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june 22, 2016 \ newsweekly - € 0,75 \ read more at www.flanderstoday.eu current affairs \ p2

politics \ p4

Terrorist attack thwarted

Police in Brussels broke up a terrorist cell last week, which served to prevent an imminent attack, say authorities \2

BUSiNESS \ p6

innovation \ p7

Summer sounds

Confused by the plethora of summer music festivals on offer?

Check our guide to pinpoint the perfect festival for you

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The artists and the sea

education \ p11

art & living \ p13

Alt school

More and more parents in Flanders are choosing alternatives to the regular school system, appreciating their versatile approach to teaching \ 11

© SABAM Belgium 2016

James Ensor’s “Visserspaar”, 1873-1875

Ensor and Spilliaert: Ostend celebrates its masters of light and shadow Ian Mundell follow Ian on Twitter \ @IanMundell

A new wing at Mu.Zee honours the work of two of Ostend’s most famous sons, artists James Ensor and Leon Spilliaert – two men with very different artistic visions but a shared connection to the coast.

J

ames Ensor and Leon Spilliaert didn’t have much in common as artists, but they shared the city of Ostend, both living and working there for much of their lives. This connection, along with their contribution to Belgian art history, is celebrated in a new wing at Mu.Zee, Ostend’s art

museum.

Ensor was born in the city in 1860 and, apart from three years spent studying in Brussels, lived there until his death in 1949. Plotting his own course outside the artistic mainstream, he became famous after the turn of the century for his continued on page 5

\ CURRENT AFFAIRS

Police break up terrorist cell Football fans thought to be target of ‘imminent attack’ in Brussels Alan Hope Follow Alan on Twitter \ @AlanHopeFT

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olice have broken up a new terrorist cell that was planning an attack in Brussels, thought to be aimed at crowds watching the European Championship football matches. Among the men arrested are two relatives of the Bakraoui brothers, who were responsible for the suicide bombings at Brussels Airport and Maalbeek metro station on 22 March.

Late last Friday evening, police in 16 municipalities in Brussels and elsewhere carried out a co-ordinated raid on 40 addresses. The targets were names that had come up in a series of wire-taps suspected of planning another terrorist attack in Belgium.

Homes and garages were searched, but no explosives or weapons were found; 12 men were taken in for questioning, with three held in custody.

One of the three, 29-year-old Jawad Benhattal, took part in a bungled robbery of a Western Union branch in Brussels in 2010

© Hendrik Devriendt/BELGA

in which shots were fired on police. Ibrahim Bakraoui, one of the airport suicide bombers, was also part of that robbery. He was sentenced to nine years in 2010 and was paroled in 2014.

Benhattal and Bakraoui are cousins.

Also arrested was Moustafa Benhattal, Jawad’s 40-year-old

brother. Both men are known to police as dangerous criminals, and their names came up during an investigation into the source of the weapons used in the Paris and Brussels attacks.

Wire-taps revealed that the men were planning an imminent attack in Brussels, specifically at the fan zone on Rogierplein, where European Championships matches are being shown.

The Belgian team’s next match was on Saturday afternoon, so police moved in on Friday.

Brussels Central Station (pictured), meanwhile, was evacuated and closed on Sunday after a report of a two suitcases left beside the lockers. Train services were suspended between North and South stations for an hour, but the suitcases turned out to be harmless.

Brussels’ public transport authority MIVB has announced the closure of a number of entrances to metro stations “for safety reasons”. The stations affected are Beurs, De Brouckère, IJzer, Kruidtuin and Rogier. All lines are running as usual.

Brussels city council votes to return some of pedestrian zone to traffic

Red Devils bounce back with emphatic win over Ireland at Euro 2016

Brussels city council has voted to shrink the pedestrian zone in the city centre. The new zone runs from Wolvengracht to Beurs, restoring traffic to De Brouckèreplein.

The section between Beurs and Fontainasplein is also returned to traffic.

The decision is a response to the opposition to the pedestrian zone from local businesses. With the exception of restaurants and snack bars, most businesses claim to have seen their takings reduced by 30% to 40% because customers cannot get to them by car.

