longer needs or has become outdated and too expensive to maintain. Some of the buildings, such as the Oud Postkantoor in the centre of Ghent, are historical gems with towers and glass fronts. There are plans for Ghent’s building to house an Albert Heijn below and a hotel above.

supermarkets Colruyt

Supermarket chain Colruyt has launched a test in one of its stores, offering discounts or savings points to customers who shop in off-peak hours. The test runs until next year, when Colruyt will analyse whether it has been able to change shoppers’ habits.

Brussels campaigns against stereotyped career choices

Programme encourages young people to broaden their view of jobs alan Hope More articles by alan \ flanderstoday.eu

russels region’s secretary of state for equal opportunities, Bianca Debaets, has joined with the regional business federation BECI to launch a programme aimed at tackling gender stereotypes in choice of career. According to research, young people in Brussels tend to make career choices along broadly stereotypical lines. “There may well be girls who want to become a plumber or an IT consultant but don’t dare to say so because our society stereotypes these as jobs for men,” Debaets said. “I want to encourage an interest in the less

Rounding of retail prices to apply to Bancontact Federal finance minister Johan Van Overtveldt has a bill ready to put before parliament to extend the system of rounding retail prices up and down to electronic payments. Thesystem,wherebillsarerounded up to the nearest five cents if the total ends in three, four, eight or nine, and down if it ends in one, two, six or seven cents, currently applies only to cash payments, where the main intent was to minimise the use of 1c and 2c coins. The rules came into force last October. Payments by electronic cards do not address that problem, according to consumer organisation TestAankoop. With a cash card, the exact price can be paid without inconvenience to anyone. On the

other hand, Van Overtveldt’s bill seeks to remedy a situation where retailers are operating two systems at the same time. Unizo, the organisation that represents the self-employed, described the present system as “a handicap”, because it prevents retailers switching their cash registers to round up and down automatically – this is the reason supermarkets do not yet take part in the practice. Across the sector, only about 5% of shops have so far introduced the system. “That’s very few, when you realise that eight out of 10 shopkeepers were supporters of the idea in advance,” said NSZ, which also represents the self-employed. \ AH

Record number of family-owned businesses escape succession fees A record number of businesses were passed on to new owners last year without the payment of succession rights, according to figures obtained from the government of Flanders by member of parliament Robrecht Bothuyne. In 2012, the government introduced a regulation that allowed the owner of a business to sell it within the family before retiring without the new owners paying succession rights. The measure was intended to tackle the problem of small companies going out of business when the owner died. More than three in four businesses in Belgium as a whole are familyowned. They provide 45% of the employment in the country and 33% of the GDP. Succession duties on the death of a business owner amount to 3% of the value of the

company if inherited by close relatives, including spouse and children, or 7% if inherited by others. The regulation encourages owners to pass the business to descendants while still alive. At the same time, it also makes it more expensive to take over a family company after the owner’s death. “This way, a great many family businesses and the jobs they represent in Flanders are assured of a future, which is very important for the local economy,” Bothuyne said. The measure protects not only jobs but the years of experience and knowhow the owner has accumulated. Last year 1,600 businesses were passed to new family owners while the owner was still alive and active, compared to only 300 before the measure was introduced. \ AH

typical jobs, as well as those jobs where vacancies are hard to fill.” The programme, called Mijn job is mijn keuze (My Job is My Choice) will be run with BECI’s diversity office, which handles problems of gender in industry. The programme will start next month with a search for schools willing to take part and mentors to guide the students. There will be a website and social media campaign, as well as a study day for teachers and career guidance professionals.

Takeover of Sanoma magazines approved by competition authorities

Staff at Sanoma magazines have expressed disappointment at a decision by the Belgian competition authority to allow the takeover of the magazines Humo, Story, TeveBlad and Vitaya by De Persgroep, which publishes newspapers De Morgen and Het Laatste Nieuws as well as the magazine Dag Allemaal. The takeover was approved under certain conditions. De Persgroep must ensure that Humo, Story and Teve-Blad remain independent magazines for as long as they are owned by the company or a subsidiary, and are not transformed into what is known as a kopblad – a newspaper or magazine published under a different title though the content differs only slightly, such as the newspapers Het Nieuwsblad and De Gentenaar. De Persgroep must also ensure that at least 20% of the content of Story differs from that of Dag Allemaal. The two celebrity-based gossip magazines cover very much the same market. The journalists’ union

VVJ had called for an 80% minimum and argues that the 20% rule offers no guarantee of independence. “This is a bad day for readers,” said a spokesperson for the unions representing staff. Despite the conditions imposed on content, staff at the Mechelen offices of Sanoma are to be transferred to De Persgroep at Kobbegem, Flemish Brabant, without a clear idea of the conditions they will be working under. “Negotiations with management are not going smoothly and there’s an atmosphere of concern,” the spokesperson said. The unions are not ready to rule out industrial action in the autumn. \ AH

Flemish companies ignoring energy premiums Fewer companies in Flanders are taking advantage of the offer of premiums available for investment in energy-saving, according to a report in De Standaard. Last year the total number of premiums awarded was 1,578, compared to about 2,300 in 2012 and 2013. The premiums are available for companies, as for private households, to invest in measures such as roof insulation, double glazing or energy-efficient lighting. About 500,000 companies in the region should be eligible to apply, but most are either not interested in energy savings or unaware of the possibility of receiving support.

“There’s something missing in the communication to businesses,” said Robrecht Bothuyne, member of the Flemish parliament for CD&V. “We need better co-operation between the government and the business organisations to bring companies up to speed.” Bothuyne, who describes the dropoff in the numbers applying as “alarming”, has called on Flemish energy minister Annemie Turtelboom to produce a plan by the end of the year aimed at encouraging businesses to consider more energy investments and informing them of the ways the government can support them. \ AH

\ InnOVatIOn

august 12, 2015

It’s taking part that counts

WeeK in innovation

vuB research group hopes to get flemings more active, socially and physically andy furniere More articles by andy \ flanderstoday.eu

he positive effects of sports are often considered obvious. Now a research group at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) is using science to find the exact benefits to society of sporting activities. Government involvement in sports is generally thought to be essential in providing people with an array of recreational activities to help them stay healthy and acquire social skills. The researchers from Sport & Society (SASO), established last year at the VUB, have taken a more critical look at these assumptions.

