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january 27, 2016 \ newsweekly - € 0,75 \ read more at www.flanderstoday.eu current affairs \ p2

politics \ p4

Good news for Vorst

German car manufacturer Audi has announced that it will build its new electric car in its Brussels factory \6

BUSiNESS \ p6

innovation \ p7

Digi-what?

education \ p9

art & living \ p10

The Devil’s Bell

Flemish research centre iMinds has released its annual survey and claims we’re suffering from “digibesity”

Did you know that there is a bell cast by the devil in Leuven? And a haunted tower in Zichem? Don’t miss our new series on Mysterious Flanders

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Smart and the city

© Courtesy iMinds

New project transforms Antwerp into massive digital laboratory Ian Mundell follow Ian on Twitter \ @IanMundell

A new, large-scale project is wiring up much of Antwerp so that researchers, companies and policymakers can test digital products and services in real-life conditions

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ou might not notice it happening, but Antwerp is turning into a laboratory. The fabric of the city is being wired up so that new ideas for digital products and services can be tested in real-life conditions. People are also participating, becoming voluntary guinea pigs in experiments that aim to improve urban life.

The project is called the City of Things, a reference to the Internet of Things, the idea that everyday objects can be made to communicate across digital networks. For instance, cars will be able to communicate with each other and with traffic management systems about the congestion they are experiencing. Public waste bins will be smart enough to phone home when they need emptying, and smart pill cases will warn an elderly person’s caregiver when they have forgotten to take their medicine.

The idea behind the City of Things is to offer Antwerp as a testing ground for these kinds of ideas, whether they come from academic researchers, start-up companies or more established businesses. “We want to explore, together with the city, how you can use this data generated by smart objects to improve the city, and how we can open it up to start-ups and citizens,” says Davor Meersman, strategic leader of the City of Things project.

The smart objects he is talking about might be machines, like cars, or sensors distributed around town recording things like air quality and temperature. But they can also be people, thanks to the smartphones in almost everyone’s pockets. The way people move through the city, and the information they supply about what they’re doing, can also become part of the system.

Meersman is part of iMinds, the digital research centre that brings together digitally minded academics from the universities of Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Hasselt and Leuven. Some 20 of its people are currently working directly

on the City of Things project.

Experts from Antwerp University are working on the hardware necessary to get the project up and running, while researchers from Ghent University are overseeing data handling. The Free University of Brussels (VUB) is covering public participation in the project and also looking at business models for the internet of things.

The first priority has been to establish the networks that allow objects to communicate. Rather than pick one standard, such as wi-fi, Bluetooth or the networks used by smartphones, the researchers decided to combine all of these protocols (and more) in a single Internet of Things gateway connected to the city’s fibre optic network.

Getting these different systems to work side by side, without interfering with each other or tripping each other up, was not easy. For a while, the project held its breath.

“But now we have installed our very first gateway, it is operational, and we have validated the architecture,” says Bart Braem, technology lead for the project. “Now we are certain continued on page 5

\ CURRENT AFFAIRS

Diesel cars out of favour

After tax changes, sales on cars that run on diesel down by 41% in Flanders Andy Furniere More articles by Andy \ flanderstoday.eu

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eople in Flanders are buying fewer diesel cars, according to car registrations during the first 20 days of the year. Since 1 January, the Flemish government’s fiscal system concerning the sale of cars has changed in support of more environmentally friendly alternatives.

Buyers must now pay higher taxes for a car running on diesel, less for a car that runs on petrol and no taxes on electric cars or those that run on natural gas, which also attract a subsidy of up to €5,000.

In the first 20 days of 2016, individuals and companies registered 3,679 new diesel cars, not including lease vehicles,

compared to 6,247 in the same period last year. The total number of registrations also decreased by 15% on last year.

Motor industry federation Febiac suspects the fiscal measures encouraged many people to buy a diesel before the new legislation was introduced. Figures from the lease car market, which traditionally favours diesel cars, are not yet known.

Lease cars are not eligible for the subsidy on electric cars.

Support for electric cars is having a positive, if still limited, effect. The number of electric cars registered in the first 20 days of January has more than doubled, from 38 last year to 90 this year.

© Ingimage

Bruges bans traffic from main shopping streets on weekends

Police to file complaint against British student who alleged assault

Bruges city council has approved a proposal to close the main streets in the city centre to traffic on Saturdays and on each first Sunday of the month. The plan takes force on 1 February. The main shopping streets have been bus-free since 1 January, after routes were amended in agreement with De Lijn.

The first weekend affected is 6 and 7 February, which will see the city centre's main streets – Steenstraat, Geldmuntstraat, Noordzandstraat and Zuidzandstraat – closed to motorised traffic from 10.00 to 18.00. The ban also applies to the familiar horse-drawn carriages carrying tourists.

The streets affected lead directly to the city's historic centre. Tourists lodging in the centre can obtain a permit to drive to and

Police in Sint-Gillis in Brussels are planning to file a complaint against a British student who reported he had been violently assaulted by local officers.

Elliot Meredith, 21, wrote on Facebook last week: “After a work night out whilst ordering food in a take-away on Sunday morning, I was violently arrested, taken to a police station and systematically physically and mentally abused over a two-hour period before being released without even being questioned or charged with a crime.” He went on to describe how he was beaten and humiliated while handcuffed.

He also posted photos showing facial injuries. The story was picked up by the media, by which time Meredith had

from their hotels. Permits are also available for persons of limited mobility, and residents can obtain a temporary permit to use the streets when necessary. “With these measures we hope to make the new pedestrian zone in the city centre a safe and peaceful place for everyone,” said mobility alderwoman Annick Lambrecht.

The car-free weekends are part of a larger pedestrian plan in the city, which will also see a complete reconstruction of the major square ’t Zand, located next to the Concertgebouw. A mosaic will be created on the square, which will be completely open, with the central fountain being moved to another location. Once the Zand project is complete, cars will no longer be able to drive around the square. \ Alan Hope

returned to the UK and left the case in the hands of his lawyer. “We are becoming more and more convinced that he is exaggerating,” said Charles Picqué, mayor of Sint-Gillis. “It looks as if the young man started the violence himself, so we’re planning to file a complaint.”

Meredith hit one of the officers, said Picqué, to the extent that he had to take several days off work.

Brussels MP Johan Van den Driessche said: “The allegations have to be investigated to the fullest, and if they appear to be accurate, we must also see how a climate is able to be created within the police force where this sort of inhuman behaviour is allowed to exist.” \ AH

Jan Fabre’s company Troubleyn celebrates 30th anniversary Thirty years after he founded the Troubleyn theatre and dance company, Jan Fabre, one of Flanders’ most famous living artists, is celebrating with a year of events.

Many will be held in the former Ring Theatre in Antwerp’s Seefhoek neighbourhood, which Fabre acquired in 2007.

The building, now called Troubleyn/Laboratorium, houses a team of 20 performers and provides Fabre with the space he needs for his multidisciplinary work.

First up is the launch of The Box – a set of 17 CDs containing five documentaries about the artist and 12 performances, all filmed since 2000. Next month comes the publication of Troubleyn/Laboratorium. Illustrated with numerous photos, the book provides a glimpse into the company’s operations over the past decade.

In September, Fabre will become the first living artist to hold a solo show at the famous Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The installation will occupy 30 rooms and was

personally commissioned by the museum’s director, Mikhail Piotrovsky. The exhibition will be curated by Dimitri Ozerkov, who was in charge of the recent renovation of the Hermitage’s contemporary art wing.

In November and December, attention turns back to Troubleyn/Laboratorium with two events: Fabre meets Kantor and Nachtschrijver (Night Writer). The first is a homage to Tadeusz Kantor (1915-1990), Fabre’s teacher and an internationally renowned artist. It will include an exhibition of Kantor’s paintings and drawings, a film evening, workshop and a symposium.

Nachtschrijver will see three actors bring Fabre’s idea-universe to life. The performance is based around Nachtboek I (197884) and Nachtboek II (1985-91) in which Fabre collected his ideas, inventions, discoveries and confessions as his imagination kept him awake at night.

Fabre’s monumental 24-hour performance piece, Mount Olympus: To Glorify the Cult of Tragedy (pictured), also continues its tour of major cities this year. Performances are scheduled in Antwerp this month and Brussels in September, and both are already sold out. \ Dan Smith

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sightings of deer in the Sonien Forest in 2015, down from 108 in 2014 and 154 in 2013. According to researchers, the growing density of groundcover is a hindrance for the deer population

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trains went through a red light in 2015, up from 66 in 2014 and the worst result in five years, according to rail company Infrabel, which stressed that the total number of journeys is 1.3 million

of hotels in the capital suffered a serious loss of business during the terrorist lockdown in November.

Half of all businesses suffered a loss of more than 20% of income.

abandoned cars found in the waterways of Flanders managed

by De Scheepvaart in 2015, up from 33 in 2014. The company manages 316km of canals in Antwerp and Limburg provinces

minutes to raise €1 million in financing by Brussels-based MyMicroinvest, a crowd-funding platform, which held a live event to raise money for its own operations.

The final total came to €1.6 million

january 27, 2016

WEEK in brief The government of Flanders has made €11 million available for urban renewal projects across the region. Applicant municipalities are asked to consider sustainability and architectural quality in their proposals.

Iodine pills, which help prevent thyroid cancer, should be distributed to everyone in Belgium in the event of a nuclear accident, and the area around the plant in which residents should stay indoors needs to be extended from a radius of 10 to 20 kilometres, according to the scientific committee of the federal nuclear safety regulator, Fanc. The regulator stressed that the advice is not related to recent events in the nuclear industry.

Goonawarra, one of the two koalas in Antwerp Zoo, has died following a brief illness. The 11-year-old male became ill and refused to eat. Goonawarra transferred to the zoo from Planckendael last summer, together with partner Guwara, leaving their son Oobi Ooobi behind to be mated when a suitable female arrives.

Koalas in captivity mate with difficulty, but Planckendael has had nine healthy births since 1998.

Vilvoorde mayor Hans Bonte has threatened to boycott the antiterror plan announced by home affairs minister Jan Jambon unless his city receives extra police and resources. Jambon’s Canal Plan covers seven Brussels districts, including Sint-Gillis, Anderlecht and Molenbeek as well as Vilvoorde.

The plan involves carrying out house checks and a campaign to rein back the black economy. Bonte warned his city would withhold the expertise it has built up over the years on radicalised youth and Syria-fighters unless his demands were met.

A 34-year-old American woman who became known as the Horror Nanny has been sentenced to four years in prison, three of them

face of flanders suspended, for breaking the wrists of two children she was employed to look after during a family holiday in Knokke. Aubrey Alta Anderson, was originally convicted in absentia and sentenced to four years without suspension. The case was reheard by a Bruges court after she voluntarily returned to Belgium.

partner Amelie Derbaudrenghien.

Michel, who has a teenage son from a previous relationship, is the first serving prime minister to become a father while in office. Michel, who is also the country’s youngest prime minister ever, cancelled a visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos for the birth.

