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RIP Eddy Wally

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FlandERs Is…

A new maritime science Masters’ degree in English will attract both international students and Flemings who want to work abroad

A visitor centre and shop in the middle of Brussels shows tourists – and the rest of us – what’s on offer further north

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The crew of a Belgian field artillery unit eat before the German advance on Diksmuide during the Battle of the yser

When the cupboard was bare

looking back at how flanders coped with wartime food shortages toon lambrechts More articles by Toon \ flanderstoday.eu

War means misery,and the FirstWorldWar brought suffering on an unprecedented scale. The horrors of the trenches and Flanders Fields are well known, but less attention has been given to everyday civilian life, not least in the kitchen. The story of food shortages and hunger during the war is told in a new exhibition at the Mill Museum in Brussels.

blurred black-and-white photo shows five smiling faces. A group of German soldiers, recognisable by their helmets, have laid their hands on a pig somewhere in occupied Belgium. One plays a tune on the accordion, in celebration of the feast they’re about to enjoy. Presumably, the local farmer who owned the pig didn’t find it quite so funny.

This theft of livestock was a common reality for farmers during the First World War. It was one of many hardships for the people of Belgium, both at the front and in the occupied territories. As well as the direct impact of the war, the country was plagued by food shortages. Imports were stalled, many farms were destroyed, and the Germans confiscated much of what was produced. An exhibition at Brussels’ Mill Museum focuses on the story of food during the Great War. “The choice of this subject was obvious for us,” says museum spokesperson Frederic Nain. “It’s an important issue, and a lot of research has been carried out on it. But the general public doesn’t know much about it.” Food and War looks first at the situation on the frontline.

The supply to the soldiers, life behind the frontlines, and the material used to cook and transport food are all on display. There is also interesting information on how culinary terms were used as names for weapons: lemon grenades, for example, which do actually look like lemons. It also shows how people dealt with the scarcity of food. The way the war dramatically changed daily life in Flanders is sometimes lost among all the military history and tales of the horrors of the trenches. But just a few days after the outbreak of war, Belgium was on the brink of a major food shortage. Strangely, the fact that Flanders had a well-developed livestock industry was one of the reasons the situation was so bad, according to Brecht Demasure, historian and continued on page 5

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Singer Eddy Wally dies at 83 legendary flemish crooner was popular with young and old alike alan Hope Follow alan on Twitter \ @alanHopeFT

ddy Wally, the Flemish crooner known for his flamboyant dress style and over-the-top stage shows, died at the weekend aged 83. He had been ill for some

time. Born in Zelzate, East Flanders, in 1932, Eduard Van De Walle was working in a textile factory when he met his future wife, Mariette, with whom he had a daughter, Marina. Both would become part of his stage show. In 1966, he recorded the song Chérie, which he sang on the TV programme Echo. It was Wally’s breakthrough: The song reached number one, and the record went gold. He toured the world, billing himself as “The Voice of Europe”, his look inspired by a combination of Elvis and Liberace. Wally’s look and act were frequently the target of parody, but

Flu epidemic is on the way, public health intitute warns A flu epidemic is drawing closer, as the threshold number of cases for qualifying for epidemic status was passed last week for the first time this winter, according to the Scientific Institute for Public Health. The threshold stands at 144 consultations with a doctor for every 100,000 people. In the previous week, the institute reports, the number reached 232 and is expected to keep rising. However, an outbreak only counts as an epidemic when the threshold is passed in two successive weeks. In addition, 20% of respir-

he never changed his productions and had become increasingly popular with young people at events like the Gentse Feesten for his kitsch quality. In 2003, he recovered from cancer and upped the tempo of his concert schedule. At the age of 75, he filled Antwerp’s Sportpaleis. In 2010, he was taken ill on stage in Ghent. He recovered but stopped performing. He then suffered a stroke and retired to a rest home in Zelzate. “With his hat, his glitzy sunglasses and the sparkles in his suit, he brought dreams into Flanders’ living rooms,” said culture minister Sven Gatz. “He was at home in Las Vegas, in Moscow, in Beijing or in Paris, but Eddy Wally for me will always be that young man selling handbags at the market.” \ AH

atory samples must test positive on analysis. Last week’s samples tested positive at a rate of 66%, evenly split between the A strain, the most virulent for humans, and the B strain of the virus. “It is not possible to determine the date or the severity of the peak,” the institute said in a statement. “That data will only be known later, once a noticeable reduction in flu activity is measured.” It is also not possible to determine the effectiveness of this season’s flu vaccines, they said. \ AH

Royal aid fund to receive Fabiola’s full estate The handling of the estate of dowager queen Fabiola, who died in late 2014, is complete, with most of her assets going to the Queen Fabiola Aid Fund, which she set up in 1960. Fabiola was the widow of Belgium’s King Boudewijn I, who had no children and passed the throne on to his brother Albert, the father of the present king, when he died. Shortly before her death, it was revealed that Fabiola had drawn up a will bequeathing her fortune – derived from personal investments made by Boudewijn during his lifetime – to a number of family members in Spain, to allow them to carry out religious works. The news led to criticism that a fortune built up by a Belgian king would leave the country and be devoted specifically to religious projects. Fabiola apparently changed her will, with the majority of her fortune going to the Aid Fund. That fund is now managed by the current Queen Mathilde. The fund, according to its official statement, “is intended to help the Queen in her philanthropic and social

activities”. Fabiola’s residence, the Stuyvenberg Castle in Brussels, where Boudewijn was born, becomes the property of the Crown Estates, the holdings of the monarchy as an institution, rather than any individual sovereign. \ AH

Road Safety Institute studies number of traffic lights The Belgian Institute for Road Safety (BIVV) has announced it is examining the impact of the number of traffic lights in the country on a location-by-location basis. Motoring organisation Touring said it was in favour of losing half of all traffic lights, while a road traffic expert at Hasselt University (UHasselt) described a recent study on the subject as “nonsense”. The study was carried out by the British think-tank Institute of Economic Affairs, which

concluded that 80% of British traffic lights are superfluous. The amount of time cars spend standing still at lights leads to more pollution and to costs to the economy in productivity, the institute argued. Danny Smagghe of Touring agrees. Carbon dioxide emissions increase by 28% at traffic lights and fine particles emissions by 7%, he said. “In the past, traffic lights were placed very generously in Flanders, usually at the request of local residents and municipal coun-

cils,” he said. “Not all of them have a positive effect on road safety by any means.” Touring carried out its own survey at 100 locations and found that 50 sets of lights could be eliminated without any adverse effect. But Willy Miermans, lecturer in traffic science at UHasselt, sees problems with the British study. He criticised the methodology, where the seconds spent waiting at lights were totalled up per driver and then multiplied by the number of drivers to calculate the

effect on the economy. pedestrians feel “That’s nonsense. A safer,” said spokesperson million times nothKarin Genoe. ing is still nothing,” he She pointed to a study where said. “It’s only when parents were asked about you don’t take the car their willingness to send at all that you begin to their children to school make a contribution alone by bike or on foot. If to the environment.” traffic lights were removed BIVV pointed to the in areas around schools, role traffic lights play she suggested, parents in road safety overall. might consider the environ© R/DV/Rs/Flickr “Traffic lights are installed to ment less safe for walking and help avoid conflicts between road cycling – putting more cars on the users, which helps cyclists and road. \ AH

2,380

0.5%

17km extra to be spent this year by the Flemish government on the migration crisis, according to finance minister Annemie Turtelboom, including language classes, welfare and employment

of shelving filled with archived documents of the Flemish government, stored in the Depot in Vilvoorde. Opened in 2010, the Depot is at 85% of capacity, with plans to add another 57km of shelves by the end of 2018

oftheturnoveroflogisticscompany Katoen Natie will be invested annually in cultural projects, CEO Fernand Huts said. The sum comes to about €8 million a year – almost as much as the €8.12 million a year received by the 21 subsidised museums in Flanders

€81,150

paid by De Lijn in “fear premiums” to encourage bus drivers to go into Brussels during the heightened terror alert in the capital in November. The premium was stopped after a protest by Flemish mobility minister Ben Weyts

Belgians applied to change their name last year – 1,170 to change their surname, 1,002 their forename and 208 both. The standard tariff is €490; transsexuals pay only €49

fEBruary 10, 2016

WEEK In bRIEF The prosecutor’s office in Ghent is appealing the outcome of a trial last week in which a radio host was found guilty of raping a woman during a broadcast but was given no sentence. The judge, Hans De Waele, said that the rape was “not brutal”, while the man had become “excited by the buildup in sexual tension”. The man also “wrongly interpreted the signals” of the victim and “lost control”. The Women’s Council led the widespread criticism: “No means no. It appears even judges have to learn that,” the organisation said. Justice minister Koen Geens said he wanted to see more judges take courses in sexual violence. Staff at the Belgian air traffic control organisation Belgocontrol have issued notice of strike action from 15 February. Unions are protesting at the failure of management to meet earlier promises regarding extra personnel and a retirement plan. Jelle Frenken, accused of throwing acid in the face of a cleaning person at a Delhaize supermarket in Antwerp early last year, will not stand trial before a jury, a court in Brussels has ruled. The court heard a request for an assizes trial from the victim, Marina Tijssen, who was recently informed that doctors would not be able to save her left eye. Frenken, a Dutch national, is facing charges of extortion and attempted murder. Flemish economy minister Philippe Muyters has named Hilde Laga as the new chair of the Flemish Participation Company, the government’s investment agency. Laga, a prominent lawyer, also becomes the first woman to chair the investment company GIMV, replacing Urbain Vandeurzen, who stepped down last month. Laga is an expert in company law and corporate governance and is the founder of Laga Advocaten, with offices in Brussels, Antwerp

FacE oF FlandERs and Kortrijk. She also sits on the supervisory board of the Financial Services and Markets Authority. Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) will provide €5,000 to all movies it helps finance to provide audio descriptions for the blind and visually impaired. The service can be accessed via a smartphone app in the cinema. VAF recently organised a special screening of the new Flemish film Achter de wolken (Behind the Clouds), inviting the audience to enjoy the film with audio-description and subtitles. The government’s Flemish Community Day celebration on 11 July will take place in Brussels’ City Hall as usual, the management committee of the Flemish parliament has decided. Minister-president Geert Bourgeois had recently proposed holding the ceremony elsewhere. Traditionally, the event includes a speech by the speaker of the parliament and a response from the Brussels alderperson for Dutch-speaking affairs. A teacher who refused to sign a pledge not to wear any sign of religious affiliation and was refused a job at a primary school in Maldegem as a result has won her case before the Council of State. The woman was applying for a position as a teacher of Islam. The Council of State has upheld her right as a religion teacher to wear a headscarf and overturned the school’s decision not to hire her. Sint-Truiden start-up Idronect has launched a software platform for professional users of drones, in advance of a new law expected to be passed by the summer. The platform is “the very first digital solution that connects all partners in drone management with each other, making unmanned flying simple and safe for every-

oFFsIdE love on the road Remember Karim and Valérie? Last year we learned how they had met at the tram stop Hansen-Soulie, which has since been removed, to their disappointment. Now Brussels public transport authority MIVB is looking for more love stories related to public transport, and you could win a reception for your (reunited) wedding guests plus a dinner for 33 people on the Tram Experience just by sharing it. “With 370 million journeys a year, there’s a good chance you could come across the man or woman of your dreams on public transport,” said MIVB spokesperson An Van Hamme.