The potential of sport lies in its popularity and accessibility “You could argue that an active lifestyle and proper diet are enough to be healthy, but there is an abundance of other recreational activities and social skills that can be developed in a variety of ways,” says Professor Marc Theeboom, who co-ordinates SASO. “We want to examine scientifically why the government should invest in sports and find the best ways it can do so.” Physical activities are seen as a way of integrating underprivileged communities in wider society. In the last decade, a long list of initiatives has sprung up using sports to help prisoners, unemployed people, refugees, people living in poverty, low-skilled workers and children with psychological problems. “In this sense, the potential of sport lies in its popularity and accessibility,” Theeboom explains. “You don’t need special knowledge or to speak a certain language to participate in sport.” The Flemish employment agency VDAB, for example, has set up a

vuB.ac.BE/sBma/saso

programme in which youngsters receive boxing lessons while training to become professional welders. Inspired by the initiative, Flemish labour minister Philippe Muyters launched a call for similar pilot projects that combine sports with vocational training. The Flemish Institute for Sports Policy and Recreation Management recently carried out a largescale project called Street Action with the aim of involving more youngsters from underprivileged areas in sport. As part of the project, the sports departments in various towns set up partnerships with social organisations. In Kort op de bal (On the Ball), a project that took place in Brussels, youngsters from football clubs in underprivileged areas were trained to become football coaches. “By examining such projects, we noticed the crucial role of the coaching team,” Theeboom says. For a project to be successful, the team should involve youngsters in the decision-making process, point out their responsibilities, keep them motivated and make sure they feel recognised and rewarded for their efforts. “Another important factor is the composition of the groups,” Theeboom says. “It’s almost a cliché to speak of the benefits of mixing youngsters from different social and ethnic backgrounds, but coaches really have to ensure that certain youngsters don’t feel restrained because they might consider themselves inferior.” If teams take these aspects into account, Theeboom explains, the projects show that sporting activities help youngsters develop selfconfidence, a sense of responsibility and perseverance, along with a variety of other social skills. To spread their knowhow among youth and welfare organisations, SASO will organise a week-long academic course at the end of September. Theeboom also thinks top athletes and professional clubs in Belgium can play an important role in making sport more popular. “Since

The Flemish Institute for Technological Research and Flight Plus, a West Flemish company, are finalising a first round of funding to establish a spinoff that will commercialise a new platform for commercial drones in the airspace. Commercial drone users will need to register on the platform and will then see where they are allowed to fly and what regulations they need to follow, while air traffic control services and government institutions will be able to use the platform to monitor the commercial drone flights. The first version of the platform will be tested in Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK.

More women opting to freeze egg cells

VuB’s research group is hoping to reinforce the link between sport and community

the government supports them in their development, they should be willing to give back to society,” he says. “But to a certain extent, top athletes are still unaware of how they can act as positive role models. And most clubs don’t realise the social potential of their attractiveness to the community.” SASO examined the community management policies of the football clubs that play in the Jupiler Pro League. “Among other things, we advised the clubs to host more activities at their stadiums and organise visits by players,” explains Theeboom. “We also recommended that they integrate these social aspects into the players’ and coaches’ contracts, to make sure they’re taken seriously.” Clubs could help by setting up volunteer programmes. “Leading a meeting or organising a tournament could help more people acquire skills that are very useful in life,” Theeboom says. SASO is

also examining ways to help top athletes manage their careers more responsibly and to ensure they don’t get off track once they retire from professional sports. The balance between sporting ambitions and social goals is an important challenge for some initiatives. Let’s Go Urban, for example, aims to train professional dancers through its afterschool dance programme. Another initiative, BX Brussels is a football club set up by Red Devils captain Vincent Kompany that focuses on youth development but has aspirations to play at a more competitive level. “The emphasis may never fully be on performance if a project has distinct social goals,” Theeboom says. “On the other hand, learning to perform under pressure is a valuable asset that can, for example, help people be more successful on the jobs market.”

Campaign launched against animal testing for cleaning products gaia.BE

Belgium’s animal rights organisation, Gaia, has launched a campaign against the use of animal testing in the development of cleaning products. The campaign kicked off in Nieuwstraat in Brussels, with a troupe of dancers armed with mops and buckets led by actress Loes Van den Heuvel, who plays the cleaning lady Carmen in the TV series FC De Kampioenen. The campaign will spread to the rest of Flanders this week, with actions in Antwerp, Blankenberge, Genk, Ghent, and Leuven. The use of animal testing in the cosmetics indus-

Vito spin-off to commercialise first drone management platform

try is already banned, but the practice continues in the production of cleaning products. Gaia argues alternatives are available, and the campaign aims to convince shoppers to switch to brands that do not test on animals, a list of which is available on the Gaia website. The campaign also involves a petition in co-operation with the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments for rules at EU level. Gaia also intends to carry out actions aimed at the regional governments in Belgium. \ Alan Hope

Increasing numbers of women are choosing to freeze their egg cells, according to statistics from the University Hospital of Brussels. Since 2009, women who want to postpone having children have been able to freeze their egg cells at the hospital’s Centre for Reproductive Medicine. Most of the women who go to the Brussels centre are single women who want to wait until they are with a suitable partner before having children. The cost of the procedure – approximately €3,000 – is an obstacle for many women, however, according to professor Dominic Stoop, who is asking for more refunds for women with cancer who choose to undergo the procedure. “Chemotherapy affects fertility, so young women with cancer should get the chance to fulfil their desire to have children,” he said.

websites can monitor online behaviour through mobile batteries A team of European research institutions, including Flanders’ digital research centre iMinds and the University of Leuven, has found privacy risks related to the HTML5 Battery Status API used in laptops and mobile phones. Researchers examined the use of API (application programming interface) in the Firefox browser and found that combining data on the energy level of a battery and the predicted charging and discharging time enables websites to track the online behaviour of users. The researchers have filed a bug report to Firefox, which was accepted. A fix resolved the issue in the browser. \ AF

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\ eDuCatIOn

august 12, 2015

WeeK in edUcation Protestant school to open in Brussels

Snatched from the flames

Ku leuven library exhibition looks at books under threat from war toon lambrechts More articles by toon \ flanderstoday.eu

he day after fire raged through Leuven, so many books had been burned that blackened pieces of paper rained down from the sky several kilometres away. An estimated 300,000 books and 1,000 manuscripts, collected over the 500-year history of the city’s university, were lost in the flames on the night of 25 August, 1914. More than 2,000 houses were destroyed and 248 people were killed. And the fire was not a dreadful unforeseen consequence of the fighting; it was deliberately lit by German troops who wanted revenge after their soldiers were said to have been fired on by Belgian snipers. The first part of the exhibition Boeken onder vuur (Books Under Fire) at the University of Leuven’s library presents the scale of the devastation. A photo reportage, still relatively rare at that time, shows the damage caused to the library and the university halls. Other images, often taken despite the ban on photography by the German occupiers, indicate how heavily Leuven was hit by the fire. Engravings and newspapers from the time also describe the extent of the damage. The fate of Leuven and its library provoked strong reactions from around the world. The deliberate and pointless destruction of half a city and irreplaceable cultural

heritage like the university’s book collection was described in the British and American press as an unforgivable act of barbarism. The behaviour of the German troops, who also burned down other towns and villages in Belgium, made perfect material for propaganda. The exhibition includes newspapers, engravings and postcards from the era depicting the Germans as merciless brutes, in graphic scenes reminiscent of those seen in Syria today. In the propaganda war, the library fire was seen as the ultimate crime against civilisation. The second part of the exhibition consists of a work by Ghent artist Sofie Muller, with her installation Clarysse. The name refers to a character in Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, about a dystopian future where books are forbidden. There is also a large collection of Sneeuwwitjes (Snow Whites): books that were recovered after the fire, sometimes completely charred. The damaged books were later sealed with lead in glass caskets and preserved as relics to commemorate the dramatic days of August 1914. The final section makes a bridge with the present day, when valuable books and manuscripts, and by extension cultural heritage, are being threatened by war and conflict around the world. Yet even in wartime, there are people