The car-free zone was opened in June 2015, stretching from De Brouckèreplein to Fontainasplein. By autumn, one lane was opened up to traffic between Wolvengracht and Maxlaan, to allow cars and coaches access to the front entrance of the Hotel Metropole. This April, two-way traffic was restored on Lakenstraat and Zuidstraat.

The new changes come as a blow to the plans by mayor Yvan Mayeur to turn De Brouckèreplein into the Brussels equivalent of Times Square. The idea was to use the square as the city’s meeting place, with events like concerts and fireworks displays.

At the other end, the section between Beurs and Fontainas is also returned to traffic, reducing the pedestrian zone by 400 metres. The association of local retailers reacted to the new plan. “The adjustments will not solve the real problems,” said chair Alain Berlinblau. “Cars are still lined up on Wolvengracht and the inner ring; the tunnels are still closed. That’s why people are not coming to the centre, and this isn’t good for us.” \ AH

Romelu Lukaku scored twice as Belgium cruised to an easy 3-0 victory over Ireland in Bordeaux at the weekend, boosting their chances of making the second round of Euro 2016.

The Everton forward opened the scoring three minutes after half-time when he steered the ball into the net after Kevin De Bruyne had broken through to set him up. Axel Witsel doubled Belgium’s lead on the hour when he headed home Thomas Meunier’s teasing cross.

And Lukaku wrapped up the points with a close-range shot after an Eden Hazard pass found him unmarked in the penalty area.

Belgium were a team transformed since last week’s opening game, a 2-0 defeat to Italy. Not only was it Belgium’s first clean sheet in nine matches, it was their biggest winning scoreline at a major international tournament in 46 years. Lukaku, who had been subdued against

© Manuel Blondeau/Icon Sport/BELGA

the Italians, has now scored six times in as many matches for Belgium and is the first Red Devil to score twice in a tournament since 1998.

The victory puts Belgium in second place in the group with three points, behind Italy on six, with Ireland and Sweden on one point each.

The Red Devils play their final group game on Wednesday night, against Sweden. \ Leo Cendrowicz

Aquino mafia gang sentenced to up to 10 years as two-year trial comes to end Raf Aquino, the head of a gang in Maasmechelen, Limburg, that imported at least five shipments of cocaine into the country from South America, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by a court in Hasselt. Aquino, the court heard, stood at the head of a mafia-style criminal organisation.

Thirty-one individuals and six companies were defendants in the trial on charges of importing three tonnes of cocaine. The trial lasted for more than two years because of procedural issues and because of the murder of one of the main defendants, Silvio Aquino, gunned down in Opglabbeek last year shortly before

the trial was set to resume.

Aquino’s sentence was less than the 15 years demanded by the prosecution, as was that of senior lieutenant Nico Beckx, who was given seven years instead of the requested 14.

The main issue in the case was the admissibility of evidence gathered by the prosecution from wire taps and an undercover civilian informant. In the end, the informant did not testify, while wire-tap evidence gathered during different periods when Mario Aquino and his mother were in hospital was thrown out.

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€10 million

additional Flemish government investment in new and renovated swimming pools, on top of €10 million approved last year. Local authorities have until December to apply for funding

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Defence lawyer Jef Vermassen, representing Raf Aquino, said the decision was a threat to the privacy of every Belgian.

However, he also described the sentences as “pretty mild”.

“With public opinion as it is at the moment, we knew an Aquino would have to hang,” Vermassen said. “Normally it would have been his brother, but he was murdered. I remain convinced that my client is a member [of the organisation] not the leader.”

In addition to the jail sentences, more than €8 million seized during the investigation – including cash, cars, security equipment, firearms and drugs – was declared forfeit. \ AH

calls in 2015 to the Brussels centre for reporting cases of maltreatment of seniors, 45% more than the previous year. One in four calls is a report of abuse; the majority of calls are for information

visitors last year to the Botanical Garden Meise, just under the record attendance of 2014, when the gardens had 126,486 visitors.

Researchers also published more papers in 2015 – up 5% to 258

€450,000

young children use a tablet or computer in the half-hour before going to bed, which hampers the production of melatonin, the hormone that causes drowsiness, according to medical insurer CM

earmarked by minister-president Geert Bourgeois for support of Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. The funding runs from 20162018

june 22, 2016

WEEK in brief The federal parliament has approved a new law making it impossible for artworks and monuments in public space to be protected by copyright laws. Previously, printing or online postings of photographs of many sculptures and monuments – such as the Atomium or Jan Fabre’s pierced beetle on the campus of the University of Leuven – were illegal because the design was covered by copyright. The new law also allows architecture and cartoon murals in public places to be free of copyright.