Like Roxanne and Leon. She works for the Klara Festival, he for the Commission. “MIVB sees to it that we spend a lot of time together and enjoy this special engagement,” Roxanne writes. Or like Muriel and Frank, she from Elsene and he from Anderlecht, who travelled by public transport to a

one,” said CEO Tom Verbruggen.

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Wouter Beke will serve a third term as chair of the Christiandemocrat party (CD&V), after the deadline for candidacies passed with no other names appearing on the ballot. At his first election in 2010, Beke won more than 98% of the votes. He was re-elected unopposed in 2013. The city of Bruges could be €17 million poorer if Leuven keeps on growing, according to two members of the Flemish parliament. At present, Bruges alone occupies the second category of cities with a population of more than 100,000 – the first category includes only Antwerp and Ghent. If the population of Leuven tops 100,000, it will share the grants from the Municipal Fund for second-tier cities, taking over an estimated €17 million from Bruges. The population of Leuven on 1 January 2015 stood at 98,500. Flemish public broadcaster VRT will not face charges for accidentally broadcasting images of child sexual abuse during a news item, the Brussels prosecutor’s office has announced. The charity Child Focus filed a complaint after the images were shown without being pixelated. Christian Van Eyken, the only French-speaking member of the Flemish parliament, took his seat as usual at last Wednesday’s plenary session, less than a week after being charged with murder and released on the same day because of a procedural error. Van Eyken, a former mayor of Linkebeek, still faces a murder charge, but parliament speaker Jan Peumans stressed that the presumption of innocence still applies. Van Eyken denies any part in the 2014 murder of Marc Dellea, the husband of the woman with whom he was having an affair.

fidèle Fidèle, the most photographed inhabitant of Bruges, has passed away. He was 12 years old. Fidèle was a Labrador retriever who could be seen, weather permitting, lying in an open upstairs window of the B&B Côté Canal. The establishment backs onto the Groenerei canal, which is full of boats popular with tourists, and Fidèle has figured in thousands of holiday snapshots, making him an online sensation. Unlike most of the subjects of this weekly feature, Fidèle did not have a very distinguished career. He lounged on a cushion at the window, watching the world go by between naps. Andyethisimagemusthavebeen reproduced millions of times around the world. He figured briefly in the opening scene of the movie In Bruges. Godiva used him in a TV commercial. He has been immortalised on Pinterest and Instagram, on the photo sites Flickr and 500px, and all over Twitter. His passing became international news last week, popping

up on news and travel sites alike, including from Greece, New Zealand and the US. “He had beaten cancer, but he was sick again,” explained owner Caroline Van Langeraert. “We had to put him to sleep. His ashes were strewn by the animal hospital. We're going to miss him very much; he was my faithful life partner.” Fidèle’s rise to international fame, TV and movie appearances and his own Wikipedia page came about quite by chance, Van Langeraert said. “One day he just went to lie in front of the window. Since then he's become a favourite of the tourists.” Since news of his passing broke, she’s received calls from people in other countries who have stayed at the B&B. “They're all broken-hearted, just like the people of Bruges. He was a sweetheart of a dog.” Van Langeraert still has the company of her Jack Russell, whom keen-eyed viewers of the Godiva ad can see trying – not very successfully – to poke his nose into shot. \ Alan Hope

flanders today, a weekly English-language newspaper, is an initiative of the flemish region and is financially supported by the flemish authorities.

lovElinE.mivB.BE

first aid course in Dilbeek. They met “during the bandaging exercises and the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation,” writes Muriel. They’ve been married 30 years and have two children. Simon and Dieuwertje, meanwhile, met on a bench in Kleine Zavel. Her first-ever metro ride, Simon writes, was after leaving his place near Etterbeek station (it’s actually a pre-metro, Simon, but never mind). They’ve kept that first ticket to this day. Got a story of your own that mixes love with trams and buses? You have until 23 February to post it on the website. Once a day they’ll also be giving away a bunch of flowers. \ AH

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5tH colUmn False notes

John Crombez’s work to revive Flanders’ socialist party has yet to produce results, but after a long period of relative silence since he took over, the president has stepped into the limelight. His party cheered recently when he successfully challenged N-VA’s Bart De Wever, Flanders’ strongest debater and Crombez’s ideological opposite. But last week Crombez’s supporters fell silent when their hero said he supported the refugee plan of Dutch socialist party leader Diederik Samsom. That plan includes a quota for refugees coming into Europa of 250,000 and sending refugees arriving in Greece back to Turkey by ferry. To Flemish socialists, great supporters of international solidarity, these proposals are unthinkable. Crombez’s words were even (wrongly) interpreted as support for pushbacks: refusing to allow the boats in which refugees arrive to come ashore. What was their president thinking? Crombez, it turned out, had simply not communicated his support for the plan effectively: His main point was that he wanted to keep people from drowning in the Mediterranean. But the damage was done. Groen, SP.A’s competitor on the left, let it be known that Crombez was “even more rightwing than N-VA”, and the president faced a grilling during his own party’s traditional Monday meeting. His statements also unfortunately coincided with another contested – and apparently misinterpreted – appeal by West Flanders’ governor. Carl Decaluwé fears that the refugee camps in Calais and Duinkerke will spill over to the Belgian coast, with Zeebrugge harbour becoming an alternative for crossing the Channel to the UK. To prevent this from happening, Decaluwé urged the public not to provide food to refugees wandering around the coast, as food distribution points could transform into campsites very quickly. It was a message that was heard as: “Do not feed the refugees”. The incidents show that all parties are grappling with the refugee crisis. N-VA would rather take a tough stance on the issue, but party member Theo Francken is secretary of state for asylum, responsible for dealing with the daily reality of thousands of arriving refugees. Decaluwé wants the coast to remain a tourist destination. Crombez wants to stop people drowning at sea. But communication on these subjects has proven to be anything but easy. \ Anja Otte

Digital market and migration among Flanders’ EU priorities government reveals main interests in commission’s work programme alan Hope More articles by alan \ flanderstoday.eu

hegovernmentofFlandershasannounced its priority dossiers from the European Commission’s work programme for 2016. There are seven main areas that are seen as having a significant impact on Flanders. Flanders has prioritised the review of the multiyear financial framework for 2014-2020 and the transition to a circular economy. Also among the priorities are the creation of a European energy union, better management of migration, the development of a unified digital market, trade and investment strategies and further steps towards a sustainable Europe. “A great many decisions taken by the EU are of

major importance to the future of Flanders,” said minister-president Geert Bourgeois. “That is why it is important to identify those dossi-

€50 million to clean up final accident blackspots Flemish mobility minister Ben Weyts has announced a budget of €50 million for the works required on the last 22 accident blackspots on the government’s list. The list of 800 locations was drawn up in 2002. Over the past 13 years, the government has spent €900 million making the locations safer, in an effort to reduce the approximately 400 road traffic deaths a year. “The scandal of those 400 deaths has to be tackled on every front, including infrastructure,” Weyts said. The €50 million is on top of the €350 million a year budgeted for road maintenance and repair, and the extra €140 million recently announced. The blackspots concerned are spread across Flanders, including in Mechelen, Beringen, De Pinte, Sint-Pieters-Leeuw

and Knokke-Heist (pictured). “I’m under no illusions; the work will never really be finished,” Weyts said. “Since the list was drawn up in 2002, a whole new list of blackspots has been compiled.” Police send details of accident data to the roads and traffic agency to help them decide on investment budgets. “That way we are always able to intervene in the most timely situations,” Weyts said.

Controversial case re-opens euthanasia debate

A controversial case of euthanasia on the basis of psychological suffering has re-opened the debate on euthanasia legislation. In the TV programme Terzake, two women discussed the euthanasia performed on their sister, Tine Nys, in 2010. Nys’ motivation for undergoing euthanasia, they said, was a relationship that ended, but she had previously suffered psychiatric problems. It had been 15 years since she had been admitted to a psychiatric institution. Two months before her death, Nys was diagnosed with autism, but her three doctors did not discuss any treatment options with her, said the sisters, who also criticised the lack of communication between the doctors and the amateurish way in which the euthanasia was carried out.

The case has led to another political debate on the subject, with the Christian-democrats (CD&V) calling for an evaluation of euthanasia legislation. According to CD&V senator Steven Vanackere, the current legislation isn’t sufficient in analysing extreme cases. Vanackere pointed out that, although multiple doctors have to be consulted, they don’t necessarily have to agree, and that longterm treatment options are not addressed in the law. CD&V president Wouter Beke noted that the family doesn’t need to be included in the process. Open VLD senator Jean-Jacques De Gucht, a specialist in the right to die, defended the legislation but agreed to debate the current legal framework. \ AF

ers that concern our responsibilities early. Our diplomats will then be better placed to affect the European decision-making process, and we will be better prepared to transform European rules into Flemish regulations.” Bourgeois also stressed the importance of the EU subsidiarity principle: that decisions should be taken at the lowest possible level and that the EU should not enforce regulations that could be better and more efficiently taken by member states or, in the case of Belgium, by regions. The Flemish parliament has the job of determining whether an EU regulation is in line with the subsidiarity principle.