BiB.KulEuvEn.BE

prepared to take care of books. The city of Timbuktu in northern Mali has been the cultural centre of the region for centuries, as an important stop on the caravan routes across the Sahara. Besides gold and salt, manuscripts were an important export for the city, and it still houses valuable collections of old books and manuscripts today. In 2012, a conflict broke out between the central government of Mali on one side and Touareg rebels and Islamist groups on the other. To save the books from destruction, a rescue mission was set up, led by librarian Abdel Kader Haidara. As many as 400,000 manuscripts were smuggled out of the threatened city to the capital, Bamako. It appeared to be a necessary action; many

until 13 september

old buildings were deliberately destroyed because they went against the radical world view of some insurgent groups. Some of the manuscripts found their way to the exhibition in Leuven, where researchers are working on a project to examine and digitalise the writings that were

a collection of sneeuwwitjes, books recovered after the fire and preserved; sofie Muller’s Clarysse (top)

smuggled out of Timbuktu. Even 100 years after perhaps one of the greatest cultural losses Flanders has ever seen, the fight for the protection of cultural heritage from war is not over.

university of leuven library

Ladeuzeplein 21, Leuven

Q&a Professor Stijn Buitink, head of the astronomy and astrophysics research group at the Free University of Brussels (VUB), has received a European Research Council starting grant of €1.5 million for five years. The astrophysicist and his team will examine the phenomenon of cosmic rays. What are cosmic rays? They are high-energy radiation composed of cosmic particles, for example protons, that comes to us from outer space. When these particles clash with particles in the Earth’s atmosphere, like air molecules, short flashes of radio waves are emitted. How will you analyse this phenomenon? Through the LOFAR telescope, a radio telescope consisting of thousands of antennas spread all over Europe. LOFAR constantly monitors the whole sky, recording cosmic ray radio flashes whenever

they occur. We won’t only keep an eye on the Earth’s atmosphere, but also on the moon, because radio waves created when high-energy particles crash into the moon could provide a wealth of information. Where do cosmic particles come from? That’s precisely one of our main research topics. It’s plausible that cosmic particles come from sources in our own Milky Way, but maybe they come from much further away – from active black holes or stellar explosions, for example. By determining the mass,

It’s possible that cosmic rays trigger lightning, providing the spark that ignites the explosive electric discharge. This insight enriches meteorological research and can help to provide better protection against lightning. energy and arrival direction of cosmic particles, we hope to find out their origin. What insights could your research provide for society? It could tell us a lot about how galaxies and the universe in general have evolved. There are also more concrete applications: for example, we recently found that the patterns of radio waves caused by cosmic rays are very different during thunderstorms compared to during other weather.

Are cosmic rays dangerous for our health? The atmosphere protects us sufficiently, so the cosmic particles have lost almost all their energy if they reach the Earth’s surface. We’re more exposed to the radiation when we’re up in the sky, but that definitely doesn’t mean it’s dangerous to travel by plane. Even for astronauts, the risks are not big. It’s only on possible long-term expeditions in the future, to other planets for example, where the rays could be dangerous. \ Inter-

Next month, the first Dutchspeaking Protestant primary school in the Brussels-Capital Region will open. Located in the Haren neighbourhood, the school will start with lessons for children in pre-school and the first and second years of primary. While following the Flemish government’s curriculum, the school, called De Schatkist (The Treasury), gives a central role to the Bible. “At our school, children learn daily about the relation with God, which is the difference from an official school where they also teach Protestant religion,” director An De Rijck told Brussel Deze Week. The school will hold prayer twice a day, and every day there will be Bible readings.

20% more students study abroad In the past academic year, 5,300 students from Flanders have studied abroad, via the Erasmus European exchange programme, an increase of about 20% on the year before. Overall, the number of students doing an internship or studying abroad via Erasmus has doubled over 10 years. “Students are immersed in a different culture, learn a different language and make new contacts,” education minister Hilde Crevits said in a statement. Most students go to France and Spain, with those studying social sciences, business sciences and law particularly keen to study abroad. Every year, 4,000 foreign students on average come to Flanders as part of the Erasmus exchange.

VuB starts building new student rooms The Free University of Brussels (VUB) has started Project XY at its Etterbeek campus, which consists of building new student accommodation, classrooms and cultural spaces. The buildings are designed by the Conix Architects bureau and cost €55 million. The first new student housing buildings should be ready by September next year, while the full Project XY should be ready in 2018. At the end of this year, the university will also appoint the company that will renovate its 25-yearold swimming pool and build a new instruction pool and dressing rooms. The third large project at Etterbeek is the science campus the VUB is building in collaboration with its French-speaking counterpart, ULB. \ AF

view by Andy Furniere

\ lIVIng

WeeK in activities Flowertime Every other summer, alternating with years that the Flower Carpet appears on the Grote Markt, the Town Hall of Brussels is transformed into a showcase of the best and latest in floral design and arrangements. This year the theme is Italian Baroque. 13-16 August, 10.00-22.00; Stadhuis, Grote Markt, Brussels; €5 \ flowertime.brussels

Patershol festival A street festival for all ages in one of Ghent’s oldest neighbourhoods, next to Gravensteen Castle. Live music, gallery visits, flea market, parades, dancing, food and drink. Guided tour of the Patershol district at 9.45 on Saturday (€5). 14-16 August; Kaatsspelplein, Ghent; free \ patershol.org

ter Dolen bike happening Annual family bike event sponsored by Ter Dolen Brewery. Choose from bike routes of 20, 55 or 90 km, or mountain bike routes of 25 or 45 km. Three different starting points in Beringen, Zonhoven or Houthalen-Helchteren. 16 August, 08.00-15.00; Sportstadion Helsen, Sportstraat 11/C, Houthalen-Helchteren (Limburg); €3 \ terdolenfietshappening.be

Regional beer festival Sample dozens of local Belgian beers, from both well-known and obscure breweries, plus a handful from international brewers at this outdoor festival. Live music, food stands and children’s activities. 14-15 August; T. Toyeplein, Zwevegem (West Flanders); free (€2,50 per beer) \ flanderseventsvzw.be

Horst castle fest Travel back in time to the Middle Ages during this family festival at a historic castle, with knights’ sword-fighting tournament, children’s activities, storytelling, falconry show, minstrels, etc. 15-16 August, 10.00-18.00; Kasteel van Horst, Horststraat 28, Holsbeek (Flemish Brabant); €7 \ pynnockriddershorst.info

summer carnival This year marks the 10th edition of “Rio on the Leie”. The fun starts on Friday night with a Latin-style street party, then continues through the weekend with more music, a Kids’ Carnival on Saturday, and a colourful parade with live samba music on Sunday. 14-16 August; Kortrijk city centre; free \ zomercarnaval.be