Fans of Duvel have chosen their favourite of the six hops used in previous annual editions of Duvel Tripel Hop: the second of the hops tested, Citra, which will now become a permanent fixture on the market. As the name suggests, the hop adds a strong citrus flavour to the beer.

The Brussels metro station Clemenceau opened to weekend traffic on 18 June for the first time since the bomb attacks in March. Following the closure of the entire metro system, public transport authority MIVB continued to limit traffic at Clemenceau to arrivals only during the weekend market because of long-running problems with safety and volumes of passengers.

On Saturday, the station opened to arrivals and departures, with increased security. The situation will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

A new TV channel will arrive on the Flemish media scene in October.

ZES joins SBS Belgium stablemates VIER and VIJF and will broadcast American series, sitcoms and family films. According to SBS CEO Peter Quaghebeur, the new channel will complement its predecessors, which will make more room for Flemish productions.

Heritage minister Geert Bourgeois has approved the sum of €507,000 for the restoration of Huis Van Ooteghem on Molenstraat in the

face of flanders centre of Aalst. The oldest part of the house dates from the 17th century, with additions in the 18th and 19th. It was listed as a monument in 1997. The restoration will concentrate on the exterior as well as the 19th-century industrial elements surrounding the inner courtyard. The building used to house the city’s tourist office but is currently empty. After the restoration, it will house businesses and apartments.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon visited Brussels Airport last week to lay a wreath at the memorial dedicated to victims of the bomb attacks of 22 March. He also visited Maalbeek metro station, scene of another attack on the same day.

Accompanied by deputy prime ministers Alexander De Croo and Didier Reynders, he expressed his “deepest compassion” for the Belgian government and people.

Earlier, he visited a soup kitchen for refugees run by Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen, praising the NGO and its volunteers for their “noble work”.

Those camping out at Rock Werchter, which begins on 30 June, risk getting their feet wet, as the festival is desperately trying to pump water out of the campsites following the unseasonal amount of rainfall of the last week. Heavy rain raised the level of streams surrounding the site, making it impossible for the groundwater under the site to drain properly. Campsite B1 will remain closed, while B0 still poses a problem, Werchter mayor Dirk Claes said. Other campsites lie higher and are less saturated.

Flemish energy minister Bart Tommelein is following the example of colleague Sven Gatz and setting up a citizen’s panel to ask the public for ideas on energy policy. He intends to recruit 150 members of the public from visitors to the forum stroomversnelling. vlaanderen to join working groups in producing a new vision on energy

use in the region, while at the same time building a maximum of public support. Gatz has previously used the method to poll the public on both culture and youth issues.

The Brussels-Capital Region will take advantage of reduced traffic in July and August by commencing nine major road construction projects. Planned works will go ahead in the Stefania and Montgomery tunnels, while the tunnel under Rogierplein will have work done on water leaks. Works will also take place on the demolition of the Reyers viaduct in Schaarbeek and on tramlines on Stallestraat in Ukkel, on Jansonplein in Sint-Gillis and on Van Ooststraat in Schaarbeek.

A plan by Proximus to allow workers to retire early has met with more success than expected. In February the state-owned telecoms operator announced asked for 1,300 volunteers to take early retirement to bring down staff costs and to allow younger people to move into jobs. According to Trends magazine, two out of three of those eligible – some 2,000 people – signed up for the offer.

The Villa Roma in Leuven has been granted a provisional listing as a monument, the first step in full classification. The house is “one of the most representative and progressive examples of modernist architecture in Leuven,” Flemish heritage minister Geert Bourgeois said. It was built in 1934 on the outskirts of the city by architect Victor Broos.

The bright orange ticket validation machines, long part of Brussels’ transport network, have disappeared as the sale of single tickets comes to an end on 30 June. The system can now only be accessed with a Mobib card. Fans can try to win one of 20 of the machines being given away.

Orange is the New Black, now available on Netflix – maybe

for Netflix in the Benelux. “The younger the service, the less that’s on offer,” he explained. Netflix has only been available here for a short time, so the library of productions is smaller than it would be in the US (more than 5,000 items) where it’s been going since 2007.