New plan to improve care for patients with chronic conditions Federal and regional health ministers presented proposals last week to improve care for people with chronic health-care problems in Belgium. According to figures from Intego, a network that collects data from 380,000 patients from some 100 general practitioners, about half of Flanders’ population need long-term treatment for chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure, asthma, depression or type-II diabetes. The percentage of Flemings diagnosed with chronical conditions is rising: While in 2000, 40% of surveyed patients had a chronic disorder, the percentage rose to 50% in 2013. Among the reasons, said Intego, are the ageing of the population, better diagnosing and treatment of diseases that used to

be deadly and unhealthy lifestyle choices. The ministers have developed a plan to increase the quality of life for patients, increase job satisfaction among caregivers, promote healthier lifestyle choices and use funding as efficiently as possible. They are calling on care providers and health and welfare organisations to submit ideas for pilot projects to test innovative concepts. The goal of the pilot projects is to test concepts that could improve co-ordinated care among multiple providers. According to the ministers’ statement, suggested projects should also focus on the “emancipation and education of the person with a care need and on the prevention of disorders”. \ Andy Furniere

Government may be seeking new military Chief of Staff The Belgian military is looking for a new Chief of Staff, according to reports, after the federal government decided not to prolong the term of office of the current chief, General Gerard Van Caelenberge. Defence minister Steven Vandeput has declined to confirm or deny the reports. Van Caelenberge’s term runs out on 13 July. A Fleming born in Antwerp, he has held the post since 2012, following an Air Force career in which he was closely linked to the 350 Squadron, based in Beauvechain in Wallonia. His successor will be responsible for seeing through Vandeput’s planned reforms, which include cost-cutting as well as a number of expensive and contro-

versial, procurements, including the successor to the F-16 fighter aircraft. Among names being mentioned to succeed Van Caelenberge is Admiral Michel Hofman, who is Frenchspeaking and so a logical successor to the Flemish incumbent. A navy man, he also represents a different branch of the military. Other names include Lieutenant-General Marc Compernol, currently head of operations and training, and Lieutenant-General Eddy Testelmans of military intelligence. The military union has called for the vacancy to be filled by an open selection procedure, such as the one used to appoint Catherine De Bolle as federal police commissioner. \ AH

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fEBruary 10, 2016

When the cupboard was bare looking back at how flanders coped with wartime food shortages

moulindEvErE.BE

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researcher at the Centre for Agrarian History in Leuven. “Flanders was dependent on foreign imports, particularly for grain, which was an important daily commodity,” he says. “Around 75% of all grain was imported from the US and Russia, and these imports stopped from one day to the next. The Flemish farmers had already switched to horticulture and livestock decades before and couldn’t compensate for the lack of imported grain.” The part of Flanders known as the Ettappengebied, spanning the frontline and neighbouring areas, was hit the worst. Other regions were less affected, but there, too, famine loomed. Food shortages in the cities were much worse than in the countryside because there were few options for people to grow something for themselves. As a result, all Flanders’ biggest cities saw hunger riots during the four years of occupation. Various organisations tried to alleviate the situation. In Brussels, the industrialist Ernest Solvay set up a committee to distribute food. Other organisations joined in, and, within a month, the National Aid and Food Committee (NHVC) was born. Throughout the war, it provided food to those in need. Goods were shipped in via the Netherlands by the American Commission for Relief in Belgium. “The Germans were quite happy with this situation because it

meant one less thing for them to worry about,” says Demasure. “The NHVC was tolerated by the occupiers, though there were often tensions. Without the NHVC the situation would have been much more dire.” It wasn’t just civilians, of course: Soldiers also had to eat. But this simple fact was overlooked in the first year of the war, says Demasure. “Supplies for Belgian troops in Flanders only started in the summer of 1915. Until then, soldiers had to rely on themselves: They brought their own food to the front or depended on poaching or fishing. Only later did the army leadership set up a supply chain using their own farms and even a brewery.” However, the largest number of soldiers in the county were German. Food was brought in for them from Germany, but they also depended on confiscated resources. These confiscations

put a strain on food security and agriculture, says Demasure. “We don’t have the exact figures, but it’s estimated that more than half of the livestock in Flanders was stolen from farmers,” he says. “This had a severe impact. Without horses, for example, the fields couldn’t be ploughed. Agricultural products were also confiscated by the Germans, with heavy penalties for those who withheld food. So people became very inventive at hiding food from the occupiers.” The exhibition includes a selection of wartime cookbooks. These appeared during and after the war with the aim of providing people with guidelines on how to deal with shortages and the lack of common products. Some simply provide tips, while others are proper cookbooks with recipes making use of whatever was available. A number of these recipes were republished recently. Comeet, the culture department of the Meetjesland area of East Flanders, issued a publication called Cooking in Occupied Territory. It brings together some typical recipes that were used locally during the war. “Not all recipes will appeal to today’s tastes,” says Comeet co-ordinator Sebastiaan De Coninck. “But other things were surprisingly tasty. The war cookbooks we found these recipes in were issued both by the government and by organisations such as the Farmers’ Union to help people cope with the scarcity and to introduce them to a number of new products that came to our tables through foreign – mainly American – food aid.” Rice, for example, had only been used in desserts before the war, but during the war it replaced potatoes to some extent. Some of these recipes are still made in Meetjesland, like Jan-in-thebag, a sweet dumpling-style dessert with

raisins, milk, flour and yeast. Asked about his own favourite war dish, De Conink doesn’t have to think too long. “Sorrel potatoes,” he says. “My grandmother used to make them, and they were so good!” The exhibition Food and War at the Mill Museum in Brussels runs until the end of August. Guided tours are available. Elsewhere, ’t Grom, a museum of horticulture in SintKatelijne-Waver, Antwerp province, has a programme dedicated to the First World War. It has created a war garden that shows how people at the time tried to grow food themselves to overcome the shortages. And the Centre for Agrarian History has prepared a travelling exhibition about food during the First World War that can be seen at various places in Flanders. From top left: a pot containing rum rations for British soldiers; a British trench mortar projectile, nicknamed a “toffee apple”; a mustard pot in the form of a pig in German uniform; an insulated cooking chest © In Flanders Fiels Museum, ypres; ©In Flanders Fields Museum, ypres; © Historial de la Grande Guerre, Péronne, somme; © Museum für kunst und kulturgeschichte, Dortmund

WaR soUP Soup is a flexible dish – an ideal way to handle surpluses or substandard products, or to make in large quantities in soup kitchens for the hungry masses. So it became the main dish during the First World War. For those who want a taste, here are two recipes from the time, taken from Cooking in Occupied Territory. Turnip soup: Take eight turnips, 500g potatoes, two litres of water, an onion, some butter, bay leaf and thyme. Wash the turnips, cut them into chunks and saute them lightly for about five minutes in the butter with the onion. Add water, salt and the potatoes and let cook until done. Season with thyme and bay leaf. Sorrel soup: Sorrel (veldzuring in Dutch) was picked in the wild during the war. Use as much as you want for the soup. You also need an onion, 40g butter, two litres of water and 500g potatoes. First, saute the onion, then add the water and the potatoes. When the potatoes are cooked, add the sorrel and strain everything through a sieve.

\ BusInEss

WEEK In bUsInEss Banking axa The Brussels-based banking affiliate of the French insurance group has sold its Hungarian OTP operation. The move follows similar disposals in Switzerland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, leaving Axa Bank Europe with only its Belgian operations.

supermarkets aldi

The German retailer has been forced by the Brussels commercial court to pull its Buval beer because its packaging could be confused with Jupiler, produced by Leuven’s AB Inbev.

Retail Hairdis

The professional cosmetics and hair-care products chain is to open up to 50 additional outlets over the next five years with the French Bleu Libellule group. The company already operates stores in Brussels, Ghent and Wijnegem.

Distribution Dockx

The removal, rental and logistics group is to develop its distribution activities with the opening of Dockx Select outlets in Drogenbos, Bruges, Roeselaere and Hasselt to handle large parcels and deliveries. The company also has plans for two regional dispatching facilities in Flanders.

Technology smappee

The Kortrijk-based energy monitoring tools developer with sales in some 60 countries has raised a further €2.5 million to finance its growth and further research in applications for water and gas consumption control.

Telecoms Mobistar

The second largest telecoms operator on the local market, owned by the French Orange group, is to be renamed under the brand of its parent company before the end of the year. The company also plans to launch a mobile banking affiliate in 2017.

water watergroep

The Brussels-based drinking water distribution company, owned by Flanders-based public authorities, is to build a water production unit in Surinam to supply 40,000 households in the country.

Half of restaurants more expensive with smart cash till

regulations to prevent undeclared income see prices rise 10% on average alan Hope More articles by alan \ flanderstoday.eu

lmost half of Belgium’s restaurants have increased their prices as a result of the introduction of the new smart cash register at the start of the year, according to NSZ, the union of the self-employed. The government disagrees on the cause. From a poll of 528 businesses, the union found that 45% had put their prices up since the registers were introduced, with an average increase of 10%. The new registers leave no room for undeclared income: in theory, every transaction has to pass through the till where it is recorded and a receipt issued. Staff, too, are logged in to the register, which documents their working hours. The tills are now compulsory for every establishment where food service accounts for at

least 10% of income. That could include fullservice restaurants or pubs selling only a single daily dish, but excludes old-style cafes offering only a bag of crisps or a dried salami. NSZ also found that 42% of the businesses polled were now opening less often or for shorter hours. One in five has already let staff go, while 58% of the rest were expecting to have to do so in the future. According to Bart Tommelein, the minister for combating social fraud, the new registers are not to blame for the price increases. The government has taken measures to lessen the blow of their introduction, he said, including flexi-jobs and a new regime governing overtime. “Working in the black has never been ok, smart registers or no smart registers,” he said. “It’s not as

if there’s a new system in place, so I can’t see a reason for price rises.”

EU gives green light to Telenet’s Base takeover

Belgium will appeal EU decision on excess profits

The European Commission has given the go-ahead to Telenet’s takeover of mobile operator Base. The decision also clears the way for Medialaan to acquire virtual mobile company Mobile Vikings. Since the deal brings together two of the market’s major players, some conditions were expected to be attached to the Commission’s approval. However, competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager was satisfied with Base’s sale of Mobile Vikings, an operator with no network of its own, to Medialaan, a company with TV and radio properties but virtually no presence on the mobile market. Federal telecoms minister Alexander De Croo welcomed the decision and stressed the need for the market to be open to small virtual operators in order to maintain competition. The takeover, however, simply cements the

The federal government is planning an appeal against a ruling by the European Commission that a tax plan for multinationals counted as illegal state aid. The Commission’s decision would mean the government having to ask for €700 million back from the companies involved. The problem has been created by the excess profit ruling, which allows a multinational company to deduct part of its income in Belgium as the fruits of its multinational character. In agreement with the tax authorities, the companies were allowed to pay less tax than normal. The measure was intended to attract inward investment and create jobs, but the Commission sees it as state aid, something that is illegal under EU law. Some of the companies involved – which include brewer AB InBev, tools manufacturer Atlas Copco and

Telenet headquarters in Mechelen

existing triopoly: the three most important operators – by a long way – remain Proximus, Mobistar and Base. Medialaan enters the market at a much lower level; the company has been given an assurance on the use of the Base network for five years. The main loser is Mobistar. The company warned last year that the takeover would result in Flanders being split in two between Proximus and Telenet, as Telenet’s TV and internet customers signed up for mobile as well, as clients of Proximus already largely do. \ AH

cinema chain Kinepolis – have made it clear they might not have invested in Belgium without the tax bonus. The finance ministry will now retain legal representation to determine the grounds of the appeal. The first job is to find out if filing an appeal suspends the process by which the money has to be reclaimed. While the Commission says not, finance minister Johan Van Overveldt (pictured) says it remains to be seen. \ AH

Paul Lembrechts named new head of VRT Paul Lembrechts, an experienced manager who has spent the last 20 years in banking, has been named as the new CEO of Flemish public broadcaster VRT. He replaces Leo Hellemans, who is about to retire. Lembrechts was chosen from a shortlist of three candidates. He was chosen for his “great deal of experience and the right management capacities,” according to Flemish ministerpresident Geert Bourgeois, who described him as “someone who is open to change”. Lembrechts (pictured) must implement €30 million in spending cuts and reform the VRT to make it more efficient and cheaper. He arrives to a new multi-year management agreement and a cost-cutting transformation plan, created before his appointment.