\ 10

You’ve got mail

texas transplant finds cowboys, love and a sense of community courtney davis o’leary More articles by Courtney \ flanderstoday.eu

s a Flemish immigrant who has lived in Texas for more than 15 years, Hugo Du Bois has learned that many of the clichés that surround Texas are just that – clichés. Texas isn’t full of cowboys, Republicans and people with big opinions, he insists. For starters, “Texans are not all Republicans”, he says. “There’s no single big city in Texas that isn’t run by a Democrat. Dallas, San Antonio and Houston all have Democratic mayors.” Du Bois, 47, a technology manager at a Houston-based clothing chain, clears up some misconceptions about cowboys, too. “If you come to Houston, you won’t see a single hat or horse, I swear to God.” You can find cowboys in Texas, he explains, just not in the cities. “When the rodeos are in town, they come from outside the city, with red dirt on them from the clay,” he explains. “If you see a big truck with mud and red dirt, he’s from the country. They’ve got a hat rack too, the real ones. If he’s driving with his cowboy hat on, he’s fake.” As for Texans having big opinions, it’s hard to dispel that particular cliché when Du Bois has so many himself. In conversation, he comes across as strong-minded and strong-willed; “maybe” is not in his vocabulary. From Strombeek-Bever in Flemish Brabant, Du Bois isn’t just a man of big opinions; he’s also one of outsize gestures. After falling in love with an American 20 years ago, he upended his life in Flanders and trekked across the Atlantic to marry Cami, who he had met just

For Hugo Du Bois, one erroneously sent email led to an 18-year marriage, two children and a transatlantic relocation

three times. That whirlwind romance began in 1995 after Cami mistakenly emailed him at his professional address. (He was working as a webmaster at an Apple dealer at the time.) She sent the email from a tmc.edu address, Texas medical centre, which piqued Du Bois’ interest. “I thought it was weird,” he says. “I read it, replied with a joke, and we began emailing for the next year and a half. It was never romantic; we just talked.” When he later attended a trade show in San Francisco, he stopped by Houston on his way home to visit the woman he’d been emailing all this time. “It happened out of the blue. I didn’t expect anything when I met her,” he says, laughing. “Over the years, we’d got to know each other pretty well and when

we met, we felt like we’d already been friends forever. Which was kind of true, but we’d never hung out together.” The switch from friend to partner happened subconsciously for both of them, Du Bois says. “We were both sadder than normal that we had to go back and not hang out together. It wasn’t until a few days later that we realised we’d fallen in love.” Cami filed for a K1 visa with the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1996 on his behalf (a visa issued to the fiancé or fiancée of a US citizen to enter the country), and he soon received his visa. “We’d only met three times in total. Is that crazy or what? It’s crazier when I say it. It didn’t seem crazy at the time.” They got married the following

year, after Du Bois had been in the country for just a month. Eighteen years and two children later, their relationship is still going strong. His love of Flanders, too, continues. Though he has no plans to return, he has maintained dual citizenship. But Du Bois remains interested in Belgium’s political landscape and makes it a point to continue voting in local elections by absentee ballot. “I did my civic duty in the Air Force in Belgium, so it’s also my duty to partake in the decision process of the country I served and spent 29 years of my life in.” He has a lot of strong feelings about Flemish culture, too. “Most people who live here in the US for 10 to 20 years and lose their Belgian identity, they’re snobs,” he says. “You don’t lose where your family is from. I speak the Flemish tongue – how can you lose it? It’s ridiculous.” Still, he acknowledges this is an unpopular opinion. “I always get a lot of flak when I say this.” Du Bois’ love of Texans is also evident. “They’re genuine, helpful, and they’re proud of being Texans,” he says. “Texans are friendly, especially when times are bad, like with a flood or hurricane. We had a flood, and some companies just donated mattresses – for no reason, no promotion. They just do it.” Check our website for other instalments in the Flemings in America series

bite Brussels festival dives into world of indian cuisine Mention India to someone and the first things that will probably spring to mind are its vibrant colours and great cuisine. It’s hardly a surprise then that news of the first Indian Food Festival in Brussels was greeted with great excitement. So far 11,000 people (and counting) have already confirmed their attendance through the event’s Facebook page. The Indian Food Festival, which will take place at the Jubelpark in Brussels on 15 and 16 August, is being organised by Indian Confluence, a local non-profit organisation dedicated to showcasing Indian culture and helping improve quality of life in rural India. The upcoming festival is the first time they’re staging an event for the general public. What should you expect? Lots of food, of course. Think samosas, bhajis, curries and vegetarian delights as well as stalls offering typical Indian street food, home-cooked meals and restaurant food. Brussels restaurants Annapurna and Anarkali are just two of the many participating eateries, and Indian television chef Sanjay Thumma will also be on hand to lead a couple

of cooking workshops. With 500,000 Facebook followers, Thumma has been an inspiration to many budding cooks, both in India and abroad. A festival, of course, wouldn’t be a festival without music and entertainment. The event’s lineup focuses on traditional Indian dance and music – from traditional Bharatanatyam dance to martial Khattak, and from Bhangra to stunning Bollywood performances. The organisers themselves will perform songs, too, with their own band, the Confluence All Stars. Stalls will also sell Indian clothes and handicraft, and why not visit the Mehendi stall for a henna tattoo on your hands or legs? There will be yoga workshops too, and you could scarcely imagine a better backdrop for a yoga session than the beautiful Jubelpark. (Just recently, 3,500 people participated in a yoga class at Ter Kamerenbos as part of International Yoga Day). The money raised at the festival will go toward a project that aims to improve living conditions in rural India and focuses on education, sanitation, nutrition and other basic needs. The organisers have partnered with a village in Andhra Pradesh

indianconfluEncE.com

in the southern part of the © Vahrehvah.com country for this. You’ll be able to watch videos and obtain more information about this initiative during the festival. \ Katrien Lindemans

15 & 16 august, 12.00-22.00 Jubelpark Brussels

august 12, 2015

Going to the chapel

our series on flanders’ secrets takes us to two intriguing spots in antwerp province toon lambrechts More articles by toon \ flanderstoday.eu

The rich heritage of Flanders has left many traces behind, and Flanders Today has gone in search of the stories behind these spots. This week, Antwerp province, where tying ribbons to a chapel can help you find a partner and where centuries-old houses are not quite what they seem.

ike all places in Flanders with the word berg, or mountain, in the name, the Kruiskensberg in Antwerp province is somewhat misleading. After all, a mound a few metres high can hardly be called a mountain. At the top of this hill sits the Kruiskenskapel, a little chapel surrounded by seven even smaller chapels depicting the various stages of the Crucifixion. Behind is the entrance to a nature reserve with the same name. What’s special about this place are the bits of cloth that believers attach to the chapel’s windows. Legend has it that in the 13th century, a shepherd would stroll with his flock through the woods and heather around the hamlet of Bevel. One day, he came down with a serious fever. To relieve the pain, he took a sip from the well at the foot of the hill and was instantly healed. Out of gratitude for the miracle, he placed a wooden cross on top of the hill, and an iron cross was erected later. It was only in the 19th century that the chapel got its current form: a main chapel in neoclassic style with seven small chapels surrounding it, a large cross and five wells a little further on. But why these ribbons? They go back to a custom that probably dates from before the advent of Christianity. When someone suffered from severe fever or other infectious diseases, a piece of cloth was rubbed over their head or the infected body part. Then the cloth

scraps of cloth tied to the chapel at kruiskensberg, where believers hoped they would be cured or find love; Brabo stands guard above the giant House in Het Buitenland, where buildings are not what they seem