Shipping police last week detained four men suspected of transporting cocaine using a sports fishing boat off the coast of Nieuwpoort. Traces of cocaine were found on €10,000 in cash discovered on the boat after it ran aground. Less than a week before, another four anglers were rescued off Zeebrugge during a storm, when more than 100kg of cocaine was discovered.

Police are investigating a possible link between the two cases.

Queen Mathilde has been officially installed as a UN ambassador for sustainable development. The ceremony was carried out by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week. Others given the title were Argentinean footballer Lionel Messi, Colombian pop singer Shakira and American actor Forest Whitaker.

Ten shopping areas in Brussels will receive their own promotional campaign, in the ongoing effort by Brussels tourism agency Visit Brussels to improve the city’s image following last year’s links to terror attacks. The agency will spend €400,000 on ideas voted on by the public for promotional efforts in shopping streets in the city centre.

The first ideas will be up for a vote in March.

Taxi unions, employers and government inspectors have reached what one union representative called “a historic agreement” to combat social and fiscal fraud and create a “level playing field” in the taxi sector. The agreement was arrived at after news that inspectors found that 27% of taxi drivers had not paid proper social security taxes in 2014.

Uber was not represented in the agreement; according to secretary of state for fighting social fraud, Bart Tommelein, his office will begin talks with the alternative taxi service.

Prime minister Charles Michel has announced the birth of a daughter, Jeanne, born on Thursday to his

OFFSIDE Carnivalesque It’s been said that the annual celebration of Carnival, for the people of the East Flanders city of Aalst, is as serious as a religion. In fact, it’s much more important than that.

Take the case of Christophe Corthals, known as Cali, who entered the competition to be named this year’s Prins Carnaval – the master of ceremonies for the gigantic celebration Aalst puts on.

Cali took the contest so seriously he gave up his job as a bricklayer to devote himself full time, and by his own estimation spent €20,000 on lost income and expenses.

It came right down to the wire, like in a movie, but he was pipped

Home affairs minister Jan Jambon has confirmed an investigation into the contract for the construction of a new prison in BrusselsCity. The contract was awarded to the consortium Cafasso by the federal buildings agency, but when an MP asked to see the papers, he was told no written contract exists.

The plans for the prison have been heavily criticised by locals and environmental organisations. The deal was made in 2013, before Jambon and his party took office. “We have nothing to hide,” he said last week.

“We are co-operating with full transparency.”

Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois is looking into changing the formula of the Flemish Community Day celebrations, according to a letter from parliament chair Jan Peumans leaked to the news agency Belga. According to the letter, Bourgeois would like to change the venue from Brussels city hall to somewhere more Flemish, such as the Royal Flemish Theatre (KVS). At present, the 11 July ceremony in city hall involves a speech by Peumans and a reply from one of the aldermen of the city. The idea will be examined by the Flemish parliament’s steering committee.

© Courtesy EU Commission

Jos Delbeke Every year, the Flemish Association for Management and Policy gives out a prize for the government manager of the year to recognise the work of a senior civil servant. This year’s prize goes, rather unusually, to an official of the European Union.

granted that all EU states need to work together.”

The award praises him for his management qualities, his scientific approach – he was among the first to apply cost-benefit analysis to environmental policy – and the drive he applies

An ambitious climate policy doesn’t work against a healthy economy Jos Delbeke has been director-general for climate action since 2010. The title somewhat disguises the fact that, as the main negotiator in all of the EU’s talks with other countries within the United Nations’ climate conferences, he’s a strong contender as the most important civil servant in the world.

Not bad for a Leuven graduate in economics who, when he joined the commission in 1986, never gave much of a second thought to the environment. His first job was in social affairs.

“When I switched to environment it was a new chapter that had just been added to the Treaty of Rome,” he told the University of Leuven’s newspaper back in 2012. “Now everyone takes it for

to his work. He’s also an innovator, who more or less created the system of trade in carbon dioxide emissions rights, which has been shown to provide benefits where it is applied correctly.

(There have also been abuses.)

In a recent interview with De Standaard, he turned his view from the wider world to Flanders and the government’s environmental performance. “It’s a pity we’re not front-runners because some Flemish businesses certainly are,” he said.

“Imec is a leader in the technology of solar panels, and Hansen Transmissions are in the same position with wind turbines. An ambitious climate policy absolutely doesn’t work against a healthy economy.” \ Alan Hope

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

WWW.PORTOFANTWERP.COM

at the post and lost to the favourite, Dennis De Wolf, by only four points. It was the smallest winning margin in the contest’s history.

But Cali was so unwilling to admit defeat that he applied to consult the written test paper which had been his downfall. Accompanied by a bailiff, he discovered one question had been marked as wrong, when in fact, he says, his answer was correct.

What is a new carnival event referred to? “Eerste Nacht van de Toezichters” (First Night of the Supervisors) or simply “Nacht van de Toezichters”. Cali wrote the former. The jury said the latter.

© Cali (left) and the ultimate winner, Dennis De Wolf

Cali says that he deserves the five points the question was worth, which would put him one point ahead of Dennis. He is currently seeking legal advice and then will decide whether to file an official complaint. \ AH

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

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

Editorial address Gossetlaan 30 - 1702 Groot-Bijgaarden tel 02 467 23 06 editorial@flanderstoday.eu subscriptions tel 03 560 17 49 subscriptions@flanderstoday.eu or order online at www.flanderstoday.eu Advertising 02 467 24 37 advertising@flanderstoday.eu Verantwoordelijke uitgever Hans De Loore

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\ POLITICS

5TH COLUMN Never let me go

Flanders’ minister-president Geert Bourgeois (N-VA) would like the official reception on 11 July, Flemish Community Day, to move out of Brussels’ city hall to a different location. The building has become too small, he said.

Bourgeois’ idea was rejected by all other parties, though.

The location, they argued, is symbolic.

Flanders’ relationship with Brussels – the capital not just of Belgium but also of Flanders – is rather complex. The official, political line has always been that Flanders “will not let go of Brussels”. This oft-used phrase does not refer to splitting up the country, but rather to a protectiveness towards the Flemish minority in the capital.

The multicultural and multilingual capital was originally a Flemish city, with a Dutch dialect as its language. Like in many European capitals, French became en vogue as it was the language used at court.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, switching to French was a means to social promotion.

Those Flemish that held on to their language were viewed as uneducated and backwards, and they suffered unequal treatment at the hands of the authorities.

An emancipation struggle, in which Flanders “would not let go of Brussels”, has changed all that. Now, some would say, the tables have turned, with the Dutch speakers being among the city’s most trendsetting.

Brussels is a region unto itself, but its Dutch speakers are very much part of the official Flemish Community, which has its own schools, cultural and welfare institutions in the capital. The rights of the Flemish political minority are firmly protected – and the annual reception at city hall proves it.

Enjoying the fruits of a struggle they did not have to fight themselves, the Flemish in Brussels have begun to relax about their identity and the use of Dutch.

They are urban dwellers first and foremost, using whatever language suits the situation.

This sets them off from the rest of the Flemish.

People from the capital often consider themselves great cosmopolitans and tend to look down on other Flemings’ presumed narrow-mindedness. To many people in Flanders, Brusselaars are like creatures from another planet, and they are stunned at the ease with which the people that once needed protection drop their native tongue.

In this respect, there is a lot they can learn from each other.

Maybe that is the best reason for Flanders to not let go of Brussels. \ Anja Otte

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Harsh audit for NMBS

Government’s Court of Auditors takes rail authority to task Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

The federal government’s Court of Auditors, which scrutinises all expenditures, is about to produce a report severely criticising the national rail authority NMBS and the rail infrastructure company Infrabel, according to an advance copy obtained by the daily newspaper Le Soir.

The audit was requested by the federal parliament’s infrastructure committee in order to examine the various obligations of the two government enterprises in return for the subsidies they receive.

The court of auditors found “dozens” of areas where the two enterprises failed to meet their obligations, including quality of service. The NMBS failed, the audit said, to take account of complaints from the committee of rail users.

The NMBS was also lax in providing information to the government’s mobility ministry under claims that the information was confidential or commercially sensitive.

The report also cites a failure of the rail authorities to keep up checks on infrastructure and rolling stock as a result of shortages of manpower.

© Yves Herman/Reuters/Corbis

Crevits preparing action plan to reduce red tape in education

Culture sector unhappy with latest subsidies

Flemish education minister Hilde Crevits is preparing a major action plan to reduce red tape in education. Teachers and school directors are devoting too much of their time to administration, leaving too little time for the business of teaching and guidance, she said.

About a year ago, the minister launched Operation Tarra to investigate the problem. The government asked the education sector to submit ideas for improvement, which resulted in about 700 proposals and remarks.

Education staff complained about the vagueness and excessive number of eindtermen – the final requirements for students to graduate – and frequently changing regulations, such as those on internships and safety measures.

All the proposals have been collected under seven themes, including curricula, digitalisation, career trajectories and inspections. This will lead to a concrete action plan by this summer, Crevits said.

The government of Flanders will also take schools into account

Flemish culture minister Sven Gatz has announced the latest round of project subsidies granted by his office. Project subsidies – distinct from structural subsidies, which keep cultural companies alive with longerterm support – consist in this round of 74 grants to organisations or individual artists, for a total value of €2.27 million.

The department known as stage arts, which includes theatre and cabaret, expressed its disappointed with the grants. Gatz had said he would be tough on that sector, to allow more room to finance other fields such as visual arts, which have historically received lower subsidies.

Only projects that were rated by the culture ministry’s committees as “very good” on an artistic and business basis received a grant, in each case equivalent to the lowest amount in a range suggested by the committees.

Only four organisations received more than €100,000: music house Silence Fini, prose, poetry and theatre festival Feel Estate and music festival Boomtown, all in Ghent, and a project at the Free University of Brussels (VUB). Theatre director Miet Warlop receives €99,000. Other highly regarded companies have not been granted anything.

The current round concerns only companies that receive no structural subsidy, and according to Bart Caron (Groen), chair in the Flemish parliament of the culture committee, Gatz’s subsidy policy is missing its target.

“Project subsidies are a long way from providing the innovation the arts sector needs,” he said. “Young artists are being left out in the cold. If there is no drastic change to the relationship between structural and project subsidies, then we are on our way to creating an extremely conservative sector,” he said. \ AH

© Hero Images/Corbis

when amending or implementing new regulations outside of education, Crevits said. Making regulations “school-proof ” means that the impact on schools will be considered when taking decisions. The government also wants to make sure that education staff don’t have to report to multiple government departments.

Crevits pointed to several measures to reduce red tape that have already been taken. The government recently digitised wage slips and abolished the requirement of doctor’s notes to battle “luxury truancy” – the custom of children being absent from the last day or days before a school holiday because of family trips. \ Andy Furniere

Jambon asks EU for more facial screening at Brussels Airport Brussels Airport should scan the faces of all passengers travelling to or from a country outside the Schengen zone, according to home affairs minister Jan Jambon. Jambon’s proposal, which he was due to present to his EU counterparts as Flanders Today went to press, aims to tighten up security against criminals and those travelling to fight in Syria.