The immensely popular VRT programme Thuis is losing one of its cornerstones: the character Jenny is going to be written out of the evening soap. The 73-year old Janine Bischops, who has portrayed Jenny since the programme’s first episode in 1995, is quitting the show, bemoaning the lack of depth to her character in the past few seasons.

Until then, Jenny had had quite a life. She divorced sympathetic drunkard and loudmouth Frank Bomans, had a relationship with her sister’s boyfriend, dated a seropositive man, killed her daughter’s rapist, had to endure said daughter’s departure to Morocco, fought breast cancer, suffered a heart attack and, finally, settled down to help run a B&B with kind-hearted entrepreneur Leo. It seems that the writers just ran out of ideas for her. An interview in De Standaard with Thuis producer Hans Roggen reveals that, while disappointed at Bischops’ decision to quit the show, he and the crew acknowledge her character’s lack of purpose during recent years.

“Jenny has always embodied the show’s moral conscience,” Roggen says. “She was never afraid to speak her mind to people, and they accepted that from her.

Although she was a vital part of the show’s DNA, one could indeed argue the character hasn’t been as omnipresent as it once was.”

This lack of presence seems contagious: Husband Leo’s screen time has been limited to the occasional chortling cameos.

Bischops was born in Stabroek, Antwerp province, and trained in theatre, later playing both dramatic and comedy roles, particularly with KVS. She moved into TV, where she became an icon well before Thuis: She played the protagonist in Flanders’ firstever TV show in colour, 1971’s Een vriendje voor Felicity (A Friend for Felicity), and also in popular youth series such as Midas, De Tijdscapsule (The Time Capsule) and Keromar.

Her marriage of 33 years to FC De Kampioenen star Johny Voners (he plays Xavier) has been well documented by the specialised showbiz press over the decades, mainly by Dag allemaal. It was to that celebrity weekly that Bischops first complained about her character’s lack of interesting storylines.

The form that Jenny’s exit from the show will take is anyone’s guess. We can only hope, for her sake, there’ll be no more suffering involved. \ Laurens Bouckaert

\ tinyurl.com/winorange

OFFSIDE Nothing to see here Why does Belgium have a smaller selection of Netflix films and series than, say, Andorra? Or Bolivia, or Christmas Island?

The website uNoGS lists the current offering of the streaming service in each country. Belgium has a menu running to 1,982 items – 1,561 movies and 421 TV series.

Andorra, meanwhile, has 2,141 items. Christmas Island – population 2,000 – has 2,183 items. If Belgium were to be served as well as the Christmas Islanders, we’d have a list of about 12 million films and series to choose from.

Het Laatste Nieuws spoke to Joris Evers, communications executive

Janine Bischops

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

The same applies to countries like Canada (3,452) and the UK (3,039), but also other smaller countries on the American continent.

This means that hard-core fans often turn to virtual public networks (VPNs) to disguise their origins and plug into the US library. Though Netflix isn’t particularly bothered by that, film and TV producers are. “According to the contracts, we have to use the most advanced technology available to prevent virtual border crossings,” said Evers. “If we don’t, we’re in breach of licensing agreements with the producers.” \ Alan Hope

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

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

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

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\ POLITICS

Government and food industry co-operate to reduce sugars

Agreement with health ministry to cut fats and sugars in processed foods Andy Furniere More articles by Andy \ flanderstoday.eu

B

y decreasing fat and sugar in processed foods, the amount of calories Belgians consume will be reduced by an average of 5% by the end of 2017, compared to 2012. That is the goal of an agreement that federal health minister Maggie De Block has signed with food industry federation Fevia and retail industry federation Comeos.

The focus of the Balanced Food Covenant is on a reduction of the levels of sugar and fat in food products in supermarkets, restaurants and other food-service outlets. The composition of products will be modified as well, such as by adding more fibres. Offering smaller portions and more information

to consumers is also part of the covenant.

There are separate targets for different categories of products. The local food sector has committed to decreasing the amount of sugar in soft drinks by 5% by the end of 2017 and by 10% by 2020. Dairy products should contain 3% less added sugars by the end of 2017, and 8% less by 2020. Breakfast cereals will contain 4% less sugar and 5% more fibres by 2020.