was attached to a tree, or later to a chapel, in the hope that the saint in question would take over the disease. This tradition was still seen in the 1950s in the Flemish countryside, especially on religious holidays like Easter. There are a few places in Flanders where this tradition is still alive, sometimes in a chapel, sometimes in connection with a special tree, like the Ons Heere Boomke chapel in Poperinge, West Flanders. There, a tree, the chapel and the hedge around it are full of ribbons, pieces of clothing and locks of hair to assist recovery. Over time, people began to visit the chapel for another reason. Young people from the region went

there to pray and to tie ribbons – not to beat a fever but to find a good partner to marry. The origin of this practice is unclear, but even in 2015, there are still ribbons at the chapel’s windows. Perhaps in times of antibiotics and internet dating, a helping hand from above is still sometimes needed. From the town of Bornem, signs lead you to a place called Het Buitenland, literally meaning “foreign country”. But the strange name refers not to any political irregularity but to the fact that this stretch of land once lay outside the dykes that restrained the Scheldt. For a long time Het Buitenland was a wasteland, too swampy to put to use. Old records mention

only a handful of houses. Later, when the new dykes included Het Buitenland, the hamlet started to grow, so most of the buildings date back only to the late 19th century. Today it’s a sought-after place to live for those seeking tranquillity and greenery. Yet there are some buildings in Het Buitenland that suggest a much older history: Het Reuzenhuis (Giant House) for example, or the gildenzaal (guildhall). Both appear to date from the late Middle Ages, judging by their style. But don’t be fooled. They are replicas, built for the World Exhibitions in Antwerp in 1894 and in Brussels in 1897. After the exhibition, these buildings and other architectural

50 weekends in Flanders: Go wild with the kids Flanders Today has launched an e-book with ideas for how to spend a year’s worth of weekends. Visit our website Flanderstoday.eu and click the pop-up to get your free copy of 50 Weekends in Flanders. We’ll also print one of our suggestion every week here, too. Everyone agrees that it’s important for kids to spend more time outdoors. Here are some ideas that might get them away from their screens for a few hours this summer. KESSEL-LO A huge park where kids can run, climb and play for a whole day. Located just outside Leuven, the Kessel-Lo provincial estate has playgrounds, sandpits, rowing boats and a

swimming pool. BLAARMEERSEN You can spend a whole day with kids at Blaarmeersen lake on the edge of Ghent. The lake is bordered by sandy beaches, adventure playgrounds and woods, along with a skate park, mini golf and pedal boats for rent. There are several cafes around the lakeside, including the relaxed Le Beach House where kids can run wild in an indoor playground.

\ blaarmeersen.be

PLANCKENDAEL This old country estate near Mechelen is where Antwerp Zoo keeps the big animals

that need plenty of space to roam around. It’s also a good place to take children who are getting restless indoors. As well as bison, birds and monkeys, the park has rope bridges up in the trees and a wooden canoe to paddle across a murky pond. The latest star attraction is Qiyo the baby elephant (pictured).

pieces were rebuilt in Het Buitenland stone by stone. Het Reuzenhuis, also known as the House of the Teutonic Knights, is by far the most impressive. To avoid confusion, it states on the facade that this is a reconstruction. The original building dated from 1558 and once stood in Antwerp but was demolished in 1856. Just above the gate, a statue of the hero Brabo holds up the severed hand of the giant Antigoon. The legend of Brabo and Antigoon is the story behind the creation of Antwerp. Ironically, the statue of Brabo has lost a hand itself at some point over the years.

tinyurl.com/50wEEKEnds

TECHNOPOLIS A fun science centre near Mechelen where kids get to make their own films, compose music, learn about living in the city, ride a bike across a high wire and race against the clock. \ Derek Blyth \ technopolis.be

\ planckendael.be

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august 12, 2015

Any way the wind blows

clarinettist Joachim Badenhorst on escaping his comfort zone and trying new things christophe verbiest More articles by Christophe \ flanderstoday.eu

JoacHimBadEnHorst.com

Joachim Badenhorst, one of Flanders’ foremost reed players, may have gone through classical training in school,but his repertoire is far from typical thanks in part to his choice of experimental sounds, improvisation and DIY attitude.

“T

he clarinet has a singular sound: warm and close to the human voice,” says Joachim Badenhorst, an experimental musician from Antwerp. “I’m especially attracted to the lower register, and I’m less in love with the shrill, thin sound a clarinet can produce in the higher range.” Badenhorst can often be heard playing the bass clarinet, with its characteristic deep sounds. At 33, he’s considered one of Flanders’ foremost reed players. He was six or seven when he started playing the clarinet. “My father is a painter and in his youth he played the piano and the clarinet,” he says. “He gave me his old instrument and that’s how I started. I’m not sure if I was really producing music in the beginning. It was more like blowing wind through it.” Still, he really liked the instrument and went on to study classical clarinet in music school. “By the time I was a teenager, I certainly wasn’t in love with the instrument,” he says. “I faithfully went to music school and did my homework, but that was it.” At one point he started listening to rock music and wanted to discard the clarinet in favour of the drums and electric bass. “But my parents advised me to continue playing it,” he says. “They paid for private courses because I disliked the music school, and slowly the love for it returned.” He soon discovered Klezmer and Balkan music, and the talent of John Zorn, and realised that the clarinet was his instrument. “The passion even became an obsession,” he says. “At 15 and 16, I played as much as I could, all day long, if possible.” Did jazz have a place in this process? “Partly,” he says. “There

Badenhorst’s latest project is a septet that play a mix of folk, post-rock and noise

aren’t many jazz clarinet players I really like, but I fell in love with some of the saxophonists and trumpet players. The tone of the Klezmer clarinettists appealed to me more than that of the jazz men.”

bass clarinet and tenor sax.” But there’s more than jazz and free improvisation to Badenhorst’s musical world. For instance, he also plays with Belgian-Icelandic band Mógil, who produce an

It can be very confronting to hear your own voice if you aren’t used to it Still, he did study jazz music at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, a place known for its “beboporiented” curriculum. “Even when I studied bebop, I experimented with free improvisation,” he says. The Hague was also where he was confronted with the limitations of the clarinet. “It produces less volume than the saxophone or the trumpet,” he says. “During jam sessions, it’s often difficult for the clarinet player to keep up. That’s why I started playing the saxophone. And of course, I love that instrument too. It’s great that I now possess a large palette of sounds:

eclectic mix of folk and jazz with some elements of classical chamber music. One thing is clear: musically, it’s impossible to pinpoint Joachim Badenhorst. “I like that,” he says, smiling. “It reflects my interest in different styles of music. I like to push my limits and find out new things. I’d be bored if I always had to play the same kind of music or with the same people.” Badenhorst also has his own record label, KLEIN, which he runs with his wife, Bei. “It has its advantages,” he says. “You can control everything and do what you think

is right. The disadvantage is that you lack the distribution and promotional channels of a more established record label.” Not all of Badenhorst’s records are released on KLEIN. “I invest a lot of time in those releases,” he says. “All of them are DIY: a lot of tinkering and drawing.” It’s a reaction against the mainstream industry that reduces music to a digital file, he explains. Every release should be really special. The furthest he went was with his solo album Forest/Mori. “I made the cover of every single copy myself,” he says. “That means each and every copy is a unique object. I’ve noticed people really appreciate that.” From 2008 to 2011, Badenhorst lived in New York. “As a young boy, I was already fascinated with the city and regularly travelled there later in life,” he says. “In New York, I met a lot of musicians with whom I still play, and also my future wife.” A few months after meeting Bei, he decided to move to the US. “But