Every day, about 46,000 passengers pass through the six automatic security gates equipped with facial recognition scanners. These compare the photo on a passenger’s passport with a scan of their face.

The equipment is also able to compare the scan to a database of photos of wanted criminals, including those returning from having fought in Syria.

“Criminals seek the line of least resistance,” a spokesperson for Jambon said. “That forces us to close every gap we can find. At airports, that’s relatively easy, compared, for example, to land borders.”

In March, another 18 scanners will be installed, a development welcomed by unions representing security personnel, which are also demanding additional personnel. If more criminals are detected by the scanners, union representative Kurt Callaert said, more staff will be required to deal with them.

Jambon’s proposal also requires the approval of the EU, as a policy of systematic checks on EU citizens is not in keeping with rules on free movement. According to Jambon’s office, there is already a consensus in favour among other interior ministers. \ AH

First Flemish Council for Animal Welfare launched The Flemish Council for Animal Welfare, an advisory body to the government of Flanders, has held its first session. The Council was established last year, after animal welfare became the responsibility of the regions rather than the state.

According to a statement, all stakeholders are represented in the new council, including veterinarians, industry, consumers and animal rights workers.

Two changes from the previous federal council are representatives from animal shelters and the retail sector.

The council includes animal shelter representatives from each province as they often have different priorities. Limburg, for example, has trouble with neglect of horses, while cattle are a huge industry in West Flanders.

The retail sector is also represented for the first time, through the trade federation Comeos.

This sector can play an important role, according to Flem-

© Courtesy Ingimage

ish animal welfare minister Ben Weyts. “Think, for example, of supermarket chains that don’t sell battery eggs or meat from castrated pigs,” he said.

Chair of the council is science and ethics professor Dirk Lips of the University of Leuven, who previously chaired the federal council.

Together with four other scientists, his task is to ensure that the advice of the body is scientifically founded.

Weyts is expecting that the council will make help make Flanders a European frontrunner in animal welfare issues. \ AF

\ COVER STORY

january 27, 2016

Getting smart in the city

City of Things asks residents of Antwerp to act as guinea pigs in digital project iminds.be

continued from page 1

we can move ahead.” The goal is to deploy 100 of these gateways, allowing information to pass in and out of the system anywhere in the city.

The gateways will also evolve as new standards become available and ideas change about which protocol is the best for smart city applications such as these. “It might not even have been invented yet,” says Braem. “And in that respect we’re trying to be as flexible as possible and to make sure we can include the newest technologies and enable experimentation.”

Meanwhile, the City of Things is also installing its own LoRa network, a kind that can cover a wide area but demands very little energy from the devices that connect with it. As such, it is ideal for picking up signals from small sensors, able to run off a simple battery for months or even years.

“I always compare it to a cellular network,” says Braem. “It allows us to have a better coverage of the city for all kinds of things at these very low-power consumption rates.”

The LoRa network will eventually cover an area of 80 square kilometres.

People are another important element of the City of Things, turning it into a “living lab” by agreeing to participate in tests of new digital products and services. One source of these people is the telephone company Mobile Vikings, which is a partner in the City of Things project. It encourages its users to volunteer as guinea pigs to try out new apps or participate in projects, such as agreeing to have their locations tracked as they cross the city.

Even though such people are involved on a voluntary basis, close attention is payed to privacy in the project. A team of experts from the universities of Ghent, Brussels and Leuven have prepared a privacy impact assessment, and their recommendations have been passed on to the engineers so that privacy protection is designed into the system.

“I really wanted to get that right,” says Meersman. “All the information will be anonymous. It will be impossible to infer who somebody is based on, for example, putting different data sources together.”

Similarly, if someone who participates in the living lab wants to stop, they can either bank their data for future use, or take it away.

“It’s going to be a very transparent and user-friendly approach to privacy.”

Companies interested in testing their ideas in the City of Things will start to get involved from this summer. The project is open to suggestions, but it also has EU funding to spend on commission-

© Courtesy Stamp Media

Residents are involved in The City of Things on a voluntary basis, and all the information gathered will be anonymous

ing companies, and in particular start-ups, to address strategic priorities related to mobility and the city’s port.

This is part of a wider EU initiative called Select for Cities, which involves Antwerp, Copenhagen and Helsinki. Over the next three years, the cities have a total of €5.6 million to spend.

Meanwhile, some early test cases are shaping up. The first comes from Rombit, a local start-up that won the Apps for Antwerp competition in 2015 with A*Sign, which

wants to improve temporary parking restrictions in the city.

At present, if someone wants the parking suspended in front of their house to accommodate a moving van, for example, they are given a pair of metal signboards to mark off the space. These often disappear in the course of their service, sometimes reappearing later in less formal attempts to manipulate parking. This costs the city money, and confuses the public.

Rombit’s idea is to computerise the whole system and make it

© Benoit Vermeeren/Take Off Antwerp

From left: Jorik Rombouts, Olivier Deckers and Ramses Zeulevoet of Apps for Antwerp contest winner Rombit

possible to book parking suspensions online and to check where they are in force. The signboards themselves will be equipped with screens to show the period that the parking is restricted and a location device to ensure that it is

on a larger scale so that you would have vehicles driving around the city measuring air quality on a continual basis,” Meersman explains. “Then policymakers, researchers and companies can use this data to make decisions, to

Policymakers, researchers and companies can use this data to make decisions in the right place. This device will also help track down wandering signs.

The City of Things will help test the system in several ways. Participants in the living lab will give their feedback on the website and apps, while prototype signs can be tested using digital networks that are already deployed in the city for water metering. If it works as planned, Rombit hopes to offer the system to other Belgian cities as well.

Another project that is just getting under way involves equipping Bpost delivery vehicles with sensors to measure air quality in real time as they pass through the city. This is being developed with Brussels start-up Communithings.

“The idea would be to deploy that

develop new products, to suggest improvements and so on.”

Meanwhile, in the port there is a plan to design drones – light, unmanned flying machines – that can offer assistance during emergencies. “Let’s say there is an explosion in a chemical installation,” Meersman says. “The drone can fly there and with its camera start informing the emergency services that are on their way.”

Each drone will also have one of the City of Things gateways on board. “Through the gateway, it can pick up signals from sensors on the ground regarding the type of gas cloud emanating from the site.” This project, which is already under way, is being developed by Rombit and telecoms company Mobistar.

\5

\ BUSINESS

week in business Banking Mobistar The French Orange group, parent company of the local telecoms operator, has plans to launch a mobile banking affiliate in 2017. The new operation will be rolled out on the Belgian market soon after.

Brewing AB InBev The world’s largest brewer, based in Leuven, is investing €50 million to increase bottling capacity in its Liège unit to produce a further 120,000 bottles an hour of Leffe. The company is also considering an investment in its Sint-Pieters-Leeuw unit, specialised in the production of the Belle Vue Gueuze.

Flooring IVC The producer of floor coverings, based in Avelgem, West Flanders, is investing €185 million to double capacity of its vinyl parquets production units worldwide.

Lighting Option The Leuven-based microprocessors and technology firm has acquired the Netherlands’ Lemnis and Innolumis, specialised in LED lighting used in smart public lighting. Option is confident it can develop the activities by integrating its own technologies in the equipment, such as identifying free parking spaces, recognising registration plates and CO2 measurements.

Retail Veritas The accessories and textiles chain, based in Kontich, Antwerp province, will soon open its first shop in France, near Paris. Veritas has 126 outlets in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany.

Shipping Euronav The Antwerp-based tanker shipping group has sold one of its oldest tankers for $38 million, capitalising on the strong maritime transport and storage demand.

Tourism Westoer The West Flanders tourism authority has announced that 17 million people visited the Flemish coast last year.

Transport VDL The Roeselaere-based bus manufacturer has signed a contract to supply 40 electric buses to the Dutch city of Eindhoven, which has decided to operate all its public transport with electricity-powered vehicles by 2020.

\6

Brussels gets Audi’s new SUV

Vorst factory to produce German manufacturer’s new electric vehicle Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

G

erman car manufacturer Audi has announced that it will build its new electric SUV at its factory in Vorst in Brussels from 2018. The factory will also produce batteries for other models.

The news has been expected for some time, since production of the A1 vehicle was moved from Vorst to a factory in Spain. In October, unions claimed to have inside knowledge that the new model (pictured) would come to Vorst, but the company has only now confirmed the decision.

Also in October, the federal government announced a subsidy of €100 million to allow the construction of a new electric vehicle in Vorst, on top of a package of €35 million from the three regions. Audi’s total investment in the new line comes to around €600 million.

© Courtesy Audi

“This is outstanding news for Belgium and for employment,” said prime minister Charles Michel. “Audi will keep its Vorst factory open and invest in its future with a high-technology product. That makes us very happy.”

“We are proud that our plant will build the new model,” said Patrick Danau, director of

Audi Brussels. “We’ve already shared the good news with the workers. We got this model because we are a high-performance factory, but also thanks to the various measures taken by regional and federal governments. We’d like to thank the prime minister,” he said.

The three regions have also put together a package of three lots of €9 million to pay for retraining existing Audi workers and training a new generation to allow them to make the new electric vehicle. The training centre will open in Brussels in 2017.

“The focus will not only be on car technology, and the centre will target schools, young people and those who are already employed,” said Brussels minister-president Rudi Vervoort.

“We are of course proud that Audi has chosen Brussels.”

25% rise in investment projects in Flanders

Flemish shoe giant Torfs to take over Brantano

Flanders attracted 227 new inward investment projects in 2015, almost 25% more than in 2014. The figures were announced by minister-president Geert Bourgeois, whose portfolio also includes overseas trade, on VRT Radio.

Bourgeois described 2015 as “an outstanding year” for attracting foreign inward investment to Flanders. “The most important aspect is the jobs we are able to create, and the revival of confidence in our industry,” he said. The total investment came to €2.7 billion, with the creation of 4,352 jobs.

The United States remains Flanders’ main investor, accounting for 53 projects, followed by the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, China and France.

Bourgeois then left for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland with the goal of attracting more new investment to Flanders. “I’ll be seeing top people from across the world,” he said. “Nowhere else is it possible in such a short time to make so many contacts. I’ll be sketching out the attractions Flanders has to offer, in the hope of bringing in even more jobs and wealth.”

The number of inward investment projects rose from 184 in 2014 to 227 in 2015. The total investment was slightly down from €2.77 billion to €2.70 billion, but the number of jobs created increased from 4,164 to 4,352, according to Flanders Investment & Trade. \ AH

Rik Torfs, CEO of the Flemish shoe chain Schoenen Torfs, is joining other retail partners to take over Brantano, which has declared bankruptcy. The other partners are Miss Etam and FNG Group, owners of clothing chains CKA and Fred & Ginger.

Shoe store chain Brantano, with 75 outlets in Flanders, came up for sale when Dutch owner Macintosh declared bankruptcy.