The covenant follows up on a 2012 agreement which successfully reduced the amount of salt in food products. That agreement led to a 10% reduction in the consumption of salt.

Brussels mobility minister considers traffic cameras to fine drivers who block junctions

Bomb squad’s GSM jammers being used illegally in non-military areas

Barely a month after introducing a pilot scheme, Brussels mobility minister Pascal Smet has said that painted markings in junctions are not enough to prevent motorists from blocking them. He now intends to install traffic cameras to catch and fine drivers.

The problem relates to motorists who enter a junction without having a clear exit and are then stranded on the junction when the light changes, blocking traffic from the cross streets.

Many other countries use the cross-hatch painted box to indicate the junction zone, which may not be entered unless the motorist can get all the way across. Last month, Smet announced the start of a test project on three busy Brussels junctions: Sainctelette, Troon and Kunst-Wet, together with a slogan in English – Don’t block the box.

The practice of junction-jamming is already illegal in Belgium as elsewhere, but motorists here, noted Smet, are very casual about it. Drivers have to be informed of the meaning and importance of the measure, he said, which needs to be enforced by regular police checks and legal sanctions.

“It’s difficult to say if the yellow lines make a difference,” he told the Brussels parliament’s infrastructure committee last week. “If the police are present, drivers observe the rule. But the pressure of traffic in some places is so heavy that drivers feel forced to drive onto the junction all the same, which ends up being blocked.”

He has now given the order to Brussel Mobiliteit to investigate traffic enforcement cameras.

The army’s bomb disposal squad (Dovo) has been using equipment that is illegal in Belgium to jam GSM waves, federal telecommunications minister Alexander De Croo has said. He is working on a regulation to make the use of the devices legal.

Mobile phones can be used to detonate bombs at a distance and are commonly used in war zones like Iraq to detonate IEDs (improvised explosive devices), planted in advance and exploded when enemy targets are in range.

Dovo uses the jammers to shut down any mobile device within range of a suspect package to prevent it being remotely detonated. But the law in Belgium allows the use of jammers only during exercises on army ranges, within prisons or on overseas missions.

“The use of jammers is illegal,” confirmed Veli Yüksel, defence specialist for CD&V in the federal parliament, “and that also applies to the bomb squad.” His party

\ Alan Hope

Mechelen mayor presents report on combating radicalisation Bart Somers, mayor of Mechelen, presented a report to the Committee of the Regions last week on the efforts by his city, Vilvoorde and Antwerp in preventing the radicalisation of young people.

The three cities have worked together to come up with an action plan against radicalisation. Both Vilvoorde and Antwerp have produced large numbers of young men who have gone to fight in Syria, but Mechelen has seen none, thanks to policies that changed 15 years ago, says Somers, who also serves as vice-president of the liberal ALDE party.

Last year, Somers (pictured) was asked by his party to come up with the report. He began work before the November terrorist attacks in Paris, which were linked to Brussels. Those attacks were followed by the attacks in March at Brussels Airport and the Brussels metro.

“I began with the knowledge that there is no silver bullet to the problem of violent radicalisation,” Somers said in a statement. “Experts have identified three steps to combating radicalisation: prevention, intervention and repression. I have focused on prevention because that is where city mayors and their administrations can make the biggest difference. And it is also the most effective area in which to work;

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© Eric Lalmand/BELGA

wants to see that ban lifted as soon as possible, “as our country has been under a permanent terrorist threat since 22 March”.

De Croo says he is working on a solution.

“This measure will be part of a package of various changes to telecoms legislation,” said a spokesperson. “The intention is for the first reading to take place before the summer recess.” \ AH

Government of Flanders approves €21.7 million new investment in cycle highways

© Luc Claessen/BELGA

you have to start by looking at root causes.”

Since coming up with an action plan in Mechelen, the city authorities have seen no more radicalised young people leaving to fight in Syria. “This is partly because of our investment in the public sphere, but also because of our city’s close and inclusive social network,” Somers said. “We are building a climate of trust. This is a longterm project that requires constant care.”