5 september

three years down the road, we both had a desire to come and live in Europe,” he says. Which in the end meant his home town of Antwerp. “New York absorbs a lot of energy and it’s not easy to survive there financially,” he says. “Since I’ve been back, I’ve been more focused on my different projects. I began with my label, I started playing solo, and I launched the Carate Urio Orchestra. Had I stayed in New York, all of that would have been more difficult.” The Carate Urio Orchestra is the jewel in Badenhorst’s musical crown. More than all the other projects, this is his group. Not that he reigns as a dictator, but when the pressure is on, he makes all the decisions. The septet easily navigate between improvisational music and noise to folk and post-rock. “This is the band where all my different musical interests come together,” Badenhorst says. “It’s all the people with whom I play in other, small and musically diverse projects, assembled in one large group; a laboratory to experiment with various sounds and genres.” With Carate Urio Orchestra, Badenhorst also sings a few of the songs himself. That’s a first for him. “It’s a way of lifting myself out of my comfort zone and trying new things, a way of challenging myself,” he says. “It turns out it can be very confronting to hear your own voice if you aren’t used to it. I still have to learn a lot as a singer.” Badenhorst sings in Dutch with an unmistakable Antwerp accent, arguably a brave choice. He doesn’t hide himself behind English. “I think you can express yourself best in your mother tongue,” he says. “Sometimes when I hear nonnative speakers sing in English, it really sounds trivial. As a listener I am looking for frailty and honesty in the instrumentalist or the singer. That’s why I wanted to sing in Dutch.”

Concertgebouw Brugge Het Zand 34

More neW albUMs this WeeK Badenhorst - Peck the salt of deformation • KLEIN Joachim Badenhorst teams up with New York tuba player Dan Peck for The Salt of Deformation, the fifth release on Badenhorst’s KLEIN label. (Klein in Dutch means small, hence the ironic capitals.) It’s an interesting probing of two instrumentalists who

both aim at low notes, often cautiously blown. The album is mostly a quiet whisper, not a thundering sound bath, but the title track grows to a fascinating crescendo. Though Badenhorst has done a little singing before, it’s still surprising to hear his voice in “Aders” (“Veins”), yet it’s more a parlando than a melodic singing.

slongs dievanongs Goeien dag • Fruitylabel Charissa Parassiadis, an Antwerp rapper with Greek roots, goes through music life as Slongs Dievanongs, a name that’s Antwerp slang for – more or less – Our Slob. It suits the music she presents on her debut Goeien dag (Good Day). Granted, her rhymes in plain

Antwerp dialect are always eloquent and at times funny. But musically, this is careless stuff. The run-of-the-mill rhythms in particular are a problem: When they aren’t reggae clichés, they’re hip-hop clichés. Too bad.

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WeeK in arts & cUltUre Monets on sale in knokke-Heist Three paintings by the French Impressionist painter Claude Monet have gone on sale at the Boon Gallery in Knokke-Heist, the first time the artist’s work has gone on sale in Belgium. The works – a view of Dieppe, the Seine at Bougival and winter in Giverny – are part of a three-week sale of works by artists including Renoir and Gauguin. The reserve prices of the Monets are between €6 and €10 million. The exhibition runs until 23 August.

work starts on soundproofing at Bozar Bozar has started work on renovations to its main concerthall,theHenriLeboeuf Hall. The hall is considered to have one of the best acoustics in the world but it suffers from noise from outside. The works involve fitting a new rubber floor, new doors and ceiling. The 4,000-pipe organ that overlooks the hall will be able once more to be played, after 30 years of silence. The building was the work of architect Victor Horta and dates from 1928.

stromae heads on north american tour Brussels-based singer Stromae has announced an 11-date tour of the US and Canada. The announcement was made on social media and follows two months of radio silence from the singer after he suffered “acute medical problems” on a tour of Africa, which included a visit to his late father’s homeland, Rwanda. A number of European concerts were cancelled and Stromae missed his planned appearance at the Lollapalooza festival in the US. The new tour begins in Miami on 12 September and ends at Madison Square Garden, New York, on 1 October.

Production paused on schoenarts’ us series US cable channel HBO has suspended production on a six-hour mini-series starring Flemish actor Matthias Schoenaerts because of production problems. The series, Lewis and Clark, tells the story of the pioneering explorers and also stars Casey Affleck. The series is executive produced by Brad Pitt and Tom Hanks. Director John Curran and director of photography Rob Hardy will leave, citing creative differences, and replacements found.

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A hybrid breakout

flemish artist finds voice in embrace of different art forms christophe verbiest More articles by Christophe \ flanderstoday.eu

youngBElgianartPriZE.com

A visual artist, filmmaker and musician, Floris Vanhoof is the rare kind of artist who is as comfortable on stage as he is in galleries and photography darkrooms. And now that he’s been selected for the Young Belgian Art Prize, a whole new audience will be able to get a taste of his messy, unsettling art.

first learned about Floris Vanhoof through his minimal and noisy music years ago. But he’s not actually a musician; nor is he a visual artist or a filmmaker. Instead, he’s a hybrid of all three. This makes him a rare kind of artist in Flanders, and one we should be proud of. With nine other promising local artists, Vanhoof was recently chosen by an international jury to participate in the Young Belgian Art Prize. This means he may finally break through to a larger audience. At the concurrent exhibition at Bozar, Vanhoof presents radical works that work on or, if you will, attack visitors’ visual and auditory senses. If you believe in art that’s messy and unsettling, you’ll find these pieces amazing. Vanhoof, born in the Antwerp town of Mol in 1982, holds a Master’s degree in audiovisual arts, with a specialisation in experimental film. But music was his first love. Since as far back as he can remember, he’s been interested in music. “But I wasn’t destined for music school,” he says. “As a high-school student, I followed an evening course in photography. In the darkroom, I always listened to music, and that’s when I thought, it has to be possible to combine images and sounds. That’s why I decided to study audiovisual art.”