In such cases, the administrator seeks potential buyers for a company’s properties.

Unions representing some 1,100 Brantano staff reacted with “cautious optimism” to the take-

Vito signs co-operation agreement with United Arab Emirates The Flemish Institute for Technological Research (Vito) has signed a co-operation agreement with the United Arab Emirates’ economy ministry. The signing took place last week during the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

Vito has successfully completed projects in neighbouring Qatar.

The region is in a state of transition as growth – mainly supported by the export of oil and gas – comes under pressure. The Emirates have historically made less income from oil and gas than Qatar and Saudi Arabia, so its economy is further along the road to diversification.

The co-operation will allow Vito to provide the Emirates with its expertise in a number of fields, including sustainable energy, smart cities, materials management and circular economies. Vito will be able to carry out its own projects but also help Flemish companies break into

© Foster + Partners

An architectural rendering of Masdar City, a smart city to be constructed from scratch in the desert near Abu Dhabi

the region via the Flanders Cleantech Association.

“The agreement with the United Arab Emirates is a direct result of contacts we made during last year’s economic mission,” said science and innovation minister Philippe Muyters. “It shows once again that Flemish know-how from strategic research centres like Vito is appreciated worldwide. The agreement will doubtless provide many opportunities for Flemish businesses.” \ AH

© Courtesy Macintosh

over news. “We are happy that someone has been found to take over,” a spokesperson said.

The Brantano brand, according to the acquisition agreement, will continue to exist, and investments will be made in 100 of the chain’s 129 stores over the next three years. \ AH

Creative sector in Flanders is worth €7.2 billion The creative and cultural sector in Flanders contributes €7.2 billion to the economy, or 2.7% of GDP, according to a study carried out by Antwerp Management School for Flanders DC, the Leuven-based knowledge centre.

The entire creative sector provides employment for nearly 70,000 people, as well as just under 53,500 self-employed. Some 13% of all self-employed people in Flanders work in the creative industries, which includes the audio-visual industry, the entertainment and culture sectors and media.

The number of self-employed in the creative industry has increased since the previous study in 2013, particularly in the arts and heritage sector, which includes visual arts, stage arts, music and cultural heritage. The number of people employed on contracts and the companies who employ them, however, has decreased.

In the media and entertainment sector, which includes the audio-visual industry, gaming and both print and digital media, the number of those employed has decreased by about 7%, but the number of independents is up 2.8%. The added value of the sector is also increasing by about the same amount.

In the sector of creative services, the picture is also mixed: employees down and independents and added value up.

“The research shows how important the creative sector is to Flanders these days,” said Pascal Cools, director-general of Flanders DC. “That the sector is holding its own and moving forward in some areas shows how it helps strengthen the regional economy.”

“The Flemish government is well aware of the economic potential of the Flemish creative sector,” commented the region’s labour minister, Philippe Muyters. “Bundling our support for the sector in the new Flanders DC will give the creative sector more power to realise their economic potential.” \ AH

\ INNOVATION

january 27, 2016

Time for a screen break

week in innovation Brussels gets €575,000 for smart cities

Survey reveals the shape of our digital addictions Ian Mundell More articles by Ian \ flanderstoday.eu

IMINDS.BE

P

eople in Flanders are increasingly glued to their screens, a survey has found, with activities such as streaming movies and chatting on smartphones adding to other digital habits rather than replacing them. And since time is not limitless, there are signs that people are starting to feel the strain, producing a state characterised by researchers as “digital obesity”.

The findings come from the latest edition of the digiMeter, an annual survey of the digital habits of more than 2,000 people living in Flanders. This is carried out by iMinds, a virtual research centre that brings together academics from universities in Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, Hasselt and Leuven.

In the past two to three years the survey has seen mobile communication devices, such as tablets and smartphones, become increasingly popular. This changed slightly in 2015, with smartphone use continuing to rise, while ownership and use of tablets levelled off.

This is partly about the technology itself, with increasing screen size making the smartphone experience closer to that of using a tablet. But it also relates to what people do online.

Tablets are often shared, particularly within families, yet much of what people want to do online, such as using social media, is personal.

“More and more people prefer to have instant access to their own profile on their own device,” explains Lieven De Marez, the professor at the University of Ghent who is behind the survey.

Similarly, a lot of online services are based on personal preferences. “For example, if your sixyear-old son is messing around in your Netflix profile, the whole recommendation algorithm behind it is messed up.”

The survey also shows that new online habits are not replacing old ones, but adding to them.

For example, the number of people who watch regular television broadcasts on regular TV sets is stable, yet the number of people watching streaming services such as Netflix is rising.

“There is hardly any cannibalisation,” says De Marez.

Similarly, the increasing popularity of messaging on Facebook and with apps such as WhatsApp and Snapchat appears not to be reducing the number of SMS messages people send.

© Ingimage

This is because they represent different kinds of communication: an SMS might require a reply, but generally the exchanges are short, while messaging usually results in a conversation.

But messaging also has knock-on effects, which De Marez and his colleagues have been studying with logging devices on the phones of volunteers.

“One notification on WhatsApp triggers a whole chain of distraction behaviour,” he says.

Someone’s attention is captured by an incoming message. They reply and then wait for a response, but instead of putting down their phones, they may check social media, play a game for a few minutes or look at the news.

“For some types of people, one notification triggers a continuous distraction of five or sometimes 10 minutes. If that happens several times a day, then you soon end up with half an hour or an hour’s worth of distraction.”

Hence the problem of digital obesity, the multiplication of screens and media so that people are increasingly stuffed with digital distractions.

A small number of people take drastic steps to regain control, such as the 2.5% of people in the survey who reported giving up Facebook, or the 1.5% who abandoned smartphones for more basic mobiles.

“This is only the extreme,” De Marez observes.

“But you can see that 69% of Flemings report

that they think they spend too much time on all these new media. At the same time, they don’t do anything about it.”

He sees the challenge of digital obesity as particularly acute for people aged 25 to 35. “Below 25 they have plenty of time, and they are the people who are most digitally skilled. Between 25 and 35, they have the skills and the digital habits, but time has become precious, because they work or they have children.”

Some of the pressure can be handled by multitasking, and it’s clear from the survey that many people have no problem watching TV, sending messages and using social media at the same time. Yet this will only go so far, and De Marez has been fascinated to see attempts at self-regulation among his own students.

“Now we are in the period where students have to study for exams, and we see that even when they have a room here in Ghent they start to gather in libraries and other public spaces where they don’t have their laptop or other screens to distract them.”

Alternatively they devise strategies to limit their distraction. “When they go to a restaurant or are in a social environment, some try to invent rules,” he says. “For instance, they stack their phones in the middle of the table and the first one who really can’t resist using the phone treats the others to a drink.”

Q&A Catherine Rutten is CEO of Pharma.be, the Belgian federation of the innovative pharmaceutical industries. She explains why the country is so strong in the sector.

According to recent figures, one in 10 investments made by European pharmaceutical companies is in Belgium. Why are we so strong in pharma research?

There are several reasons behind the success of our pharmaceutical sector. We have an economic ecosystem that relies heavily on open innovation. A wide range of large multinationals, SMEs, start-ups, spin-offs and biotech companies make up a very rich landscape. This means, for example, that very small companies can work closely with very large players. That’s quite rare in other countries in Europe.

What’s the role of the government? Does it attract companies with fiscal benefits, for example?

Our strong position in Europe is indeed also a consequence of a series of supporting fiscal measures for employees in pharmaceutical R&D departments. But having to pay less tax alone won’t convince a big company to move its research department to Belgium.

The strong collaboration between the academic world and the pharmaceutical industry is, traditionally, another trump card. In both worlds we have experts who can

find each other and collaborate on innovative projects.

And, last but not least, we are also the leader in Europe when it comes to thorough clinical research. New drugs are tested first in clinical trials on healthy volunteers. Only in the second phase are patients who really need the treatment enrolled. Every year more than 170,000 Belgian patients take part in a clinical trial.

How can we safeguard our leading position?

Last summer the industry signed a pact for the future with federal health minister Maggie De Block.

In this agreement, which runs until 2019, both the industry and the government engage themselves to keep pharmaceutical innovation in Belgium world class.

We’re well aware that other countries want to create a similar landscape to attract pharmaceutical companies. That’s why this pact entails the foundation of an observatory that will continuously monitor how our industry performs in comparison with the rest of the world. The results of the monitoring process will also allow us to identify which extra measures are needed to support our industry further. \ Interview by Senne Starckx

The Brussels-Capital Region has been selected to take part in the EU’s Smart City project bIoTope, in which a range of sensors are linked to create a “smart city”. Three Brussels projects will share €575,000 in grants, said Bianca Debaets and Pascal Smet, ministers for digitalisation and mobility respectively. One project concerns the neighbourhoods around schools and how motorists and children behave in the areas, using information from wi-fi connections, smartphone traffic and road traffic flows.

The information will supply data that will inform traffic control around schools.

Another project concerns cyclists, making it possible, for instance, to allow them priority at traffic lights.

New magazine for environment issues The first issue of Mblad, which focuses on the environment, sustainability and innovation, is out this month. The magazine, produced by Pantarein Publishing in Haacht, targets professionals in the sustainability sector and general readers interested in environmental topics. Mblad is, according to the publisher, the first Flemish magazine that explores in detail subjects like the circular economy, smart energy networks and socially responsible entrepreneurship. The magazine, which will be published in Dutch six times a year, will feature background stories, interviews and analysis.

€3 million for biodiversity on factory land The European Commission has agreed to provide more than €3 million for the interregional 2B Connect project, which brings together 19 partners in the FlemishDutch border area to improve biodiversity on 70 tracts of industrial land. Cleaning up industrial sites to encourage biodiversity benefits both nature and business: the planting of trees allows for better air quality, less noise nuisance and a pleasanter atmosphere for outdoor activities. Until the end of 2018, 2B Connect will bring together companies to clean up 70 plots of land. Companies will be taught, for example, how to scan their land to make an inventory of the foliage already present, and there is a tool to help businesses calculate the real financial benefits of green infrastructure.

\7

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\ EDUCATION

january 27, 2016

Technology meets talent

Plans for a new technology campus in Genk are getting closer to reality

W

© Courtesy Atelier Kempe Thill/OSAR architecten

The T2 campus in Genk will cater for students, employees and entrepreneurs

common learning platform. The ultimate goal is that our graduates will be immediately employable in industry – preferably in companies in Limburg.”

So is the T2 campus set to become a true Stem factory – focusing entirely on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, all profiles that Flemish industry is begging for?

“That’s a little too narrow,” says Vermeulen.

“Please don’t consider us a technical institute or a secondary school. We want to couple diversity with synergy. Diversity means that we’re open for people from industry for refresher courses, for entire companies who want to use our facil-

ities, for entrepreneurs who want to collaborate with us and for students from other schools who want to re-orientate themselves. The synergy aspect implies that we will host a culture of open innovation.”

The showpiece of the campus, which will break ground in 2017, is a 450 square-metre laboratory that will foster everyone’s interest in technology.