The report calls for investment in police tracking and surveillance to prevent the creation of no-go areas. It also calls for celebration of multiculturalism and opposition to discrimination, which it describes as “the food source on which radicalisation thrives”. \ AH

The government of Flanders has approved spending of €21.7 million on 13 cycle highway projects, mobility minister Ben Weyts announced. The projects are partly subsidised by the European Regional Development Fund.

Cycle highways are medium- to longdistance routes for cyclists that allow them to travel as efficiently as possible by removing obstacles such as traffic lights, and by the construction of cycle tunnels and bridges. The aim is to encourage the use of the bicycle for more than just short journeys, including commuting from home to work and school.

“The cycle highways will be extended and made faster and safer at crucial points,” Weyts said. “Cycle bridges will be constructed in Aalst, Dendermonde, Ghent, Berchem and Herentals. Cycle tunnels will be built in Leuven, Ghent, Mortsel and Geel.” The most expensive project, a bridge over the R10 in Berchem in Antwerp, is budgeted at €3.4 million.

The government is contributing €5.5 million to the investment, from the €100 million budget Weyts has promised to spend on

© Dirk Schmidt/Wikimedia

A cycle highway in Germany

cycle infrastructure this legislature. The European funding amounts to €8.2 million, which will be administered by finance minister Philippe Muyters. Provincial and municipal authorities will pay the rest.

“Our support for cycle highways is part of our vision of evolving towards a lowcarbon economy,” Muyters said. “Faster, safer and environmentally friendlier cycle highways are certainly a part of the solution. As minister of sport, I can only applaud the use of the bicycle in home-towork commuting.” \ AH

\ COVER STORY

june 22, 2016

The new permanent Ensor and Spilliaert collection at Mu.Zee honours two of the city's most famous inhabitants

© Steven Decroos

The artists and the sea

Mu.Zee avoids nostalgia as it explores Ostend’s role in work of Ensor and Spilliaert continued from page 1

satirical, carnivalesque images involving masks, skeletons and other grotesques.

Spilliaert was born in Ostend in 1881 and was self-taught as an artist. Influenced by symbolist painters such as Fernand Khnopff and Odilon Redon, he developed a personal visual language that drew heavily on the city by the sea and the oppressive interiors of his home. Once established as an artist, he alternated living in Ostend and Brussels, dying in the capital in 1946.

“There is a huge difference, not only between the work of both artists but also in their thinking about art,” says Philip Van den Bossche, director of Mu.Zee. “And there was more than 20 years difference in age between them. So, putting them together is not the most logical thing to do, but at the same time they are the two masters from that period of Belgian art history, and they are both from Ostend.”

Calling the new space devoted to Ensor and Spilliaert a “wing” is a little misleading. It lies in the heart of the museum, on the ground floor behind the staircases that lead up to the main exhibition rooms. For the past few years, this space of roughly 1,000m2 has been closed off, a holding area for art works while new storage rooms were built in the basement.

As that work neared completion, Van den Bossche and his team started to think about how to use the recovered space. Focusing on the city’s most important native artists was the easy part; deciding how to tell their story was another matter.

The nostalgia and melancholy of a historical narrative was to be avoided. “We wanted to look at Ensor and Spilliaert as contempo-

MUZEE.BE

rary artists,” Van den Bossche says, “and at the same time, because we are the only place that can do this, we wanted to bring the city of Ostend into the museum.”

Entering the wing, the visitor is greeted by two massive photographs, both taken on the same balcony at Ostend’s Casino. The sun was shining on the day in 1926 when Ensor was photographed, and you can see the mass of bathers on the beach behind him spilling into the sea. Spilliaert, photographed a year earlier with the sculptor Oscar Jespers, is sheltering from the rain, but the beach in the background still seems to be busy.

canvas. “Personally, I find Ensor’s painterly search for light more fascinating than his masks period.”

Spilliaert, meanwhile, painted Ostend in the moonlight, inspired by long walks through the city at night. “The Gust of Wind” (1904) shows a lone girl standing on the sea front, her black dress lifted to show a flash of white underclothing, her face twisted into an expression straight out of Edvard Munch.

Some of Spilliaert’s most famous monochrome works are here, including “Seascape with Wake” (1902) and “Vertigo” (1908). Mu.Zee is also fortunate to have two of his eerie self-portraits, along with a

There is a huge difference, not only between the work of both artists but also in their thinking about art “What is interesting for me is this play between foreground and background,” Van den Bossche says. “The sea is always the main character, in a way, and the sea plays an important role in both their paintings.”