While studying veterinary science in Ghent, Lembrechts worked as a writer and producer

at Radio 2 in Antwerp and later as a scriptwriter for the farming programme Voor boer en tuinder (For Farmer and Gardener). He then worked in the pet food division of multinational food company Mars. According to Bourgeois, his lack of experience in leading a media company is “not an insurmountable problem”. “It is a special honour to be able to fill this function,” said Lembrechts. “I hope to be able to work in a constructive manner with all stakeholders. My first job will be to get to know the place. I’m a big Radio 1 listener and a devoted viewer of Eén and Canvas; they’ve always been our main media sources. That’s why I’m so happy to take this job.” \ AH

\ InnOVaTIOn

fEBruary 10, 2016

Quick and dirty

WEEK In InnovatIon Majority of girls get HPV vaccine

new app crowdsources expert tips about life in Brussels sally tipper More articles by sally \ flanderstoday.eu

manyguidE.com

ooking for a new bar, somewhere to treat your pet, a secret park or a reliable plumber? A new app developed by a Brussels entrepreneur offers instant answers to all your questions about life in the city. Gunter Boutsen came up with the idea for Manyguide after endlessly swapping tips with a friend in Amsterdam on what to do and where to go in their respective cities. The pair are two of the five international partners behind Manyguide, which was launched in December to provide quickfire answers to people on the go in Brussels and Amsterdam. “If you’re on the move in the city, you want good advice, fast,” Boutsen says. “You’ve got websites like Yelp, but so much of the advice on there is out of date, and you don’t want to have to scroll through lists to find what you’re looking for.” His answer to the problem was to harness the collective mind of a few hundred smartphone-wielding experts in various fields, who are invited to register as guides. “You might know about cafes, restaurants or bars, but you might also be an expert on pet shops, and we’re seeing a lot of questions like that,” he says. “We really want to

The app offers a quick and easy interface between questioner and expert

make this for everybody.” The questions asked on Manyguide fall into two broad categories: novel and useful. Do you want to discover something fun and new, or do you need practical informa-

It works like this: Once you’ve downloaded the free app, you ask a question in English and the built-in processing software automatically allocates it to the most appropriate guide. The guide gets

You don’t want to have to scroll through lists to find what you’re looking for tion? Among the 350 guides so far registered in Brussels, someone is bound to know the answer.

a notification, inviting them to answer within a certain time. If they decide not to answer or don’t

respond within the time limit, the question passes on to the next suitable guide in the system. “We enrich the answers people give, too; we make it super simple,” Boutsen says. Information cards related to the places mentioned in the answers automatically pop up to provide addresses, directions, opening hours and contact details. With a tap, users can add it to their contacts list. All communication is done via the app; the intention at this stage is not to build a community or to start a conversation, but to be a quick and easy interface between questioner and expert. The questioner gives feedback on the quality of the answers they receive, and they even have the option to tip their guide a euro or two using mobile banking. “The biggest fear we had was whether people would be motivated to answer when they were sent a question,” Boutsen says. “But in the end, that’s the least of our problems: They love it because it’s so easy. You’ll only ever get questions on subjects that you’ve told us you know about.” Manyguide is only available on iOS for the moment, but an Android version is promised later.

VUB scientist speeds up internet by slowing down light An international team of researchers, including scientists from the Free University of Brussels (VUB), have found a way to slow down the light that’s used to send data in optic communication networks such as the internet. Paradoxically, this makes communication networks work faster. Lower light speeds means that data can be better regulated, which improves the transfer of data. Current techniques only allow the light of very specific colours to be slowed, while the

other colours around continue to travel at their normal speed. VUB researcher Vincent Ginis has now developed a method, with international colleagues, to slow down a large quantity of light frequencies at the same time. The new technique creates the illusion that the distance that needs to be covered is a lot larger than the actual physical distance. This way, the light can be slowed down to speeds that can be determined by scientists. The breakthrough could also reduce the energy

use of the most energy-consuming components in optic communication networks, like Wi-Fi routers. The efficiency of such components increases when light passes the circuits at a lower speed. “The speed of light has been used decades, so it’s about time we also used its slowness,” Ginis told DataNews. The study’s conclusions are published in Applied Physics Letters. \ Andy Furniere

Q&a With researchers from Imperial College London, Dirk Timmerman, head of the clinical gynaecology department at Leuven University Hospital, has improved the accuracy of the “simple rules” test doctors use to identify ovarian tumours. What’s wrong with the current “simple rules” test? The original simple rules tests are based on five features suggestive of a benign tumour, the “B features”, and a malignant tumour, “the M features”. A tumour can be classified as benign if one or more B features are present without the presence of M features, and conversely, a tumour can be classified as malignant if one or more M features are present without the presence of B features. But if both, or neither, B or M features are present, the result of

the test is inconclusive. This is the case for 20% of patients. This is, of course, a serious limitation since the difference between a benign and a malignant tumour has farreaching implications. In the case of a benign tumour, a patient can leave hospital after a simple keyhole operation – or even without any surgery at all. If ovarian cancer is diagnosed, the intervention and therapy is of course much more radical. How did you refine the test? This test is based on ultrasound

imaging. We used ultrasound data from more than 5,000 patients with ovarian tumours from more than 20 countries. We calculated the risk of malignancy for each ultrasound feature of the simple rules test, depending on the presence or absence of the different features. Because we refined the current test and didn’t develop a new one, we call it the “simple rules risk test”. Now we can classify any ovarian tumour in each patient, ruling out inconclusive results. How serious is a diagnosis of ovarian cancer? In gynaecology, a malignant ovarian tumour is the most lethal form of cancer. The five-year survival

rate is about 45%. Women have a 1 to 2% risk of developing ovarian cancer during their lifetime – that’s one in 70. \ Interview by Senne

About 82% of Flemish girls born between 1997 and 2003 have been vaccinated against the Human papillomavirus (HPV) in the first year of secondary education. The statistics from the Flemish government’s Agency for Care and Health were announced during a symposium at Antwerp University. HPV is a family of viruses that can lead to cervical cancer. Since 2010, the Flemish government has offered free vaccinations to all girls in the first year of secondary education. A complete vaccination consists of two injections in the upper arm in the course of the school year. Some 81.5% of girls have had the complete vaccination.

urine is the fertiliser of the future

Tomatoes cultivated with fertilisers based on microalgae are more colourful and taste sweeter than traditionally grown tomatoes, according to Ghent University researchers examining the recuperation of fertilisers from waste flows. In crop cultivation and the production of animal products in Flanders, 86% of added fertilisers goes to waste. The researchers experimented with recuperating fertilisers from groundwater and from human urine, which contains fertilising substances. They turned human urine into a nutrient solution suitable for cultivating microalgae, which are full of proteins, making them valuable biological fertilisers.

under-16s drinking less alcohol

More than half of under-16s in Flanders have never drunk alcohol, according to an annual survey by the Flemish Alcohol and Drugs expertise centre (VAD) among more than 35,000 secondary school pupils. This is the first time since the survey was introduced in 2000-2001 that there have been more under16s who have never drunk alcohol (51%) than those who have. From the age of 16, teenagers’ attitudes towards alcohol change. Seven out of 10 older students drank alcohol in the month before answering the survey, while three in 10 drink every week. “That is worrying, because these young people’s brains are still developing and alcohol has a harmful effect on this process,” said VAD director Marijs Geirnaert. \ AF

Starckx

\ EDuCaTIOn

fEBruary 10, 2016

Maritime masters

WEEK In EdUcatIon students start businesses with new certificates

ghent’s port and university combine on maritime research andy furniere More articles by andy \ flanderstoday.eu

ugEnt.BE

s of September, Ghent University (UGent) and the Free University of Brussels (VUB) are offering an English-language Advanced Master’s programme in maritime science. The founding of the Port of Ghent chair last month further strengthens the university’s maritime education and research. The degree replaces a similar Dutch-language programme that UGent was running with Antwerp University until last academic year. Antwerp now offers this programme on its own, so UGent found a new partner in VUB. The programme is open to holders of Master’s degrees in various disciplines. “Since the maritime sector by definition has an international character, we decided that we needed to provide the degree in English,” explains the programme’s co-ordinator, professor Frank Maes. “That way, we attract more foreign students and offer Belgian students more career opportunities on a national and international level.” With 10 Belgian and 10 foreign students this academic year, the programme seems to be reaching both target groups.

Since the sector has an international character, we decided to provide the degree in English The programme is unique in its interdisciplinary approach, with courses including ship technology, transport economics and maritime law. Most take place at UGent, with a few classes in Brussels. With the qualification, students can go on to careers in industries including the port, insurance and banking. To prepare them, the

Crevits kicks off learning goals campaign

Port of Ghent CEO Daan schalck and uGent rector anne De Paepe at the launch of the new chair

programme includes several study visits to maritime companies in the ports of Ghent, Zeebrugge and Antwerp, which have to be prepared extensively and are evaluated thoroughly. Students also got to know the working methods of international companies and organisations during a study trip to London in November. This programme has now been strengthened through the Port of Ghent chair, established at UGent with the port’s support. Over five years, the port is investing €37,500. “Our co-operation with the Port of Ghent goes back a long time,” says Maes. “We work together to organise an annual Maritime Symposium and a training programme in port management.” This programme targets professionals who want to get an overview of the port sector and the latest developments in it. The CEO of the

Port of Ghent, Daan Schalck, teaches courses in both the training programme for professionals and the Advanced Master’s. With the extra budget, UGent has also attracted Flemish professor Theo Notteboom to work part-time in Ghent. Notteboom, an internationally acclaimed expert in port and maritime economics, will be responsible for the maritime and port economics course of the Advanced Master’s programme and will also carry out research in his fields of expertise. Since Notteboom also is a professor at the Dalian Maritime University in China, one of the world’s most renowned maritime universities, Maes hopes he can instigate a collaboration on both the research and educational level. “Research partnerships and an exchange of students and lecturers could be very beneficial for UGent,” he says.