Vermeulen: “Children and teenagers will experience technology here in an accessible way. They will learn that technology can be exciting and challenging. Hopefully they will want to pursue this experience, resulting in lots and lots of Stem graduates.”

Half of Flanders’ teachers want an end to tenure About half of Flanders’ teachers would prefer a system with contracts of indefinite duration rather than the current tenure system in education. That’s according to a survey by Flemish MP Ann Brusseel among 3,513 teachers from all provinces and all education networks.

In the current system, tenured – meaning permanently appointed – teachers benefit from a flexible leave system and can be fired only in very specific circumstances. Newly qualified teachers often see their temporary assignments

end abruptly when tenured teachers return from a long sick leave or absence. Teachers are only eligible to become permanently appointed after at least three years of “temporary jobs.”

In the survey, about half of the teachers preferred a contract, while 31% chose the tenure system., despite the fact that about 70% of the surveyed teachers were tenured.

About 63% of teachers in their 20s want to abolish the tenure system, as do 42% of those aged between 40 and 54.

According to Brusseel, with the existing system it will be difficult to find enough new teachers in the coming years. By 2023, Flanders would need 10% more teaching staff than now.

The heads of the community (GO!) and Catholic education network, Raymonda Verdyck and Lieven Boeve, indicated that they were open to changes in the system but that it wasn’t a priority. The topic is still very sensitive among teachers’ unions. \ Andy Furniere

Q&A Employees in Flanders are entitled to at least one day a year of continuing education or training. According to a recent study, only half of Flemings know this. Nathalie Bekx from the research agency Trendhuis explains why it’s so important.

What was the purpose of your study?

Every year we conduct research on the labour market in Flanders. This year’s theme was lifelong learning. What we found is that workers with higher education get more continued training than workers without. We also found that low-skilled women don’t get any training at all. And finally, a large percentage of workers aren’t even aware that they’re entitled by law to be trained every year.

Why is that?

Small and medium-sized companies don’t like to invest in too

much training. They might provide opportunities for hands-on practice, but only so that their employees can get better at their jobs, not so they can grow as a person. But in big multinational companies, we see the opposite. It’s not that the smaller enterprises don’t want to invest in their employees. It’s more that there isn’t a long-term strategy to train workers. And that’s a pity.

How could that change?

A lot of companies think they should invest in new machines and infrastructure, but they don’t consider investing in workers.

the government. Human resource departments should also have more say during board meetings.

But learning is part of innovation.

You can’t innovate if you don’t continue to learn. The companies need to be persuaded that it’s not a cost but an opportunity. It would help if there was better communication between businesses and

UGent to research contemporary Islam Ghent University (UGent) is launching research into contemporary Islam. The Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), which is beginning the same research, is working with UGent on the project. In the next three years, two researchers from UGent’s Middle East and North Africa research group and two colleagues from UCL will work on better research and education about Islam.

They will study the topics from an interdisciplinary perspective and take into account the various ways of being Muslim today. The research should help to understand international conflicts, and the researchers will also focus on debates and collaboration among Muslims and between Muslims and non-Muslims.

Senne Starckx More articles by Senne \ flanderstoday.eu

ork on a new technology campus in Limburg is a big step closer, after an EU subsidy was approved for the centre that aims to train graduates in areas that make them immediately employable locally.

The Technology & Talent (T2) campus in Genk will be a state-of-the-art education hub for the province. T2, which will encompass the entire educational ladder – from elementary school via higher education to extra training for individuals and companies – will be dedicated to technology and located in the city’s Thor science park.

The three core partners are Syntra Limburg, Flemish employment agency VDAB and the province’s education department. “They will work closely together in the development of technical and technological talent,” says Stef Vermeulen, the campus’ process manager.

“That’s the talent that we need to get Limburg’s economy growing.”

Two weeks ago, the European Regional Development Fund approved a subsidy of €12.5 million for the project, which involves a total investment of €57 million. Syntra Limburg, VDAB, the city of Genk and the government of Flanders (as part of the Salk provincial recovery programme) will contribute the rest.

T2’s curriculum will focus on four pillars, all with a strong technological basis: electronics, ICT, new energy and new materials. “We will develop this curriculum in close collaboration with companies, research and knowledge institutions and other teaching bodies,” explains Vermeulen. “For the collaboration, we will use a

week in education

What are the main benefits of continued training?

According to our study, only 5% of people want to work until they’re 67. When we ask the rest what could help them change their perspective, they immediately respond: “continued learning and training”. If you work at a job for 30 years, you’re fed up and want to stop, but continued training makes them feel motivated, and they remain ambitious. By providing courses and training, the companies are giving a message to their employees: “We think you’re important, and we want you to stick with us.” \ Interview by Bartosz

Flemish Archive for Education launched The Flemish Institute for Archiving last week launched the Archive for Education platform. The archive provides free access to public broadcaster VRT’s audio-visual collections for use by teachers in primary and secondary education. In the future, it will also include items from regional broadcasters and cultural and heritage organisations in Flanders. The platform currently features 6,000 video and audio clips on about 100 themes, to encourage the use of audio and video material in classrooms and ensure that teachers have easy access to digital resources. It was developed to be user-friendly and provides ready-made collections as well as inspiring news items.

Ministers strengthen Stem strategy Flemish education minister Hilde Crevits and innovation minister Philippe Muyters have provided €160,000 more in funding to extend the Stem action plan, which is meant to encourage students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Flanders’ goal for 2016 is to reach 31,000 students in half of all municipalities. The region’s Stem Academy – a network that unites all extracurricular Stem activities and is co-ordinated by the educational science museum Technopolis – is responsible for co-ordinating the action plan.

In the academic year 2014-15, the academy helped 74 organisations to organise 421 activities in 37% of Flemish cities and towns. The extra funding will allow it to hire more mentors. \ Andy Furniere

Brzezinski

\9

\ LIVING

week in activities Is This Molenbeek?

The Brussels commune of Molenbeek has been in the news a lot lately, and not in a good way. Take a guided tour of this vibrant district and learn how immigration is helping build a new future for an old industrial area (in English). Registration required. 30 January 14.0016.30, €10 \ brukselbinnenstebuiten.be

Genk Mine Walk A guided walk through the old Winterslag mine district, starting at C-Mine, continuing through the residential neighbourhood built for mine workers and ending on the multicultural Vennestraat with an aperitif.

(In Dutch) 31 January 14.3016.30, Genk, €15 \ vizit.be

Big Birding Event If you missed the national Big Birding Weekend, you can still take part in a day of birdcentric activities at De Liereman nature reserve. Guided bird-watching walks and a special bird market at the visitors’ centre. 31 January 9.00-17.00, Schuurhovenberg 43, Oud-Turnhout, free \ deliereman.be

Shiver & Swim Feel like taking a dip in an ice-cold lake? Then register for this annual group swim.

You get a rubber duck to prove you really did it, and there will be food and drink stands for you and your (dry) supporters. Registration recommended. 31 January, 14.30, Blaarmeersen park, Strandlaan 24, Ghent, free \ tinyurl.com/blaarm

Free scuba initiation Interested in scuba diving?

Then maybe an initial “test dive” is something for you.

Experienced instructors introduce the equipment, explain the basics and help you try it out in a controlled underwater environment.

31 January 15.00-17.00, S&R Dommelslag, Weidestraat 12, Overpelt (Limburg), free with pool entry \ lagunadivers.be

Walking with Writers and Philosophers A guided walk on Concern for the Earth focused on Brussels-born poet Marguerite Yourcenar and American naturalist Henry David Thoreau. Discover new insights and surprising locations. Registration required.

31 January 14.00-17.00, Poelaertplein 1, Brussels, €5 \ tinyurl.com/poelaert

\ 10

Bygone memories

Heritage can help people with dementia remember the past, say experts Toon Lambrechts More articles by Toon \ flanderstoday.eu

T

o say that the Flemish population is ageing is a bit of a truism, but it’s one that is worth repeating since this trend has significant implications for society. One of the consequences that can already be seen is the growing number of people who have dementia, a trend that will become even more manifest in the future.

Approximately 116,000 people in Flanders are living with dementia, a figure that will increase by 30% by 2020, according to recent estimates. Herlinde Dely, research co-ordinator of the caregiver knowledge centre at West Flanders University College, explains why memories from the past are so important to people with dementia.

Such initiatives help create a more dementiafriendly society “With dementia, the memory slowly fades away, but not arbitrarily,” she says, adding that the most recent memories are the first to fade, such as what people had for breakfast or who they saw yesterday. “Memories from a person’s childhood and youth remain intact the longest.”

That is why talking about or listening to music from the past, she says, has an important value. “That process of reminiscence offers

reassurance to people with dementia and puts them on the same level as caregivers in a conversation.”

Together with Bart De Nil from Faro, the government agency for the support of Flemish cultural heritage, Dely wrote the book Erfgoed en dementie (Heritage and Dementia), released at the end of last year. The book targets staff at cultural and heritage organisations as well as caregivers; the authors hope to bring the two sectors closer together.

Both sectors, they argue, work around reminiscence, but they do so separately, which is unfortunate as heritage organisations have such a wealth of old objects and information about the distant – and more recent – past. “Therefore, they need to co-operate, which we want to encourage with our book,” says De Nil. Some projects are already underway. A handful of heritage organisations have put together reminiscence kits with resources and stories that caregivers can use as tools to make the past tangible again for patients. “The nature of dementia centres on the issue of the past, something we, as the heritage sector, work around constantly,” says De Nil. “That is why the link between heritage and dementia is so strong. To illustrate that link, we wrote the book but are also organising a series of trainings.”

The Ghent museum of social history, House of Alijn, also arranges special tours for people with dementia and their caregivers. They aim to not only bring the past back using the museum’s collection of everyday objects, but to incorporate all five senses to evoke a complete experience of

© Andy Merregaert

Leuven’s M Museum offers a dedicated tour for visitors with dementia, as does the Ghent museum House of Alijn

the past. Leuven’s M Museum also offers a dedicated tour for visitors with dementia, as do several other museums across the region.

Heritage as preserved collective memory can play a major role in caring for people with dementia, says Dely, by helping them talk about and remember the past.

Research has shown that this has a strong, positive influence on the well-being of people with dementia, and that it helps keep them going.

But Dely also sees other advantages. “Such initiatives help create a more dementia-friendly society, an important point in the official policy on dementia.”

It’s a myth, she continues, that most people with dementia are cared for in nursing homes and care centres. “In Flanders, 65% of all people with dementia are cared for at home by family members.

The problem is that this care often takes place behind closed doors and thus becomes invisible. This

often leads to situations of social isolation – not only for the elderly people with dementia, but also for the person who is caring for them.”

Over the past few years, there has been much talk in both health-care and political circles on an inclusive and caring society, “but that society must adapt in order to fulfil these resolutions, especially when it comes to such a large group of people,” says Dely. “So the importance of something like museum tours for people with dementia and those who care for them becomes clear; they help people to remember and to break the social isolation.”