The way they did this was quite different, as becomes clear as you explore the new wing. The first section, devoted to Ensor, covers his early years and his efforts to capture the light over the city, from his attic studio, and over the sea. Paintings such as “After the Storm” (1880) and “Large Seascape – Sunset” (1885) seem to strive for realism, while the more fantastic “Christ Calming the Storm” (1891) pushes the experiment further.

“It’s not about the subject for Ensor, but what he can do in a painterly way,” Van den Bossche says of this

number of claustrophobic interior paintings. These contrast with lesser-known colour paintings, such as the large, stylised portrait of the patron PG Van Hecke and his wife, Norine, from 1920.

Spilliaert is well served by Mu.Zee’s collection, which has an extensive selection of work from his most productive years, but Ensor is a different matter. “We don’t have the largest collection of Ensor paintings, nor the highest quality,” Van den Bossche concedes. “In both cases that is the Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. But we have a lot of drawings and graphic work, and a lot of Ensor’s archive, such as books, letters, and press clippings.”

When it comes to the work that made Ensor important to the 20th-century avant garde, Mu.Zee

has one undoubted masterpiece, the “Self-Portrait with Flowered Hat”. This was first completed in 1883 as a conventional self-portrait, then modified five years later when Ensor gave himself a hat covered in bright flowers.

But for his trademark masks and skeletons, it has to fall back on drawings and etchings, which nevertheless make a vivid impression. “The Masks and Death” (1898) is a striking large drawing in colour that captures the spirit of Ensor’s grotesques, while his satirical work is represented by “The Gendarmes” (1892) in which soldiers keep the public away from two dead bodies.

It is also a joy to discover “Devils Thrashing Angels and Archangels’ (1888), a minutely detailed etching that reverses Bruegel’s “Fall of the Rebel Angels”, giving the monsters the upper hand. Other subjects in this vein include “Death Chasing the Flock of Mortals”, “Skeletons Seeking Warmth Round a Stove”, “Hop Frog’s Revenge” (an illustration for Edgar Allan Poe) and “The Haunted Furniture”.

A further oddity is a section dedicated to a ballet for which Ensor composed the music and designed costumes in 1923-24. In addition to a full set of character drawings, Mu.Zee has some of the costumes that Ensor painted by hand. Three of the least fragile are displayed on dummies.

The weakest point is a section revolving around “Christ’s Entry into Brussels in 1889” (1888), a massive painting that Ensor kept with him in Ostend for many years.

There are photographs and press clippings of the painting being moved in and out of Ensor’s apartment for various exhibitions, but the work itself is absent; since 1987 it has been in the J Paul Getty

Museum in Los Angeles.

In its place is a tapestry version, which was conceived and planned

by Ensor, but not produced in his lifetime, because it was either too expensive or too complex for contemporary weaving methods.

It was completed using modern techniques in 2010 and donated to Mu.Zee. Van den Bossche mounts a strong defence of its inclusion. “We are lucky that it is here, because it gives an insight into a painting that will probably never travel again, because it is too fragile,” he says.

The possibility that work displayed in the new wing may also be required to travel has been taken into account. “It is sometimes a problem for single artist or smaller museums that the most important works cannot travel, because they are part of a permanent collection story,” Van den Bossche explains.

“But the wing has been conceived so that, from time to time, we can change one or two works and it will not change the narrative.”

The first two disappearances will be Ensor’s “Self-Portrait with Flowered Hat” and Spilliaert’s 1913 portrait of Andrew Carnegie, both of which will appear in Luc Tuymans’ Ensor exhibition at the Royal Academy in London from October this year.

Van den Bossche doesn’t mind the paintings going. “It’s important for us as a museum and for the work of Ensor and Spilliaert,” he says. “For three months they are ambassadors for our museum in London.”

He is not sure yet what will replace the Ensor, but Spilliaert’s Andrew Carnegie portrait will be replaced by “The Blue Basin” (1907), his own favourite by the artist in Mu.Zee’s collection. “It’s just a plate, but the way the light reflects on it has a complete poetry.”