Q&a With three dozen education experts, University of Leuven educational psychologist Jan Elen recently published an op-ed in the Flemish daily De Standaard that proposed a number of radical suggestions to make the teaching profession more attractive. What motivated you to write the op-ed? The letter was the result of a study day we organised following concerns about a potential teacher shortage in the future. In the first part of the day, through a number of experts and contributions, we explored whether there will indeed be a teacher shortage; how we can be certain and what that will look like. In the afternoon, we asked a number of people to offer non-traditional suggestions to increase the appeal of the teaching profession. One suggestion was to make teachinganindependentprofession. How would that help? This would solve a number of rather technical aspects. But the biggest problem that this would solve is that teachers would again have ownership of their profession.

Today, there are a lot of people who tell teachers what to do, and teachers themselves don’t have a voice. Teachers are presumed to work within a school, and that school is part of a school network, and teachers are told what to do from within this network. It’s not the teachers themselves who decide, using their professional expertise. Instead, they have to follow the curriculum, do this, follow that … when actually these are all very highly educated people. What about your suggestion to redefine the essence of teaching using technology? The idea here was: if there are not enough teachers, are there maybe some tasks that teachers currently fulfil that might just as well or perhaps even better be met by technology? In other words, what are all the things technol-

Flemish labour minister Philippe Muyters has awarded the first business management certificates to 23 student entrepreneurs from Artevelde, Ghent University and the University College Ghent. Among the new student-run businesses are website developers and restaurants. Last year, Muyters announced a plan to allow students in higher education to start a business before graduating by earning a business management certificate during their studies. In the absence of a Bachelor’s degree, this certificate is required to start a business in Flanders, providing proof of the necessary entrepreneurial skills.

make do with people who weren’t properly trained to do it, or who don’t want to do it, and the quality of education will decrease as a result. And, obviously, a considerable part of society relies on the quality of our education.

ogy can do and what do we still need teachers for? The answer will probably be: let’s do everything with technology that can be done through technology. And then teachers would assist students in using that technology and in the learning processes. So that’s fairly radical. Why is it important that something be done about the looming teacher shortage? All studies point out that the quality of education is determined by the quality of teachers. If there are no teachers, well, we’ll have to

How would you summarise your vision of the profession? A fair number of people have pointed out that our present-day education system really fits into an industrial society, and that we no longer live in a society like that. It’s consequently no longer possible to see the teacher merely as someone in front of a class. We believe that the teacher is always a member of a team whose main task it is to assist students and groups of students. So we clearly do not define the main task of a teacher as the transmission of knowledge. Instead, we see them as people who assist students in learning processes, and those people are always members of multidisciplinary teams. \ Interview by Linda A

Education minister Hilde Crevits has kicked off a campaign to evaluate the eindtermen – the learning goals or final requirements pupils must attain before they can graduate from secondary school. The current eindtermen are about 20 years old and were adapted to society in the 1990s. Crevits wants to make them for suitable for society in 2030, when children who start school now will graduate. Changes could be made concerning the mathematical, ICT and social skills that youngsters should develop. She also want to have fewer, more clearly defined eindtermen, so they are easier for teachers to apply and don’t lead to complicated learning plans. Crevits will spend 50 days discussing the proposals with teachers, parents and education associations.

Five students a week attempt suicide

In 2014, 276 students in higher education in Flanders attempted to take their own lives, according to the annual report published by the Unit for Suicide Research at Ghent University. On average, about five students a week try to kill themselves. The researchers analysed the registration data of 37 hospitals with an emergency department. Higher education students accounted for 13.3% of 2,071 registered suicide attempts, a higher percentage than in the previous years. It is also a disproportionate figure, as only 3.6% of Flanders’ 6.4 million residents were enrolled in higher education in 2014. \ Andy Furniere

Thompson

\ lIVInG

WEEK In actIvItIEs Chinese new year Celebrate the start of the Year of the Monkey in Hasselt with a traditional lion dance and parade, followed by the blessing of local businesses with a Chinese ritual and a kung fu show. 13 February, 13.00-16.00, Capucienenplein, Hasselt, free \ uitinhasselt.be

solidanza It’s a special Valentine’s edition of this inclusive dance party for people with a handicap, their friends and everyone else. Wheelchair dance show, children’s activities, chair massages, photo exhibition and more. 13 February, 14.00-20.00, Autoworld, Jubelpark 11, Brussels, €5 \ handicapinternational.be

work Day in the kempen Lend a hand, bring your work shoes and gloves, and help maintain the Turnhout marshlands. Come for the morning or afternoon session, or stay the whole day. 13 February, 9.00-12.00 and 13.00-16.00,Klein Engelandhoeve, Klein Engeland 29, Turnhout, free \ natuurpunt-turnhoutsekempen.be

love Bugs Parade What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than with the original Love Bug? This annual gathering and parade of VW Beetles has a 1960s theme, so expect to see cars decorated in flowerpower style. 14 February, 11.00-17.00 (parade at 13.30), Autoworld, Jubelpark 11, Brussels, free \ autoworld.be

upcycling Market Re:creation Hall is a monthly marketplace for clothes, home decor, toys and more – all made from recycled and repurposed goods. Every second Sunday. 14 February, 11.00-18.00,Huidevettersstraat 58, Brussels, free \ recreationhall.net

\ 10

Flanders is …

revamped flemish tourist office offers visitors a fresh look and focus sally tipper More articles by sally \ flanderstoday.eu

flandErssHoP.BE

rejuvenated concept store in Brussels aims to show tourists in the city exactly what Flanders has to offer. Flanders Shop, just behind the Grote Markt and coloured with the government of Flanders’ distinctive yellow branding, is a tourist office with a difference. On one side of the shop, multilingual experts advise people on where to visit both in Brussels and further afield, with brochures to take away and desks to sit at while browsing the free iPads. On the other side is the store itself, with shelves stacked with products of Flanders’ collective creativity – books, design objects, fashion accessories, comics and toys. It’s divided into sections labelled “Flanders is …” that cover cycling, festivals, art, the First World War, food and more. There’s been a tourist information centre on this site for years, but it recently reopened with a new look and focus. “We really want to show tourists the best of Flanders, to introduce the people who are busy making nice things here,” explains brand manager Marianne Janssens. “So when it comes to tourism, that’s mainly about eating and drinking, art and culture, cycling and so on. Everything you find here in the shop is either made in Flanders or connected to Flanders and Brussels.” Flanders’ art cities are very important to the local tourism industry, and a large map laid out near the entrance shows the lie of the land to help orientate visitors. Interactive screens offer information in five languages to help people plan their trip around the region. “Most of the tourists coming to

The tourist information centre aims to inform and inspire people to discover what the region is all about

Brussels don’t really know what Flanders is,” says Janssens. “So we have many ways of informing and inspiring people to discover what the region is about.” In the shop, she explains, it’s not just about the products. “It’s also the story of the designers,” she says. “We’re selling products and telling stories, so even if you don’t buy anything, you go home with those stories.” Of course, when people think of Belgium, thoughts of chocolate and beer aren’t far behind. Janssens: “We want to go beyond those clichés. We don’t want to compete with the shops around here that are already selling beer and chocolate and Manneken Pis souve-

nirs. We’re trying to offer a more contemporary kind of souvenir.” Among these contemporary souvenirs are linen scarves by Libeco, a family-run company from Meulebeke, West Flanders, which prides itself on the very passion and craftsmanship that Flanders Shop wants to promote. Edegem company Crazyclage offers a nod to beer culture with its recycled bottle tops made into accessories, and Leuven designer Mimi Vangindertael is represented by her poppy brooches containing real poppy seeds in a reference to the First World War. On one wall, a Rubens portrait hangs alongside a shot from Tomorrowland, as Flemish culture

old and new rub shoulders. Coming soon is a range of low-price souvenirs based on Rubens, Van Eyck and other notable Flemish artists, including playing cards featuring 15th- and 16th-century paintings, made by Turnhout’s Cartamundi. From the world of cycling, there is high-end clothing on sale, as well as maps and city guides in various languages and postcards featuring traditional Flemish recipes. Everything sold here is also available online at the Flanders Shop web store. Flanders Shop, Grasmarkt 61, Brussels

bItE seven new food products given region’s official thumbs-up A new list of seven products has been added to the list of officially recognised streekproducten, or regional products, compiled by the Flemish agricultural marketing agency Vlam. The products range from herrings to speculoos. Fish smoker Alloo in Bruges has two products on the list: white herring and sweet herring. Like all regions bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, Flanders has a tradition of eating herring, both pickled and smoked. Alloo’s speciality is an adult fish, taken from the sea in October and November and not gutted. Instead, it is lightly pickled and dried, and the sweet herring cold-smoked. Still in West Flanders, the Beauvordse Walhoeve dairy farm in Veurne also has two products on the list: farmhouse butter and

buttermilk. As livestock farmers know, the rich fertile land behind the polders provides unparalleled grazing for cows, which contributes to the quality of both milk and meat. The fresh milk is warmed slightly and the cream skimmed off and inoculated with rennet, then churned 24 hours later. The acid is what makes the buttermilk special. There are two types of speculoos on the list. Speculoos is the Flemish version of the spiced biscuit known in the Netherlands as “speculaas”; the difference is that the Flemish version is flavoured with caramelised sugar, while the Dutch kind uses spices such as cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. The speculoos of Versbakkerij Jannick en Els in Ostend are glazed with a hard sugar icing, something

that used to be more common along the coast. Those of Patisserie Verboven in Hasselt, on the other hand, are another thing altogether. Known as “hompen” (hunks), each weighs about 50g, so you’re unlikely to be served one with your coffee. The style is typical to Hasselt; the Verboven family learned the recipe from the legendary Cools bakery. Finally, more sweet stuff, with the light gingerbread known as “peperkoek” (pepper cake), made with honey and spices. The officially approved version (pictured) comes from Vondelmolen in Lebbeke in East Flanders. The recipe is said to date back to Roman times; this version was born in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, when the Borms family were already wellestablished local bakers. The secret

strEEkProduct.BE

ingredient: kantkoek – the edges of a previously baked peperkoek, cut off and mixed with a new batch of dough to help act as a rising agent and give added flavour. \ Alan Hope

fEBruary 10, 2016

Just a little bit

low-key climate change event goes international sally tipper Follow sally on Twitter \ @sallybtipper

dikkEtruiEndag.BE

ach year in February, people in Flanders are encouraged to turn down their heating for the day and put a jumper on instead, for the sake of the environment. The initiative, known as Dikketruiendag, or Thick Jumper Day, was started in 2005 by the Flemish government’s department for environment, nature and energy. But this year, it’s aiming to cross borders. Participating organisations – be they schools, private companies or government departments – are teaming up with partners around the world on 15 February in an attempt to spread the message and help cut our levels of carbon dioxide emissions. So, a technical college in Torhout, West Flanders, is joining forces with counterparts in China, while primary schoolchildren in Pepingen, Flemish Brabant, are reaching out to pupils in the Philippines and Cambodia. Jonas Jaques of VTI Torhout explains the collaboration with Longquan Secondary Vocational School in south-eastern China.