That is why the authors argue for increased awareness of the beneficial effect of heritage projects on people with dementia. Dely: “The health-care sector – professional or not – must be made aware of this so we can work on creating a society where both people with dementia and those who care for them really belong.”

BITE New organisation spreads gospel of local food specialities When Flemish tourism minister Ben Weyts proposed that Flemish food products needed to be introduced to the outside world back in December, he probably didn’t imagine that there was an organisation standing by, ready to do just that.

That organisation is called BE Delicious, and while its focus is national, of the seven artisanal producers signed up for the launch, six are from West Flanders, and the seventh is from Moeskroen, a facility municipality on the border of Hainaut and West Flanders.

BE Delicious helps promote Belgian speciality products overseas, beyond the well-known triad of beer, chocolate and waffles. The products selected for the launch include artisanal shrimp croquettes, made by Antarctic Foodies of Roeselare with

the grijze garnalen (grey shrimp) harvested at Oostduinkerke. These shrimps are a product of culinary excellence unique to Belgium, and they deserve to stand beside anything the world has to bring to the table.

Also included are shrimp bisque from Delices Malysse of Deerlijk, also using the grey shrimp; potjesvlees by Hendrijk Dierendonck (pictured) of Sint-Isebald, butcher to starred restaurants; and Flandrien cheese by Triporteur of Wervik. Finally, there are the Brussels-style waffles of Dely Wafels of Moeskroen, pralines by Chocolatier Dumon of Torhout, and cider by Ruwet, also of Roeselare.

For consumer affairs and overseas trade minister Kris Peeters, the creation of BE Delicious is a “fantas-

tic idea” to bring a new dynamic to traditional products. The food industry in Belgium, he pointed out, employs 95,000 people in 7,400 companies, with a total value to the economy of €48 billion.

“I get the feeling we’re too reserved sometimes,” he said. “Maybe we should boast a bit more about what we have.” The BE Delicious initiative “shows how many hidden pearls there are in Belgian gastronomy that need to be brought out into the open – not only for the whole world, but also for people here in Belgium.”

BE Delicious will now set out to recruit new members, as well as “ambassadors” to represent the project in other countries. The aim is to promote Belgian regional products wherever the opportunity presents itself. \ Alan Hope

© BE Delicious

bedelicious.be

january 27, 2016

Devil’s Bell and daughter’s downfall Mementoes of local myths live on in Flemish Brabant Toon Lambrechts More articles by Toon \ flanderstoday.eu

In a new five-part series, Flanders Today goes looking for the region’s dark past, starting in Flemish Brabant, where a strange church bell is exiled, and a tower tells a tragic story.

T

oday, Flanders is a pretty peaceful place. But in the past, the region has witnessed many troubled events that live on in folk stories. Among them are legends about notorious robbers, fairy tales about witches and fables of haunted houses. Flanders Today went looking for the region’s hidden history, starting in Flemish Brabant, where a suspect church bell is kept outside the church and a tower tells a tragic story.

The square around Sint-Jacobs Church is one of Leuven’s many hidden green spaces. And though most passers-by don’t notice, there’s something odd about the church tower: one of the bells hangs outside the spire. It’s quite unusual, and is that way because – at least it’s said – it was the devil who cast the bell.

Such devilish craft obviously has no place inside the church, and so the bell was exiled.

In reality, of course, it wasn’t the devil who cast the bell, but a mere man, Henricus Walgheven. He made it in 1478, but it never saw the inside of the church because the way the tower was built didn’t allow it to support the bell. The shape is too pointed, and it wasn’t possible to make the special openings necessary for the sound of the bells to be heard outside.

The bell’s unusual location led to speculation. The story of the devil is one of them, another says that it has not been baptised, as is the custom with church bells. Not being baptised means no access to the church. Yet another story claims that the bell was a gift from the socialists.

The Devil’s Bell is one of the so-called Seven Wonders of Leuven. In the 17th century, the time of the Renaissance, anything to do with antiquity became popular again, like the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. So in Leuven they went in search of their own wonders. Only three survived the ravages of time: the Devil’s Bell and the churches of Saint Michael and Saint Gertrude.

Sins of the father No, it’s not a UFO that’s landed on top of the Maiden Tower in the Demerbroeken nature reserve in Zichem, but the result of the recent restoration of the imposing monument. The tower was protected in the 1960s, but was so stunted that in 2006 a part of it collapsed. After this, it was finally decided to renovate the Maiden Tower, though not in its original state, which was no longer possible. Now it looks as if the tower has been cut in half.

© Toon Lambrechts

The Devil’s Bell must hang outside the church in Leuven, while a terrible tale is attached to the Maiden Tower

The tower dates from the 14th century, but it’s not clear whether it was residential or a defence structure. But it’s the legend that gave the tower its name that appeals most to the imagination. A dramatic story took place here, at least according to local lore.

Apparently at one point – exactly when is not specified – a nobleman and his daughter, Rosita, lived in the tower. No man was good enough for Rosita, according to her strict father. When the young woman came home one day with a lowly soldier, her father was furious.

To try to make his daughter change her mind, he called two

nuns and locked all three under the roof of the tower. But the nuns could not convince Rosita to give up her love, making her father even more angry. In his rage, he tied the girl and the two nuns together and dragged them to the river, where he pushed them into the water and drowned them.

When he realised what he had done, the father went mad from guilt and grief. He claimed to hear the screams of his daughter at night, and one day he was found dead at the foot of the tower. Legend has it that sometimes, in the darkness of night, the cries of the victims can still be heard along the river Demer.

50 weekends in Flanders: Beer hunting in Bruges Flanders Today has launched an e-book with ideas for how to spend a year’s worth of weekends. Visit our website to get your free copy of 50 Weekends in Flanders. We’ll also print one of our suggestions every week here, too.

STAMINEE DE GARRE It’s right in the centre of Bruges but hidden down a tiny cobbled alley between two lace shops, so not everyone knows about this place (pictured), which occupies a 16th-century house with bare brick walls and wood beams.

The bar has an appealing Bruges atmosphere and offers a choice of 130 beers.

Trappists, this can seem like the perfect old Flemish tavern. \ cafevlissinghe.be

Bruges was once an important brewing town.

All but one of the breweries have closed, but Bruges still has some distinctive bars hidden down narrow lanes. They are run by dedicated owners who take the trouble to track down some of the best beers in the country.

CRAENENBURG This is an old-fashioned place with heavy wooden tables, stained-glass windows and gleaming brass chandeliers. It’s popular with locals who come here to read the newspaper or drink a Belgian beer, but also with tourists looking for somewhere with an authentic Bruges atmosphere.

CAFÉ VLISSINGHE Founded in 1515, this is the oldest tavern in Bruges. It still has most of its original furnishings, including a wooden counter carved in the 16th century and a chair next to the iron stove that “may” have belonged to the artist Anthony van Dyck. Vlissinghe is no secret hideaway; it’s full of tourists in the summer.

But in the winter, when the old iron stove is burning and the locals are hunched over their

L’ESTAMINET In this comfortable old brown cafe dating from 1900, you’ll find hops hung from wooden beams and jazz murmuring in the background. Opposite a small park in a quiet area, it’s popular with locals and students.

The beer list has some interesting selections, and the kitchen produces snacks like shrimp croquettes and spaghetti bolognaise. Park 5

TINYURL.COM/50WEEKENDS

\ degarre.be

\ craenenburg.be

BRUGS BEERTJE Jan de Bruyne and his wife, Daisy, have run this specialist beer cafe since the 1980s. They have about 300 beers in stock at any time as well as seasonals that quickly disappear. This is where you can learn the difference between a Trappist and an abbey and why you should never ask for just “a beer”. \ brugsbeertje.be

CAFÉ ROSE RED In a narrow street almost no-one ventures into, this is a friendly, hidden place. “We’re open when we’re not closed,” it says on the blackboard outside. Right, so that’s clear. The interior is decorated with old signs advertising vanished Belgian beers and red roses hanging from the ceiling. They stock about 180 brews, including Sint-Bernardus Abt 12 and Saison Dupont on tap. In summer, the back garden is a wonderful spot to sit with a beer as the sun goes down. \ Derek Blyth \ cordoeanier.be

\ 11

Your guide to life in Belgium The autumn issue of The Bulletin Newcomer is your guide to making the most of life in Belgium. It mixes practical information with features on the new cultural season, accessibility for people with reduced mobility, parenting, finance and lifestyle topics.

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Hey you.

Yes, you, with the smartphone.

There is an app for Flanders Today, you know, which makes it super easy to keep up with daily news and features anywhere at any time on your smartphone or tablet There are 2 easy ways to download the app: visit www.fl www.flanderstoday.eu anderstoday.eu and click on “Download the Flanders Today app” or go straight to your app store – Android or iOS, makes no diff difference erence

CHECK OUT OUR COOL-LOOKING, EASY TO MANOEUVRE APP HOMEPAGE O CTLY T THE LEFT SIDE TAKES YOU DIRE

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U GO DIRECTLY TO A SECTION, AR IF YO TICLE S LOO K LI KE T HIS If you download the pdf, it looks just like the paper you’re holding in your hand (but your fingers fingers won’t get all black)

Did we mention that the Flanders Today app is free?

It’s free.

\ ARTS

january 27, 2016

week in arts & CULTURE Balthazar big winners at Music Industry Awards

© Photos courtesy SMart

Happy Valley

LaVallée co-working space unites artists in former Molenbeek laundry Miriam Galea More articles by Miriam \ flanderstoday.eu

The LaVallée building in Brussels provides workspaces to artists and creative entrepreneurs, with the aim of fostering lasting and fruitful relationships.

W

hile Molenbeek in Brussels has had its share of the international press’ worst headlines lately, it’s also an area that’s become fashionable among the capital’s Flemish community for its old industrial buildings, which can be transformed into working spaces or trendy residential lofts at low rents.

This is the case for LaVallée, an artist co-op that opened 18 months ago in a former laundry in the commune. LaVallée (pictured) consists of open work spaces, individual studios, conventional offices and two big exhibition halls. Eighty artists from a variety of disciplines have taken up residency.

“The idea is to gather as many creative entrepreneurs as possible in the same space,” explains Lieza Dessein from SMart, a non-profit organisation that supports artists and selfemployed workers in the cultural sector. “The residents range from visual artists to filmmakers to stage designers to journalists.”

SMart was created in 1998 in Brussels and is developing in eight European countries. LaVallée is one of its creative spots, as is the Brussels Art Factory in the commune of Sint-Gillis. These co-working spaces, run or supported by SMart, offer cheaper studio spaces and cater to the specific needs of their residents.

“The LaVallée project is still very young, and for now we are using the space as it is,” says Dessein, “but we will eventually continue to adapt it to the needs of the artists.”

She shows me around two exhibition spaces on the ground floor,

then walks me through two studios.

There are various working spaces at LaVallée, and the artists occupying them include Bonom, the street artist known for his dinosaur drawings in public spaces.