I thought it had to be possible to combine images and sounds Still, his ultimate goal wasn’t to become a director, and whenever he submitted his films for festivals, something went wrong. “Either I didn’t receive a reply, or the film was selected, which meant it would be shown, and afterwards I got my DVD back in the mail,” he says. “And that was it. But I wanted more, so I started giving performances and took a film projector with me on the road.” This unconventional approach ended up being a good fit for Vanhoof, and over time, stages became the main place to encounter and experience his art. Only recently did he begin to regu-

with “stripes”, Vanhoof wanted to make a simple film that would still be interesting to watch

larly work in the context of museums or galleries. “I’ve been travelling across Europe and the States for more than 10 years to give performances. And I use the latter in the broadest sense of the word – concerts, but also performances with projections. But in the end, there’s no difference. Similarly, for me there’s no difference between the music or sounds I make and the images. It’s the same language.” At the Young Belgian Art Prize, Vanhoof is presenting two works. “Slides” combines four modified slide projectors, 35mm slides, a singleboard Raspberry Pi computer and a soundtrack. “A lot of plastic toy figures – a couple of monsters, the grandmother from Ghostbusters, you name it – lie around in my studio. They inspire me and one day, I wondered: ‘What do they think about me?’” Vanhoof started photographing the toy figurines, and got as close with his lens as possible. “The slides looked very banal, but I photographed those slides through a microscope,” he explains. “I went so close you could only see the grain of the photographic film. By projecting them quickly with four projectors, it’s as if the grains are dancing on the screen.” “Stripes”, the second work, was born out of Vanhoof ’s quest to “make a simple film that’s still interesting to watch”. The piece consists of two modified 16mm film projectors, microcontrollers (a type of small computer) and a soundtrack. “In a darkroom, I put stripes on two ribbons of unexposed film reel. When projected, these

For Floris Vanhoof, there’s no difference between the music and images he makes. “It’s the same language,” he says.

stripes seem to move up and down and if you combine two projectors for one screen, you get a moiré effect: your brain can’t fully process what your eyes are capturing. That’s a point I find highly interesting.” Add some colour filters and a confronting soundtrack and you get the most unsettling but also the most overwhelming artwork you’ll see at the Young Belgian Art Prize.

until 13 september Bozar

Ravensteinstraat 23, Brussels

the YoUng belgian art prize The biannual Young Belgian Art Prize was established in 1950. It was called Prijs Jonge Belgische Schilderkunst (Young Belgian Painting Prize) until 2011, even though it had been open to more than just painters for decades already. Previous winners include Hans Op de Beeck, Manon de Boer and Sophie Whettnall. The contest is open to visual artists from all disciplines under the age of 35; they also need to be Belgian or to have lived here at least for a year.

The international jury that chooses 10 artists from the many submissions and awards the three Young Belgian Art Prizes is made up of curators and directors from prestigious institutions like Tate Modern in London and Cologne’s Museum Ludwig. Unlike in previous editions, the laureates weren’t announced at the opening of the exhibition this time. Instead, the winners will only be revealed at the close. The public can also participate by voting for the ING Public

Prize. Hannelore Van Dijck, from Antwerp province but currently based in Berlin, is another breakout star of this year’s edition. For her onsite work “Tunnel”, she covered the walls of a Bozar corridor with charcoal drawings, with the geometrical patterns resembling a metreshigh, impenetrable fence. The result is a melancholy work that produces an uncanny feeling in the viewer that’s difficult to shake off. Among the other highlights are

the small, unobtrusive oil paintings and a series of lithographs by Ghent-based Spanish artist Lola Lasurt, as well as Emmanuel Van der Auwera from Brussels and his unsettling video “A Certain Amount of Clarity”, which captures the reactions of teenagers as they watch a real murder on YouTube. Finally, Emmanuelle Quertain, another Brussels artist, is featured with a couple of oil paintings on aluminium.

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august 12, 2015

The bands go marching in

visUal arts

Jazz Middelheim

ghent

Park Den Brandt, antwerp

13-16 august

JaZZmiddElHEim.BE

ith a Belgian opening night, a daily concert by artist-in-residence Jason Moran and homages to New Orleans and John Coltrane, the 34th edition of Jazz Middelheim promises to take a look into the past and the future of jazz. Only last year the terrific TaxiWars made their stage debut at Gent Jazz. In Antwerp, saxophonist Robin Verheyen, rock singer Tom Barman and their cool rhythm section present their first album, headlining an all-Belgian night featuring, among others, The Brussels Jazz Orchestra, Eric Legnini’s ode to Ray Charles and LABtrio’s NY project. This year marks the 50th anniversary of “A Love Supreme”. At Jazz Middelheim it’s celebrated on Friday, when saxophonists Joe Lovano and Chris Potter and their band will breathe new life

concert

into the old masterpiece by John Coltrane. Back in 1964, avant-garde jazz rebel Archie Shepp was a guest in the studio during recordings. In Antwerp, he will perform his own 1972 iconic album Attica Blues.

get tic

Belle and sebastian

kets n

koninklijk Circus, Brussels

25 november, 20.00

cirQuE-royal.org

Indie-pop septet Belle and Sebastian are one of Scotland’s national treasures. Songwriter Stuart Murdoch formed the group while studying in Glasgow in the 1990s and has remained its creative north star through various lineup changes. Despite only modest commercial success, Belle and

Sebastian’s literate, vulnerable brand of pop has earned them a faithful cult following and inspired a generation of young musicians. The band are currently touring the world in support of their ninth studio album, Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance. \ Georgio Valentino

AccompaniedbyvocalistCécileMcLorinSalvant and the Attica Blues Big Band, the saxophonist has a much a bigger cast than in the days when he protested against the violent suppression of the uprising in Attica state prison. Once again, it’s a firm statement against police violence and racism. On Saturday Dr John pays tribute to Louis Armstrong, while several brass bands go marching in, New Orleans style. Artist-in-residence Moran will play a set on each festival day, introducing a brand new trio and his joyful elegy for the late pianist, singer and entertainer Fats Waller. On the last day he will share the stage with his wife, the soprano Alicia Hall Moran, and world-class guitarist Bill Frisell, that night’s headliner. \ Tom Peeters

faMilY Ostend Sand Sculpture Festival: Ostend’s annual sand sculpture festival returns, once more in collaboration with Disneyland Paris. “Frozen Summer Fun” is an only slightly incongruous presentation of characters from the hit animated film Frozen. Until 6 September, Zeeheldenplein

Rotselaar

max Pinckers

Centrale for Contemporary art, Brussels cEntralE-art.BE

Up-and-coming photographer Max Pinckers placed at last year’s Art’Contest prize with this Bollywood-inspired series titled Will They Sing Like Raindrops or Leave Me Thirsty. The secret to the Brussels-born artist’s success is above all his understanding of irony. While many contemporary artists

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visUal arts until 30 august

80 Days of Summer: The photographic extravaganza enters its home stretch. Cultural institutions across Ghent joined forces to celebrate diversity with 27 exhibitions of work by over 20 international artists. Until 30 August

fetishize kitsch as an end in itself, Pinckers uses it as a point of entry into everyday life. In this case, the images spawned by India’s culture industry may be stylised and choreographed but, when handled with care, they can still tell us something about the collective experience of courtship, love and marriage. \ GV

Piknik Musik: The final summer edition of this nomadic family picnic event unfolds on the shore of Rotselaar’s scenic lake. The concept combines artisanal cuisine cooked up by locals and lounge music spun by equally local DJs. 16 August, 13.00, Meer van Rotselaar \ piknikmusik.be

MUsic festival eeklo Helden in Het Park: This grassroots festival celebrates world music with weekly open-air concerts. The last two evenings feature Caribbean reggae and West African fusion respectively. 13 & 20 August, 20.00, Heldenpark \ heldeninhetpark.be

Brussels

festival

faMilY

Paulusfeesten until 16 august

mechelen Kinderstrand sint-Petrus-en-Paulusplein, Ostend

Ostend’s signature street festival turns 43 this year, and the seaside city is celebrating with a week’s worth of open-air concerts, street theatre, games and more. Paulusfeesten may be smaller and younger than the Gentse Feesten, but it, too, fuses local folk history and contemporary life, with an emphasis on Flemish and Dutch