workers at the Brussels company altran huddled together at the company’s unofficial Dikketruiendag event last year

“For several years, we’ve been organising an exchange between the schools, with visiting delegations made up of management, teachers and pupils, in the hope of exchanging ideas and considering the future together. As a result of

this co-operation, we thought we should do something together for Dikketruiendag.” Students at the college can take part in a range of activities on Dikketruiendag: picking up litter in the area around the school, an

environment-themed quiz, a visit to the local recycling park and a screening of The Eleventh Hour, a documentary about climate change. “The pupils were invited to sign up for the different activities,” Jaques says. “All the events are fully booked, which goes to show that young people today really do want to make an impact and work together towards a better climate.” Brussels engineering consultancy bureau Altran, meanwhile, is looking a little closer to home, as it pairs up with its Luxembourg branch to promote an energysaving mentality among staff at both sites. “We’ve been doing Dikketruiendag informally for a long time, but this is the first year we’ve taken part officially,” says Caroline Nique of Altran. “We have a corporate social responsibility programme, and we want to think green, but we sometimes need a bit of help.” It’s quite popular already, with workers even buying sweaters just for the day. “The staff make the effort, and we like to do our bit

for them as a company, so we’ll be giving away hot drinks so they can keep warm. We’ll take pictures and share them on social media to create a link on the day between the two offices. We really want to make people aware of the environment.” Her colleague in Luxembourg, Vanessa Molina, is looking forward to the occasion. “We’ve invited all our employees to come to work in their favourite sweater. We’ll reduce the heating at the office by one degree, to decrease our carbon footprint together,” she says. “To stay on the clothing topic, we’ve launched a partnership with a local charity and have asked employees to donate clothing in the containers that we’ll place in our offices.” To thank them, the company has invited staff to gather and eat waffles together after lunch on the 15th. “We really like the idea of Dikketruiendag, and it fits well with our company values,” Molina says. “It’s an opportunity to see all our employees, combined with a beautiful social action.”

New book reveals gravitas behind Flemish cartoonists’ work As Charlie Hebdo taught us a little over a year ago, comedy can be serious business. Cartoonists have an important role to play in commenting on the events of the day – a view explored and embraced by a new book, Het is maar om te lachen (It’s Just a Bit of a Laugh). Het is maar om te lachen is a collection of interviews with Flemish cartoonists. It was influenced by an interview Roel Daenen – a former journalist who now works for the Flemish heritage network Faro – conducted with cartoonist Ian (real name Jan De Graeve) for the comic book magazine Stripgids. “What he had to say about politics and his work was so interesting, we thought it would be an idea to do for the Belgian cartoonists what Sadoul did for the French cartoonists,” says Daenen, referring to writer Numa Sadoul, who put together a book of interviews with French cartoonists.

The cartoonists interviewed in the book have one thing in common: They take their job very seriously. “People think cartoonists are being funny all the time, but in fact they’re very reflective about their jobs and about society,” says Daenen. “What struck me, too, is the difference between the generation of Marec and those who come after him.” Before Marec, Het Nieuwsblad’s famous house cartoonist, much more attention was paid to politics, Daenen explains. “Today, cartoons vary from the absurd and comical to the very serious social commentary. So it’s not exactly a funny book. There are some funny elements, but at the same time it’s very serious.” \ Alan Hope Het is maar om te lachen is published by Uitgeverij Polis in Dutch

“schattig en gezellig” (Cute and Cosy), a cartoon by kim featured in the new book

50 weekends in Flanders: Visitor centres in Flanders Fields 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 copy of 50 Weekends in Flanders. We’ll also print one of our suggestions every week here, too. The government of Flanders has invested heavily in new visitor centres in Flanders Fields to mark the 100th anniversary of the First World War. Designed by contemporary architects and historians, these striking buildings offer new perspectives on the battles fought in Flanders. \ flandersfields.be

IN FLANDERS FIELDS This inspiring war museum is in a

vast medieval cloth hall in Ypres. It contains many relics of the First World War, including weapons, uniforms and personal objects. But its main aim is to tell the personal stories of people caught up in the conflict and to show the lingering traces of the war in the landscape around Ypres. \ inflandersfields.be

LIJSSENTHOEK CEMETERY This huge military cemetery (pictured) contains almost 11,000 graves of people from 30 countries. It stands in the fields near Poperinge where several hospitals were located during the war. In 2012, architect Luc Vandewynckel added the visitor pavilion in the shape of the wooden huts where

soldiers were treated. It contains a fascinating exhibition on the doctors and nurses who worked here, as well as the soldiers who died. \ lijssenthoek.be

PASSCHENDAELE MEMORIAL MUSEUM An outstanding war museum that opened in 2013 in a rebuilt manor house in the village of Zonnebeke.

It tells the story of the war in a series of dark rooms filled with uniforms, old diaries and photographs. But the most impressive section of the museum lies deep underground, where you can wander through a vast trench while shells seem to be exploding above your head. \ passchendaele.be

TYNE COT Tyne Cot Cemetery is the largest British military cemetery in the world, with 12,000 graves and a further 35,000 names of missing soldiers carved on a long wall at the back. As you approach, you hear a haunting woman’s voice slowly recite the names of the dead. You then enter a modern

tinyurl.com/50wEEkEnds

pavilion designed by the Bruges architects Govaert & Vanhoutte, with a glass wall that looks out across the battlefield. \ cwgc.org

LANGEMARK You enter the huge German cemetery at Langemark through a sober black pavilion also designed by Govaert & Vanhoutte. Here you can watch historical films on three screens before entering the cemetery along a path lined with willows. This is a dark and sombre place with flat gravestones and rugged stone crosses. Many of the dead were students who joined the German army in the early years of the war. \ Derek Blyth \ langemark-poelkapelle.be

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fEBruary 10, 2016

A delicate balance

WEEK In aRts & cUltURE Feest in het Park calls it a day

kaaitheater’s Burning ice festival stares into the abyss

Organisers of Feest in het Park, the summer music festival held in Oudenaarde, East Flanders, have decided to stop the event after 20 successful editions. The festival will not be held this summer. “Rising organisational costs and the drastically different festival landscape have taken their toll on the enthusiastic volunteer organisation behind Feest in het Park,” organiser Wim Merchiers told VRT. The festival began in 1996 with a modest bill, but drew bigger local and international names every year, including Sonic Youth, The Dandy Warhols, Trixie Whitley, dEUS and Arsenal. “Everyone who has worked here can look back with pride on what we achieved together,” said Merchiers.

ian mundell More articles by Ian \ flanderstoday.eu

n recent years, Kaaitheater’s Burning Ice festival has used art, performance and debate to explore how we can make the transition to a more sustainable society. But this year, for its ninth edition, it decided to sound an alarm. “We have this transition movement, there are a lot of good ideas, but we need to go one or two gears higher if we really want to make it,” explains Guy Gypens, Kaaitheater’s artistic director. His idea of looking at society’s reluctance to change was conceived in the run-up to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Paris last year. “The feeling then was that we are facing these tipping points on several levels and in several domains, and still we haven’t seen much will to change our behaviour and set different goals.” This idea of sounding the alarm was nearly derailed when the Paris conference agreed ambitious goals for controlling climate change. “But after Paris, an enormous silence fell over all the participating countries,” Gypens says. “And since then we haven’t heard anything about what we are going to do to implement what we agreed on.” So we still need Burning Ice to shake us up. “The idea is that we shouldn’t forget the urgency,” he says. “Just because we’re all doing our best and making agreements, and thinking about it and doing little bits here and there, that doesn’t mean we’re actually busy solving the problem.” One of the highlights of the festival is a revival of Umwelt, by French choreographer Maguy Marin. Nine performers appear and disappear through a wall of mirrors, which shakes as if in a high wind. The scenes that unfold show the turbulent relationship between people and their environment, and the sense of life as perpetual change. The piece was devised in 2004 but has long been out of circulation. “Marin was one of the first choreographers to address this issue of the human being and its environment within the dance world,” Gypens says. “And it is a fantastic show, I think one of the key dance pieces of the last 15 to 20 years.” The delicate balance of the Arctic ecosystem inspired Flemish artist Lawrence Malstaf

umwelt, by French choreographer Maguy Marin, “is one of the key dance pieces of the last 15 to 20 years”

to make his installation Tipping Point. This consists of a large, water-filled disc poised on top of a steel support, its balance gracefully disturbed by the unpredictable movements of a large air bubble. Meanwhile, in Mars II by Karl Van Welden a gentle rain of ash floats down on to a pianist, becoming ever more visible. Both his appear-

Chomsky. Finally, the eventual merging of human and machine life is explored in Everything Happens So Much, a new performance from ex-Rosas dancer Sandy Williams. What happens to our raw, flawed and unfinished human natures, he asks, when they meet the pristine potential of a totally digitised destiny?

After Paris, an enormous silence fell over all the participating countries ance and sound are gradually transformed, creating a poetic commentary on how catastrophes affect our thinking. Another tipping point in the festival concerns technology and the way it increasingly escapes our control. Kris Verdonck’s In Void is a performance without people, in which machines, objects and other presences take over the whole of Kaaistudio. And in Annie Dorsen’s Hello Hi There two laptops perform an improvised dialogue based on a television debate between the philosophers Michel Foucault and Noam

The festival also includes two debates, both in English. Economists Paul De Grauwe and Federico Demaria will discuss options for an economy without growth, while the philosophers Lieven De Cauter and Isabelle Stengers will consider whether various imminent tipping points mean we are entering a period of “post-history”.