Large bones and animal skeletons hang in Bonom’s studio, and Dessein explains that he wouldn’t be able to create his work in the street without access to a large indoor workspace.

Next we walk into a scenographer’s space. “In this case, we made sure that the studio had access to the street, as this is often very important for people who work with theatre scenery.”

The floors above are an open co-working space. “It’s very difficult to find the right people to work next to each other, since all the artists come from such different backgrounds,” Dessein explains.

Artists share the space, with the aim of fostering interaction and collaboration, as well as encouraging productivity.

The animation company Square Fish rents one space with the film collective Full Tunes. Another co-working area is shared by painters, graphic designers, dressmakers and jewellery designers.

“It’s super working here,” says Marie Artamonoff, co-founder

creativespot.be/spots/Lavallee

and designer at Especes, a jewellery company that’s been resident at LaVallée since last summer. “It’s comfortable, and you have interesting encounters. You feed off the energy of other artists, even if you’re not working directly with them.”

You feed off the energy of other artists, even if you’re not working directly with them It is indeed important for LaVallée to create this interaction, Dessein says. “Due to high rents, a lot of freelancers end up working at home. We’d like to create a community so they don’t become isolated.”

Since opening, resident artists have organised a series of events to promote LaVallée and invite the public to visit. Throughout the summer, the artists organised weekly themed drinks evenings, with DJ sets and live silk screen

printing both inside and outside.

Dessein is also eager to work with other organisations and institutions. LaVallée has been hosting Fuckup Nights, an event in which entrepreneurs share stories of failed business ventures and projects. It has also recently collaborated with one of its neighbours, the VK music club. For its latest event, LaVallée’s resident artists created a night full of DJ sets, visuals and performances hosted by the concert venue.

“We don’t want to become insular,” notes Dessein. “It’s better when there are a lot of different players, and that’s why we build bridges with spaces like VK. They’ve been in the neighbourhood for ages, and they’re doing a fantastic job. We can learn from them and offer our own contributions as well. It was good for the VK to have our audience visit their space, and we’re looking forward to hosting their event next year.”

Apart from hosting events such as conferences, exhibitions and workshops, LaVallée hopes to be able to benefit more from the network of art spaces that SMart has developed not only here but elsewhere in Europe. LaVallée has already offered residencies to artists from France and Italy.

Dessein explains that, after having focused on the individual spaces themselves, SMart would like to strengthen its international network so they can have a form of exchange between countries and facilitate artist movement.

LaVallée aims to increase its number of resident artists to 100, and, as I leave, two artists are dropping off their applications. Meanwhile, builders upstairs are working away on a new common room in which the artists will be able to socialise as well as host their clients.

Pop group Balthazar won three MIAs at last week’s Music Industry Awards, which celebrates the best of Flanders’ year in music. The band picked up awards for best album, best alternative band and best overall band. Hip-hop singer Stromae won best solo male artist and best video clip, while Antwerp hip-hop artist Tourist LeMC, nominated in five categories, won two, for best breakthrough act and best Dutchlanguage recording artist. Selah Sue won best solo female artist, and Will Tura, who released a new album on the day of the awards, was given a Lifetime Achievement award.

Flemish TV series follows routes of refugees Television journalist Martin Heylen will direct the new series Terug naar eigen land (Go Back to Where You Came From), in which Flemish politicians and celebrities will walk in the footsteps of six refugees to Belgium. The series is based on the award-winning Australian series. To be broadcast on Vier, Terug naar eigen land features six people with outspoken views on immigration: politician Jean-Marie Dedecker; Veroniek Dewinter, daughter of Vlaams Belang leader Filip Dewinter; lawyer and N-VA politician Zuhal Demir; comedian Bert Gabriels; singer turned Open VLD politician Margriet Hermans; and choreographer Ish Ait Hamou, a second-generation immigrant from Morocco.

Three of the group will start in Iraq, while the other three will start in Belgium and head to the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Fast Forward releases single from Gelukkig zijn To close out its incredibly successful tour of Gelukkig zijn (Being Happy), the Fast Forward theatre company, which produces shows starring those who speak Dutch as a second language, is releasing a single of the 1995 Flemish tune “Ik hou van u” by Noordkaap.

The song is, like all the classic Flemish songs in Gelukkig zijn, sung by a group of immigrants to Belgium. The musical’s popularity surprised even the company, which had to increase the number of shows from 20 to 60 to keep up with demand. “Ik hou van u” is available on iTunes and other music download sites. Gelukkig zijn’s last two performances take place next month in Deurne and Vilvoorde.

\ 13

\ ARTS

The ties that bind Crime writer Luc Deflo sheds light on Mechelen’s Armenian community in latest novel Rebecca Benoot More articles by Rebecca \ flanderstoday.eu

Flemish author Luc Deflo’s latest psychological thriller is set in Mechelen’s close-knit Armenian community and offers a haunting tale about sisterhood, age-old traditions and unconditional love.

L

uc Deflo, one of Flanders’ most prolific authors, has been writing psychological thrillers for nearly 17 years. In 2008, he won the prestigious Hercule Poirot prize for crime fiction with Pitbull, and several of his other novels have also been nominated.

Deflo, however, never intended to become a writer. Rather, he was looking for a creative outlet, which led him to the theatre. “I was shocked by how badly some plays were written,” he says, “so I decided to also give writing a try.”

I always do research face to face. I prefer conversations to the internet He gave up acting a long time ago but says it was a valuable experience. “I guess my love of dialogue is due to my past in the theatre.

It’s also one of my favourite things to write, and it comes to me quite easily.”

His first novel was autobiographical, similar to Dimitri Verhulst’s De Helaasheid der dingen (The Misfortunates). He never managed to get it published. “Publishing is a very commercial business, and they told me they weren’t in the market for that kind of novel at that time.”

That taught him a valuable lesson about the difference between writing plays and writing literature. “When you write a play, you usually get the chance to bring it to the stage, but an unpublished novel is just a waste of time. So I started thinking about what would sell.”

His own love of thrillers helped him decide.

“I believe that you can only write something you love yourself,” Deflo says. His first novel, Naakte zielen (Naked Souls), published in

Luc Deflo’s Donkere maan explores the conflicts between tradition and free will in a local community of Armenians

1999, “actually wrote itself. And after a few weeks, publishers were contacting me. It’s all about timing, basically.”

Deflo quickly became one of Flanders’ bestselling crime writers, following up Naakte zielen with 26 more books. It was a conscious decision to firmly stick to the genre; he believes that writers shouldn’t switch

between genres. “The fans won’t know what to expect next, and you’ll end up alienating them.”

Interestingly, all his novels make clear who the perpetrator is right from the start. “I don’t like whodunits,” he says. “For me, the killer is the most interesting character, and I can’t create depth without giving his identity

away. I like giving the readers a look inside the mind of the killer.”

Deflo is most famous for his series of novels starring detectives Bosmans and Deleu.

“My publisher loved the characters from my first novel and asked me to write a sequel, and that’s how the series got started. I was just glad I got the chance to write a second novel,” he laughs.

The series became a huge success, but Deflo didn’t want it to devolve into a soap. “People were just reading the novels to see how the characters evolved, while the cases are what really matters,” he explains. “That’s why I began writing stand-alone novels, like Donkere maan (Dark Moon).”

Deflo’s 27th novel, Donkere maan is a haunting tale about sisterhood, set against the background of Armenian culture.

It focuses on Esra Shabo, who turned her back on her parents and strict religious upbringing so she could find her own place in the world. Her younger sister Nalan, however, still lives with her parents in Mechelen’s traditional Armenian community. After Nalan is raped by the husband her father arranged for her, she goes knocking at Esra’s door for help.

Her sister is determined to do everything she can to help Nalan, even if that means serving as bait to extort a famous politician.

Deflo now lives in Brussels, but he is originally from Mechelen. “There was a big Armenian community that I was in touch with, and I always wanted to do something with religion in one of my novels, so I talked to a lot of people,” he says. “Research is always something I do face to face. I prefer conversations to the internet.”

After hours of such conversations, Deflo set out to shine a light on some of the traditions upheld by this close-knit community. The result is a page-turner about unconditional love, tradition and the human condition.

Deflo creates real depth by presenting welldeveloped characters – both to root for and to despise. With its rough and realistic dialogue, the novel moves at a rapid pace. A well-written psychological thriller with signs of Deflo’s trademark directness and ingenuity, Donkere maan makes for a suspenseful and satisfying read. ) is published in Donkere maan ( Dutch by Borgerhoff & Lamberigts

More new books this month De testamenten (The Testaments) • Frank Wouters (Lannoo) Notary Elsbeth is used to handling last wills and testaments, but the one for Lucas, a fellow villager and hopeless romantic, gets under her skin. He was a kind man who tried to make ends meet, but, now that he’s gone, beneficiaries start popping up left and right. His will is filled with poetic references and mysterious clues, which are almost as baffling as his sudden death.

Things get even more confusing when more wills start to emerge.

\ 14

Is it a game, a trick or a message from beyond the grave? De testamenten is a playful, enjoyable novel.

Cinderella • Michael Bijnens (Atlas) Young Flemish playwright Michael Bijnens was the son of an Antwerp prostitute, and the title of his critically hailed autobiographical fiction debut is the name of a brothel. It’s run by a traumatised woman and her son, who is studying to become a theatre director. Each chapter

focuses on a new episode in the lives of the prostitutes: initiation, demons, resistance, flight and sacrifice. It’s a dark and often shocking tale that sheds some light on a normally hidden world. Cinderella is fast-paced to the point of being occasionally chaotic, but an impressive debut nonetheless.

Machiavella • Serge Simonart (Houtekiet) Written as a series of journal entries, journalist and music critic Serge Simonart’s second novel is set in 2051 and relates the

views and secrets of the first female president of foreign descent of the European Council.

She keeps a journal about her associates to stay on top of the political goings-on. But the diarist herself has a secret, and if anyone ever found out, it would mean the end of her career. But Simonart, it seems, isn’t the only one with a diary. Machiavella is clever, realistic and amusing account of the corridors of power from a woman who wants to rule the world.

\ AGENDA

january 27, 2016

Hero of the small screen

Jef Cornelis 30 January to 27 March

Inside the White Tube Argos, Brussels

ARGOSARTS.ORG

30 January to 25 February

Retrospective

Cinematek, Brussels CINEMATEK.BE

W

hen producer and director Jef Cornelis started working for the Arts Division at the Dutchlanguage public broadcaster BRT (now VRT), television in Flanders was a 10-year-old brat still getting acquainted with its new-found toys while enthusiastically propagating the will to educate general audiences.

By the time his final programme aired in 1998, commercial networks had entered the landscape and public television had lived through

profound changes. Some of them seemed to have left television perpetually infantile.

During four decades of shapeshifting and altering policies, Cornelis continued to explore the medium, and its relation to the art world and cultural debates. In a variety of short reportages, documentaries, talk shows and live broadcasts, he approached television as an integral part of the intellectual and cultural space his subjects belonged to.