PaulusfEEstEn.BE

culture. The programme features dozens of performers, including Amsterdam’s premiere surf-rock group Phantom Four. Another highlight is an exhibition chronicling the local music scene over the decades. Photographer JeanJacques Soenen presents snapshots of Marvin Gaye, Arno and other famous faces. \ GV

until 15 august Mechelen’s Grote Markt is temporarily transformed into a sandy beach for the delight of young and old. This kinderstrand has almost everything you’ll find on the coast, from the cabanas to the beach games. Its ersatz sea may be an inflatable pool but, by way of compensation, Mechelen boasts a unique beach attraction: a medieval cathedral. So there. Special events include an epic late-afternoon picnic for families (13 August) and closing concert by mononymous Belgian teen pop sensation Laura (15 August, pictured).

grote Markt, Mechelen KindErstad.mEcHElEn.BE

Brussels Summer Festival: The capital’s musical blowout is back with over 100 international acts sharing several open-air stages across the city. This year’s headliners include British electronic band Archive and Flemish hard-rock trip Triggerfinger. 14-23 August \ bsf.be

special event Diksmuide Park op Stelten: Diksmuide goes retro with this all-day arts festival dedicated to midcentury nostalgia. In addition to mimes, vintage puppets and other period performers, there’s a classic car show and a live band covering the hits of the 1960s. 15 August, 13.30, Stadspark \ diksmuide.be

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august 12, 2015

Talking Dutch

voices of flanders todaY

Brain drain

Mille @xMilleex APPRECIATION!!! MY CONCERT BRUSSELS #1DFanArmyVoteAttack #Directioners

t’s getting harder to handle all the technology we’re supposed to be using. So people are checking Facebook while cooking dinner, or reading their emails while driving to work. It now turns out that this frantic multitasking is wrecking our brains. We zitten in volle breincrisis – We’re experiencing total brain wipeout, according to Flemish neuropsychologist Elke Geraerts in De Standaard. So turn off your devices. Now. Here’s what can happen if you don’t stop multitasking. Uitputting – exhaustion, twijfelen aan je eigen competenties – doubts about your own competence, en een groeiend cynisme tegenover je job – and a growing cynicism towards your job. Het zijn typische symptomen van een burn-out – These are typical symptoms of burnout, she warns. Geraerts describes herself as gepassioneerd door mentale gezondheid – passionate about mental health, wetenschapper – scientist, psycholoog – psychologist, schrijfster – writer. She also runs a company called Better Minds at Work. And now, on top of all of that, she’s written a book called Mentaal Kapitaal – Mind Capital. Je kan de indruk hebben dat je tegelijk telefoneert en autorijdt – You can tell yourself that you’re driving and phoning at the same time, she says, maar in werkelijkheid doe je maar een van de twee – but the truth is that you can only do one of the two. Je brein doet niets anders dan de hele tijd heen en terugschakelen – Your brain is simply switching constantly backwards and forwards. Some of her insights should make us think twice before we respond to the ping of a new message.

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Ing im age

Wanneer je met een taak bezig bent – When you’re busy with a task, en die onderbreekt om een mail te lezen – and you break off to read an email, duurt het gemiddeld 25 minuten voor je je aandacht weer volledig op de eerste taak kan richten – it takes an average of 25 minutes before you can turn your attention back fully to the first task. Geraerts describes clearly how our brains are in a spin because of new technologies and flexible working hours – waardoor we zelden de rust krijgen die we nodig hebben – which means we rarely get the peace we need. Er is niets goeds aan multitasken – There’s nothing good about multitasking, Geraerts insists. Multitaskers zijn veertig procent minder productief – multitaskers are 40% less productive, terwijl ze denken dat ze veel meer doen – although they think they’re doing more. Geraerts helpfully suggests ways we can make ourselves more happy – leren prioriteiten te stellen – learn to create a list of priorities – en je niet te laten afleiden door kleine taakjes – and not to be distracted by minor tasks. She also wants you to let your thoughts wander from time to time and occasionally to make yourself unavailable. You can follow Geraerts on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. But maybe you should just switch off. Now.

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Poll

a. I’m all for it. Taste matters more than looks. Who cares if a cucumber is a bit bendy?

78% b. They’ve been on sale forever in neighbourhood shops. If you’re still buying from the supermarket, you’re throwing away your money

22% c. Growers were pushed by supermarkets for years to produce uniform fruit & veg. It’s a bit rich for a chain to change its tune now

0% a rather large nose. Or possibly big toe. All of you were in favour, in one way or another, with the principle of selling this odd-looking produce – crooked carrots, two aubergines fusedintoone,parsnipswithmultiple roots – at economical prices. A small number are already aware that ugly vegetables can already be

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bought for decent prices at ethnic grocers and some street markets. The rest were perfectly content to trade off good looks for cut prices according to Delhaize’s plan, which involves a lucky-dip sort of box for €3.99. Which makes you wonder who imagined we all wanted identical, uniform fruit and veggies in the first place.

The law on legal forms of medical marijuana in Belgium is unclear and needs to be clarified, two youth parties agree. What do you think? Log in to the Flanders Today website at flanderstoday.eu and click on VOTE!

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Lior Steinberg @LiorSteinberg San Francisco? Rio? Tel Aviv? This free urban beach is actually in Brussels! #placemaking

Guardian Travel @GuardianTravel Instagram snapshots: #Ghent through the eyes of locals http://t.gu.com/QpesS

Alexander Rybak @AlexanderRybak Today I’m getting help from @Kristofgoffin and his lovely crew :) #Love #Belgium #Antwerp https://instagram. com/p/6KPUtRGFtw/

In response to: Flemish shepherd breathes life into old practice Bill Fosher The ancient practice of shepherds not combing their hair. I continue this tradition as well.

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the last Word

delhaize has started testing the sale of “ugly veggies” – vegetables that turned out a bit oddly shaped – at a special low price. what do you think?

What a perfect story for what Dutch speakers call komkommertijd (Cucumber time), the summer months when hard news tends to be in short supply. So headlines last week went to Delhaize as they put “ugly veggies” on sale cheap and drew the public in with their ad campaign sporting a tomato that looks like it has

Nicolas Dalby @DalbyMMA Just arrived at the bjjglobetrotters Summercamp in Leuven, Belgium

Hell on wheels

“He has no idea how he managed to win. He said only that he had seriously underestimated the course.” Lien Allegaert of Kortrijk, whose husband Kristof just won the Trans-Siberian Extreme cycle race, 9,195-kilometres long, with a 13-hour lead on the number two

day tripper

“My first reaction was, this must be a joke.”

Roland Vanslembrouck of Zedelgem received his free De Lijn public transport pass in time for his 65th birthday on 31 August. Free travel for the over-65s will disappear on 1 September

there’s a word for that “Heyo/Heyah mama di heyo/ Heyah mama di heyo/Hé héhé hé héhé héhé.” Chinese boy band The Flowers are accused of plagiarising the refrain from the K3 song “Heyah Mama”

new queue debut

“We tried the system out in Schoten and Bièrges, and experiences were positive. Eight out of 10 customers thought it was better and faster than the classic checkout.” Baptiste De Outryve, spokesperson for Carrefour, which is trying out a single-line queue in one of its Brussels supermarkets

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