Each year, the Antwerp-based literary organisation Behoud de Begeerte celebrates Valentine’s Day by touring Flanders and the Netherlands with an eclectic cast of writers and musicians who bring us an ode to love in the form of SaintAmour. This year’s theme is My Funny Valentine, based on a quote by Dutch author Piet Paaltjes from his collection Snikken en Grimlachjes: “Liefde doet iets met een mens. Ze maakt niet alleen blind, maar ook onhandig, lichtvoetig, melancholisch en bij momenten zelfs krankzinnig.” (Love does something to a person. It makes you not only blind, but also clumsy, fleet-footed, melancholy and at times even crazy.) Gregory Frateur of Dez Mona, Roy Aernouts (aka Boy Roy) and guitarist Tom Pintens perform as Los Speedy Bobs (pictured), a band that was originally created to honour the legendary Flemish country singer Bobbejaan Schoepen. They sing folksy adaptations of Flemish and Dutch songs that aim to unite, entertain and teach us a little more about love.

Flemish authors will offer their own insights and passionate poetry during the event. Pedro Elias, who became famous for co-creating the television quiz phenomenon De slimste mens ter wereld (The Smartest Person in the World), will talk about his walking trips and novel Van den hond, while the new Antwerp city poet, Maarten Inghels, will read from his latest collection, Nieuwe rituelen (New Rituals). Another Antwerp-based gem is Russian author

kaaitheater & kaaistudio’s

Brussels

BEgEErtE.BE

Aleksandr Skorobogatov, whose 2015 novel, Portret van een onbekend meisje (Portrait of an Unknown Girl), was hailed as one of the best books of the year. He’ll be going head-to-head with Lize Spit, whose debut novel, Het smelt (The Melt), is already being touted as one of the must-reads of 2016. These local favourites are accompanied by several Dutch authors, such as singer, poet and novelist Stella Bergsma, who’ll be reading from her latest, Pussy Album. Turning the temperature even higher is Merijn de Boer, whose new book ’t Jagthuys is beautiful, funny and filled with smouldering sex scenes. Also appearing are Marieke Rijneveld, currently the Netherlands’ literary It girl, and Jamal Ouariachi, author of Een honger (A Hunger). \ Rebecca Benoot

12-27 february across Flanders

The Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels has removed a number of paintings from its Old Masters wing after leaks were discovered in the cupolas that provide the exhibition rooms with natural light. A technical team from the federal buildings agency is investigating whether repairs can be made. “These are old metal skylights; water can easily leak in,” said Johan Vanderborght of the buildings agency. “We’re looking to see if repairs can be carried out, but we’re assuming that they will have to be replaced in time.” The roof of the building, which is still lined with zinc, will also be inspected, he said.

Record year for Flanders’ opera and ballet

11-20 february

Love is in the air at touring literary festival

Fine arts Museum moves paintings due to leaks

Kunsthuis, which represents Opera Vlaanderen and Royal Ballet Flanders, had a record year in 2015, with more than 97,500 combined tickets sold. Among the highlights was the ballet’s season opener Van Manen/Cherkaoui, featuring new and updated work by the company’s new artistic director Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. It was one of the most successful productions in recent years. “We can be justifiably proud of these results. We have been able to put several turbulent years behind us,” said Kunsthuis general-director Lena De Meerleer, referring to the departure of the ballet’s former artistic director, Kathryn Bennetts, who left in 2012 in protest at the fusing of the opera and ballet, and to the ballet’s decision to end the contract of her successor, Assis Carreiro, in 2014.

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Transatlantic travails

flemish pop singer Eva de roovere embraces English language, and quirks christophe verbiest More articles by Christophe \ flanderstoday.eu

EvadEroovErE.BE

Recorded with the help of US songwriters and musicians, Eva De Roovere’s newest album adds an American touch to her folkpop sensibilities.

fter 15 years of singing in Dutch, Eva De Roovere has embraced the English language on her new, fifth solo album, Chanticleer, which offers ultimate proof that she is still the master of folky pop tunes. The language shift might come as a surprise to fans, but the groundwork for it was laid back in 2008, when De Roovere took part in a songwriters’ workshop in Zottegem, East Flanders, where she met American Bob Neuwirth. “He used to be Bob Dylan’s tour manager but he’s also a singer-songwriter himself,” says De Roovere. “Something clicked between the two

I could ask them anything, and they would try it of us; we started writing songs together, and over the past five, six years I’ve regularly gone to Los Angeles.” In LA, Neuwirth introduced De Roovere to other local singer-songwriters. After a few transatlantic trips, De Roovere had amassed a series of songs in English, though to the outside world it seemed like she was still exclusively singing in Dutch. “I wondered, at first, if I was going to translate the songs,” she says, adding that the American songwriters ultimately convinced her to take the leap. “‘If you want to expand your audience, if you want us to come to your shows, you’ll have to choose English,’ they said.” De Roovere did translate a few of the English songs and recorded them in Dutch. “Ocean” and “Just Because”, two songs from the new album, were the blueprints for “Water” and “Hoe zou het zijn” (How Would it Be) from her 2013 album, Viert (Celebrates). Like other Flemish musicians who make music in English, De Roovere contends that it’s an easier language than Dutch to work with. “Dutch has a lot of words that end in ‘en’, while in English the final syllable of a word is often an open sound. That makes it a more rewarding language to sing in,” she explains. “On the other hand, Dutch is my mother tongue; I think and dream in that language.” And it continues to be easier for her to write

De Roovere and the us musicians went into the studio with one simple idea: “let’s have some fun making music”

in Dutch. “I have to think less,” she says. “I prefer having a native speaker at my side when I write in English. They understand the nuances of the language much better.” Often, she’ll start writing a song in English and then tell her English-speaking collaborators: “This is what I want to say. Can you help me say it in a better way?” Usually, the writers offer her typical nativespeaker turns of phrases. But sometimes they refuse and tell her: “I would never say it the

way you do, but don’t change it because it better expresses what you want to say than any English expression.” Not being a native speaker is sometimes a perk, too.” In addition to Neuwirth, De Roovere worked with two other US songwriters on the new album – Peter Case and Cindy Lee Berryhill. The latter is perhaps best known for the cult hit “Baby (Should I Have the Baby?)”, while Case’s biggest claim to fame is his 1986 self-titled album, which was followed by an impressive,

if underappreciated series of records. Case also produced Chanticleer, which features an impressive list of musicians that includes Sebastian Steinberg and Greg Leisz, who’s played with Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, k.d. lang and Sheryl Crow, and is probably America’s most respected pedal steel and lap steel guitar player. Case knew both Leisz and Steinberg personally, De Roovere explains, so he just gave them a ring. “In no time, the ice was broken,” she says. “The musicians came to the studio with just one purpose: let’s have some fun making music. I could ask them anything, and they would try it.” Still, cultural differences between them surfaced. “Sometimes, I wasn’t enthusiastic enough for them,” she explains with a chuckle. “If you ask us Europeans if we like something, we respond: ‘Yes, it’s good.’” When she gave similarly subdued answers to the US musicians, they were bemused. “If you like something in America, you have to scream: ‘It’s amazing! Fantastic! Awesome!’ I had to learn that.” De Roovere spent four months in the US recording Chanticleer – mostly in LA, but also Nashville, Austin and Houston. And she’s already making plans to return. “By now, I know some people whose places I can crash at, which makes going there easier,” she says. “I’ll probably work some more with Bob, Peter and Cindy Lee, but I’m open to other collaborations.” She doesn’t currently have a record label in the US. Two labels were interested in signing her, but only if she agreed to tour in the States. “I’d love to,” she says, “but I don’t have the means to mount a tour.” Given that concert promoters want to see a record first, it’s a real vicious circle. De Roovere’s newfound love of singing in English doesn’t mean she’ll stop writing and recording in Dutch any time soon. Instead, she’d like to combine the two, perhaps even on the same record. And why not throw in some French? “I started my career in the folk band Kadril, and folk is a genre in which language is less important. At festivals, Hungarian or Finnish bands play side by side with Italian or Belgian ones, and everyone uses their mother tongue,” she explains. “That’s much less the case in the pop and rock circuit I’m in now. I still hope that I can change this. I want to share my music with as many people as possible.” Tour dates and venues across Flanders

moRE nEW albUms tHIs montH Eriksson delcroix Heart out of its mind • WasteMyRecords Nathalie Delcroix and Bjorn Eriksson are partners in love and music. They used to both play in The Partchesz, but after the overwhelming success of The Broken Circle Breakdown Bluegrass Band, which Eriksson led, they decided to continue as Eriksson

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Delcroix. Their second studio album, Heart Out of Its Mind, offers 13 songs drenched in bluegrass, country and American folk. At times, disaster looms just around the corner (“Big Black Is Coming”); at others the singers offer soothing comfort (“Song of Silence”). And Delcroix and Eriksson write a dang fine pop tune, too (“Baby Blue”). \ erikssondelcroix.com

you raskal you Helm • Clown Shoes Largely recorded in an analogue studio in London that’s also hosted The White Stripes, the third album from the Antwerp fivesome You Raskal You exudes a vintage feel reminiscent of 1960s soul and gospel music. The album is built around eight amazing original songs that would have

you believe Antwerp must be the capital of funk. Named after Levon Helm, drummer and vocalist in the Canadian-American rock group The Band, the title is also a pun on the Dutch word for helmet. Add to that the meaning of the word in English, and you get a multi-layered title that fittingly reflects the musical variety of the album as a whole. \ youraskalyou.com

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fEBruary 10, 2016

Chasing shadows

PERFoRmancE

Edith Dekyndt until 24 april

wiels, Brussels wiEls.org

dith Dekyndt is an artist intrigued by the simplest natural processes, from the way mud or blood dries, to the length of time a soap bubble can be held in the hand. Yet this fascination with surfaces also allows her to explore deeper ideas, from conflict and colonialism to the ethics of science. Born in Ypres in 1960, but most recently dividing her time between Tournai and Berlin, Dekyndt has slowly gathered an international reputation for her abstract art works, installations and videos. Indigenous Shadow, the major retrospective that opens this month at Wiels in Brussels, is long overdue, providing an overview of more than 20 years of the artist’s development. The first floor begins with works built from dust, precious metals, dried mud and burnt objects. There are also liquids, with cotton curtains

drinking coffee by capillary action (pictured), and “A Portrait of Things”, in which two tangled fabric shapes, reminiscent of intestines, are alternately soaked until completely waterlogged and then hung up to dry. The works on the second floor often strive to

make visible things concealed in the elements. This includes pieces built around air currents and light, along with Dekyndt’s intriguing project to film beneath the surface of the Dead Sea, drawing colour out of its variations in salinity. It’s also here that you will find new pieces inspired by Wiels’ history as a brewery. Moisture from the air reacts with copper in “The Deodants 02”, staining the wall, a reference to the huge copper brewing kettles that still stand in the building’s foyer. Meanwhile, in the “Biography of Objects” series, the same wild yeasts and bacteria that give Brussels’ lambic beers their distinctive character have been grown on carpets. This strange intersection of science and domesticity is a theme that runs through Dekyndt’s work. \Ian Mundell