Like any medium, television should

be experimented with, Cornelis seemed to say, while tackling questions about urban development in Flanders, contemporary artists or 1990s trance music.

In his early programme James Lee Byars: World Question Center (1969) – part of an exhibition at Argos and also scheduled in a retrospective at Cinematek – Cornelis made the television studio into a stage where sculptor and performance artist Byars could interact with people in the studio (Marcel Broodthaers and others) or on the phone (John Cage). The live broadcast, enabled by means only television at the time possessed, is a performance in and of itself.

Cornelis, like his colleague at BRT Stefaan Decostere years later, became one of the most intriguing Flemish docu-

FAMILY

Klara in deSingel

Krokus Festival deSingel, Antwerp desingel.be

Flemish classical music radio station Klara takes over deSingel for the fifth edition of this annual all-day event. Klara’s radio personalities colonise every available space in the building and preside over dozens of performances – and it’s all broadcast live. The compositions encompass centuries of musical history, from the Baroque to the contemporary. Highlights include a jazz-fuelled monologue

by Flemish actor Josse De Pauw and a romp through the Parisian cabaret songbook by the Flemish Radio Choir under the direction of French conductor Hervé Niquet (pictured). \ Georgio Valentino © Eric Manas

\ Bjorn Gabriels

© VRT, Courtesy Argos Centre for Art & Media, Brussels

CLASSICAL 30 January, from 11.45

mentary essayists and audiovisual artists from within the confining structures of public television.

Some of his works continue to pop up in discussions on what a public broadcast should (or absolutely shouldn’t, according to some) strive for. His prematurely cancelled talk show Container (1989) has become a symbol in debates about hermetic intellectualism versus vulgar banality.

As many of the disputants, then and now, have never seen an episode of Container, they might want to catch up on one at Argos. Or revisit some of Cornelis’ reflections on Flemish urbanism (The Street, 1972 or Vlaanderen in vogelvlucht/A Bird’s Eye View of Flanders, 1976) at Cinematek.

3-11 February

krokusfestival.be

With their 2012 album The Heist, the Seattle duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis proved it is possible to conquer both hearts and hit charts without the support of a record label. Their infectious, silly raps (“Thrift Shop”), bizarro videos (“Can’t Hold Us”), soaring, stadium-style choruses (“Down-

The Rhythm Junks: The Flemish big beat, blues and funk combo present their new album, It Takes a While, a demonstration of the trio’s typical fiery style that melds together jazz, pop, rock, soul and blues. 5 February 20.00, Ancienne Belgique, Anspachlaan 110

\ damesdraaien.be

EVENT Brussels Bal & Basta: Folk ball series, this month featuring Portuguese-Ukranian duo Parapente700 and Belgium’s Duo Pilartz Gielen, plus optional dinner. 31 January 16.00, De Pianofabriek, Fortstraat 35 \ frissefolk.be

LITERATURE

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Gisèle Vienne dives deep into the world of dummies with her latest production. The Franco-Austrian choreographer, stage designer and puppeteer has built a reputation on genre-blurring, dreamlike spectacles, often with little dialogue.

With The Ventriloquists Convention, however, she and American author Dennis Cooper go to the opposite extreme. The production presents a gathering of professional ventriloquists all too literally. The end result is a paranoid cacophony of dialogue and a visual overload of doppelganger dummies.

Vienne employs nine puppeteers to perform a total of more than 30 voices. (In English) \ GV

Brussels

Dames Draaien: Festival screening international films by women, including features, shorts and documentaries, plus special guests, discussions and master classes. 28 January to 1 February, Cinema Aventure, Kleerkopersstraat 87

Across Hasselt

The Ventriloquists Convention kaaitheater.be

\ anneniepold.be

\ abconcerts.be

Hasselt’s Krokus Festival has been bringing the arts to children and families for a full 20 years now.

From humble beginnings as a regional theatre festival, the event has grown into a nine-day multidisciplinary arts extravaganza of international stature. Still, the focus remains squarely on young audiences, from Brussels-based company Nyash’s Stoel (Chair, 3+, pictured) to Flemish theatre collective Villanella’s Mieren slapen nooit (Ants Never Sleep, 8+) to Scottish dance company Curious Seed’s collaborative work-in-progress Teenage Trilogy (14+). This last is part of a three-year project that will culminate at the 2018 edition of Krokus. \ GV

1 March, from 18.30

Anne Niepold & Gwen Cresens: Monochromatic: The unique combination of two distinct personalities performing two different accordions, one diatonic and the other chromatic. 28 January to 18 February, Antwerp, Brussels, Kortrijk, Sint-Niklaas and Ghent

Brussels

CONCERT Kaaitheater, Brussels

Across Flanders

FILM

PERFORMANCE 29-30 January, 20.30

CONCERT

get tic

kets n ow

Sportpaleis, Antwerp sportpaleis.be

town”) and pluckiness to call out the hip-hop community on its homophobia (“Same Love”) have won them fans across the globe as well as two Grammies. Hip-hop purists had best abstain, but if you like a good party, these two have got you covered. \ Linda A Thompson

Antwerp

get tic

kets n

ow

The New Romantic: The Swiss-born, British-based philosopher Alain de Botton gives a reading from his new novel about modern relationships, The Course of Love, 20 years after his bestselling debut, Essays on Love (in English). 14 April 19.00, Amuz, Kammenstraat 81 \ theschooloflife.com

Brussels Vladimir Sorokin: Meet the “bad boy” of Russian literature, whose work has been lauded, censored and banned for parodying life in Soviet Russia. (In Russian with simultaneous translation in English). 4 February 20.00, Passa Porta, Antoine Dansaertstraat 46 \ passaporta.be

© Estelle Hanania

\ 15

\ BACKPAGE

january 27, 2016

Talking Dutch After the diet comes the digital detox Derek Blyth More articles by Derek \ flanderstoday.eu

In response to: International organisations provide 121,000 jobs in Brussels Philip Meersman: Best Place To Work!

O

h no, I thought, when I saw the headline in De Standaard. Vlaming wordt bedreigt – Flemings are under threat. What would it be this time?

Hospital superbugs? Kamikaze drivers? Dutch beavers?

It was none of those things, but an unexpected new danger: Digibesitas – Digital obesity. Now, you might need this explained, in which case the person to turn to is professor Lieven De Marez of Ghent University, who has just completed a study on the dangers of digital overload.

Smartphone, tv, tablet, laptop en pc: we zijn er almaar meer mee bezig – Smartphones, TVs, tablets, laptops and PCs: We’re all using these more and more. Maar voor sommigen is al dat digitaal mediagebruik te veel geworden – But for some people all that digital media has become too much: zij haken af van Facebook – they shut their Facebook account, en ruilen hun smartphone voor een ouderwetse gsm – and exchange their smartphone for an old-fashioned mobile phone.

The figures speak for themselves. In 2015 heeft de smartphone zijn veroveringstocht voortgezet – In 2015, the smartphone continued to take over our lives. 68,5 procent van de Vlamingen heeft er nu al een op zak – 68.5% of Flemings now have one in their pockets, een jaar eerder was dat 57,3 procent – whereas one year ago the figure was 57.3%, according to the annual digi-Meter survey.

The smartphone is the biggest threat. Eén op de drie van de ondervraagden zegt er meer dan drie uur per dag aan te besteden – One in three people surveyed reported that they used it for more than three hours every day.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, according to De Marez. We hebben ook nog al die andere schermen: televisie, laptop, desktop, tablet – We have all these other screens as well: television, laptop, desktop, tablet. In een

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kwart van de Vlaamse gezinnen – In a quarter of Flemish households, zijn die vijf verschillende schermen allemaal aanwezig – you can find every one of these five types of screens.

Now we are reaching a tipping point, De Marez warns.

We zien dat een sterk stijgend aantal Vlamingen aangeeft – We are finding an increasing number of Flemings who are saying, dat deze activiteiten heel erg tijdrovend – that these activities are taking up too much of their time, en soms zelfs verslavend zijn – and are sometimes even addictive.

Hoe krijg je dat allemaal in 24 uur gecomprimeerd? – How do you manage to do everything in 24 hours? Door te ‘multitasken’ – By multitasking. Bijvoorbeeld tv-kijken en Facebooken tegelijk – For example, by watching TV and checking Facebook at the same time. Erg rustgevend is dat niet – But that’s not really very relaxing.

So digital detoxing is likely to become the next big trend.

And you can bet people will be chatting about it on WhatsApp while binge-watching Netflix. (See related story p7)

Tweet us your thoughts @FlandersToday

Poll

a. Schools should provide pupils with water bottles that they can fill up at lunchtime and drink throughout the day

40% b. Kids arrive at school dehydrated, so it starts with the parents. Kids should come to school with water bottles already filled

30% c. Constant drinking and going to the toilet is disruptive. But schools should be legally required to provide drinking fountains

30% we asked our readers. Parents, the schools? The latter, the majority of you figure. Schools should provide pupils with water bottles and let them fill them up at school. Teachers could motivate them to fill them up and drink it up before the end of the day. Spa would no doubt be happy to provide the bottles.

Where the kids fill up the bottles

\ Next week's question:

is up for debate, though companies might be convinced to provide free water coolers should they be allowed to also install a vending machine of healthy snacks right next to it. Or Flemish schools could do what schools in some other countries do: install water fountains. Kids can drink straight from them or fill up bottles.

Researchers have revealed the existence of a new phenomenon: digibesity, or an obsession with digital technology (see p7). What’s the extent of your addiction?

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

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the last word

A study has shown that schoolchildren are insufficiently hydrated throughout the day. What should be done about it?

According to a study released by Ghent University – commissioned by the Spa water group – primary school students in Belgium are not sufficiently hydrated throughout the day. They come to school underhydrated – essentially having drunk too little water – and remain that way.

So who needs to deal with this?

VoiceS of flanders today

Daring dip

Portion control

“Ghastly. The water was much colder than expected.”

“The best idea is not to eat those things. If you do, enjoy them. But don’t go thinking they’re healthy just because they dropped below the 250-calorie mark.”

Bart De Wever, mayor of Antwerp, took his traditional New Year dip in 3.3 degree water last week

Happy Valley “You have a real village mentality here. In the summer, people sit outside in front of their houses.

And it takes me an hour to get to the supermarket round the corner because I have to stop and chat with everyone.”

Tania Wens, a shopkeeper in Vorselaar, Antwerp province, whose residents voted it the most agreeable municipality in Flanders, with a score of 9.2 out of 10 in a Nieuwsblad poll

Food expert Patrick Mullie of the Free University of Brussels (VUB) on a plan by Unilever to reduce the size of Magnum, Cornetto and Ben & Jerry’s to make them less fattening

Good cause “I think it’s a wonderful gesture.

We’re so happy when people at that level put their trust in us, because we need all the attention and support we can get.”

Hilde Boeykens of children’s charity SOS Kinderdorpen, after prime minister Charles Michel said wellwishers should make a donation to them instead of sending gifts for the birth of his new daughter (see news briefs, p3)

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