PERFoRmancE

vIsUal aRts

they might Be giants

david Hollier: imago verbosa

until 19 may

across Brussels and Flanders ccProductions.BE

The young French choreographer Steven Michel got his start in the circus, studying mime, music and percussion. He graduated from Brussels dance school P.A.R.T.S. in 2010, and this is his first solo choreography, a work that blurs the line between dance and concert. An expression of Michel’s fascination with sound, rhythm, animation and image, the performance forces the audience to question the relationships between the artificial and the natural, science and fiction. Light, music and movement combine to create a visual symphony where the eye can hear and the ear can see. \ Robyn Boyle

Since its advent in Renaissance Italy, the piano has become indispensable in both the composition and performance of nearly all modern forms of European music, from the contemporary classical of Philip Glass to the rock’n’roll of Little Richard. Yet the instrument is nearly always relegated to a supporting role. With this

Jos Joos Gallery, Brussels josjoosartwinEdEsign.BE

flagEy.BE

festival, the workhorse of Western music gets the spotlight. More than a dozen pianists are invited to perform at this year’s edition, including French artist Christophe Chassol (pictured). If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Chassol recently collaborated with rising American pop star Frank Ocean. \ GV

16 february, 20.00 Richard Ford is old enough to have witnessed the decline of American society and gifted enough to have documented it for posterity. The 71-year-old Pulitzer Prizewinning novelist is ranked with Charles Bukowski and Raymond Carver as a pioneer of dirty realism, the warts-and-all portrayal of contemporary American culture. Ford’s work spans decades, from the 1970s to his 1986 breakthrough The Sportswriter to his recent Lay of the Land. He will be interviewed by Flemish writer and literary critic Roderik Six. Bozar is Ford’s first stop in a tour of that also includes Passa Porta and the Brussels Book Fair. \ GV

\ sherpa.be

mUsIc FEstIval Ghent The Big Folk’n’Irish Night: An evening of contemporary folk music from Ireland, featuring Irish-Dutch trio O’Dreams and Anglo-Belgian band Faran Flad. 19 March 20.00, De Centrale, Kraankindersstraat 2 \ decentrale.be

antwerp

get tic kets n ow

Dhafer Youssef: The Tunisian composer, singer and oud player performs songs from his new album, Birds Requiem, traditional Arabic music mixed with contemporary jazz and rock. 24 February 20.30, De Roma, Turnhoutsebaan 329 \ deroma.be

leopoldsburg Teresa Salgueiro: The fado singer who got her start with the Portuguese group Madredeus performs songs from her album O Mistério!. 14 February 20.15, CC Leopoldsburg, Kastanjedreef 1 \ ccleopoldsburg.be

authored by the subjects. Hollier aims to remind a world in crisis that all is not lost. \ Georgio Valentino

richard ford Flagey, Brussels

kets n ow

John Cleese: With performances selling out immediately in Antwerp, a Ghent show has been added to the tour of the legendary British actor and comedian, best known from Monty Python and Fawlty Towers. 4 May 20.00, Capitole, Graaf Van Vlaanderenplein 5

concERt

lItERatURE

flagey Piano days 18-21 february

until 31 march British-born, Brooklynbased artist David Hollier has been using digital technology to create cutting-edge multimedia works since the 1980s. His latest series, Imago Verbosa, relies on text and texture alone to recreate iconic images. Portraits of inspirational figures as diverse as Shakespeare, David Bowie and Pope Francis are formed by blocks of verse. Hollier paints the text in acrylics and oils or types it on a vintage Smith-Corona typewriter. The lines are uplifting messages sourced from poems, essays and speeches

FEstIval

get tic

Ghent

Bozar, Brussels BoZar.BE

EvEnt Brussels Brussels I love you: Art tour uniting 20 galleries and exhibition spaces in the Louiza/ Kastelein area, with readings, film screenings, performances, exhibitions and more. 13-27 February, starting from Hangar 18, Kasteleinplein 18 \ brusselsiloveyou.com

Hasselt Grow your own vineyard: During this free info session, wine and viticulture specialist Geurt van Rennes explains how to grow a backyard vineyard, even in the city, and demonstrates how one vine is enough to produce your own wine (in Dutch, ages 18+). Register on 011 21 08 49 or kiewit@hasselt.be. 11 February 19.30-21.00, Domein Kiewit, Putvennestraat 108 \ hasselt.be

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\ BaCkPaGE

fEBruary 10, 2016

Talking Dutch trump sends his cat to the hellhole derek Blyth More articles by Derek \ flanderstoday.eu

t was one of those Flemish newspaper headlines that takes a bit of effort to work out. Trump stuurt kat naar debat maar wint toch – Trump sends his cat to the debate but wins all the same, it said in Het Nieuwsblad. It soon became clear that this was a story about the US presidential elections. De Republikeinse presidentskandidaten hebben donderdagavond in Iowa hun laatste debat gehouden – the Republican presidential candidates held their final debate in Iowa, voor de eerste voorverkiezingen – before the first primary elections. But Donald Trump didn’t join in. Koploper Donald Trump nam niet deel aan het debat op Fox News – frontrunner Donald Trump refused to take part in the debate on Fox News, door een conflict met de tv-zender en één van de moderatoren – because of a dispute with the broadcaster and one of the moderators. In Flanders, someone who doesn’t turn up to an event is said to have sent their cat: zijn kat sturen. So Trump wasn’t there, but he came out on top all the same, according to analysts.

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Trump’s decision came soon after he had been in the local news for a different reason. Hij bestempelde Brussel als een hellegat – He labelled Brussels a hellhole, omdat onze hoofdstad er niet in geslaagd is moslimmigranten te integreren – because our capital had failed to integrate Muslim immigrants, reported Het Nieuwsblad. “I was in Brussels a long time ago, 20 years ago,” Trump said in a TV interview. “So beautiful, everything was so beautiful; it’s like living in a hellhole right now.” It wasn’t long before the locals organised a counter-offensive, like they did with their #lockdown cat

photos. Belgen reageren op Twitter – Belgians are reacting on Twitter, om Trumps ongelijk te bewijzen – to show that Trump is wrong, door mooie foto’s van Brussel te tweeten onder de hashtag #hellhole – by tweeting beautiful photographs of Brussels with the hashtag #hellhole. Concert venue Ancienne Belgique responded with a sign reading “Welcome to the Hellhole”. Flemish rock singer Arno published an open letter to Trump in Het Laatste Nieuws. Eerlijk gezegd denk ik niet dat je al vaak in Brussel geweest bent – To be honest, I don’t think you have been to Brussels all that often, he wrote. De stad is misschien wel lelijk, ja – Sure, the city can be ugly sometimes. Maar we zijn hier godverdomme met ons gat in de boter gevallen, vent. Here’s another expression that takes some time to work out. It literally reads – But for God’s sake mate, we’ve fallen with our arse in the butter. But it really means – We’re living the dream. Of course, Trump doesn’t realise this because he sent his cat to Brussels instead of coming to see for himself.

Tweet us your thoughts @FlandersToday

Poll

a. Sure, if it was more affordable. What an experience!

36% b. No, I'd rather see more of planet Earth first

55% c. These flights should be illegal. We've already messed up Earth. Now we're going to be allowed to mess up space?

9% tackle the final frontier? A small percentage think not only that it’s not for them, but that it shouldn’t be for anyone. We can’t even manage Earth – surely the human race isn’t ready to head into space in any significant numbers, you argue. Well, that spaceship has sailed, so to speak. We’re already messing up

\ next week's question:

space with debris from satellites. At least Branson’s craft will come back to earth (in theory). Still, a majority of you are still not that interested in heading into space, thinking that the planet is quite big enough to explore strange new worlds or to seek out new life forms. Bon voyage.

The Road Safety Institute is looking into the idea of scrapping of up to half of all traffic lights in Belgium (see p2). What do you think? Log on to the Flanders Today website at www.flanderstoday.eu and click on VOTE!

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In response to: InBev beer advert stereotypes women, regulator says Randy Dallmann: Really...one viewer? That’s certainly worth reworking an entire ad campaign.

In response to: Question time: Flanders’ enduring love affair with the quiz Trent McGiffert: That’s why we lost. Dam our social and sports lives getting in way of us answering questions every week!!

In response to: Five higher education students per week attempt suicide Maarten Vidal:Some very worrying numbers...

Cristen En Route @CristenEnRoute Cloudy morning, sunny soul. Exploring this beautiful city. #ghent #belgium #europe #aupairlife #wanderlust

Meriem @Meriem_N Walking in the footsteps of #MarvinGaye in Ostend for ELLE magazine, city where he lived & composed Sexual Healing!

Izzy Sherman @izzysherman23 After spending many hours on a plane... I’ve finally found my home away from home! Leuven, Belgium.

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tHE last WoRd

a leuven travel agency is offering to help travellers get tickets on virgin's flights to outer space. would you boldly go?

Leuven travel agency Tierra might not have its own “Galactic mothership” like the multinational Virgin Group, but it is offering to help customers book a trip to space on one of the Virgin flights now in the planning stages. Tickets cost a cool €229,000 each. If you had the money (or if it were a lot cheaper) would you be bold enough to

voIcEs oF FlandERs today

modern times

“I’m calling for an amendment to the Geneva Convention. In the 1950s, they could never have foreseen that an Afghan would come to live in Belgium.” CD&V politician Hendrik Bogaert thinks the international law on refugees has not kept up with the times

the principle of the thing “If she wins her case, she stands to lose a lot financially.”

Delphine Boel has won the right to sue to be recognised as the daughter of the former king, Albert II, whose fortune is considerably less than that of her official father, Jacques Boel, lawyer Marc Uyttendaele explained

caught napping

“You don’t catch fugitives with fancy words. You have to hunt them down in the dead of night.”

Martin Van Steenbrugge’s Fugitive Active Search Team arrested top Sicilian gangster Angelo Caliri in Anderlecht as he was sleeping

up against the greatest “After one second, I knew it already: This was never going to happen for me. I was boxing a ghost.”

Jean-Pierre Coopman fought Muhammed Ali exactly 40 years ago, the only Belgian ever to do so, and lasted just 14 minutes and 46 seconds

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