\5

\ BUSINESS

week in business Auto parts Carglass The car glass dealer, owned by the Brussels-based auto importer D’Ieteren and serving nine countries in Western Europe, is consolidating its four locations in the country into a new logistics centre in Bilzen. The 50,000 squaremetre centre, a €25 million investment, is expected to bring much-needed jobs to Limburg.

Retail Makro The local affiliate of the German Metro chain of warehouse clubs, with six outlets in Belgium, plans to cut 500 of its total of 3,000 jobs in a bid to restore its margins. The company will also invest €60 million to renovate the stores and open additional outlets of its chain of smaller outlets operating under the Metro name.

Electronics Barco The Kortrijk-based imaging technology group has acquired Canada’s MTT Innovation company, specialised in research and development of the next generation of projection equipment.

Energy Lampiris The Flemish Region’s investment fund GIMV is making a profit of €3.5 million from the sale of the Liège-based green energy group Lampiris to France’s Total for more than €160 million.

Cabling Deme The Antwerp-based marine and offshore developments operator has won the contract to supply and install three underwater cables to connect the Hornsea Project wind park off the Yorkshire coast to the UK. The cables, each some 140 kilometres long, will help supply one million households starting in 2019.

Energy Nissan The Japanese car manufacturer plans to install 37 fast-charging stations on Belgium’s motorways before the end of the year to provide energy to electricity-powered vehicles.

Retail Charles Vögele The Swiss chain of clothing stores is closing its 41 outlets in Belgium with the loss of 210 jobs. The company had started operations locally in 1999.

\6

Rail unions approve accord

Agreement on credit days brings end to further threats of train strikes Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

T

he threat of a new rail strike has been averted as unions and rail authority NMBS reached an agreement on the issue of credit days. Unions had previously issued the intention to begin a week-long strike on Sunday evening.

The last-ditch effort to find a compromise took two days of negotiations and ended with the unions accepting a revised proposal from the NMBS. Credit days are given to rail staff as compensation for them being required to work longer than the official 36-hour week.

The NMBS wanted to change the system of acquiring credit days, which allows days not worked (holidays, sick days) to be counted towards credit days. The change would mean that the average rail worker would lose one or two days off a year, but it could be more for some workers, depending on the situation.

The new agreement sees the scrapping of the public holiday on 15 November, which only affects public services, and an extra holiday added on 2 November. In addition, unions have agreed to remove one credit day for anyone who is off sick for more than 27 days in the

year. In return, NMBS management has agreed to suspend any new proposals to reduce the number of days off until 2019.

“This is an improvement on the original proposals, which would have cost [some] people six or seven days,” said Ludo Sempels, chair of the Flemish socialist union ACOD. “The workers have made a significant contribution to the increase in productivity,” said Michel Bovy, director-general of HR-Rail, the legal employer of NMBS workers. “We asked the unions to offer alternatives, and that is what they have done. Their joint proposal was good enough for us.”

Prime minister Charles Michel took to Twitter to welcome the agreement. “I’m delighted at the social agreement reached between unions and HR-Rail,” he wrote. “Fantastic news for social negotiation and for commuters.”

Flanders launches ‘share our smile’ tourist campaign

AB InBev announces worst annual results in 15 years

Flanders’ tourism minister, Ben Weyts, was at Brussels Airport on Sunday to launch a campaign aimed at attracting tourists back to the region following the terrorist attacks earlier this year. The #shareoursmile campaign sets out to “shine a spotlight on our generous hospitality,” Weyts said. “We have a lot to share because we have a lot to offer.”

The airport was chosen for the launch as it’s the first and last sight many tourists get of Belgium. “The best advertisement for people to visit us is the sight of a tourist leaving with a smile on their face,” Weyts said. The campaign aims to raise that smile, with 60,000 badges and 25,000 door-hangers in hotels, with videos and contests on social media, and with local actions from Toerisme Vlaanderen at tourist hot-spots.

The campaign will cover the whole of Flanders and will last all summer. The government has set aside €200,000 for the action.

Toerisme Vlaanderen has five information desks at the airport to welcome tourists, 500 of whom Weyts presented with welcome packages containing surprise gifts including a day pass for De Lijn and a sample of Belgian beer.

“We’re showing off our hospitality,” Weyts said. “Each of the partners will put their own stamp on #shareoursmile, but the basic message is the same. We’re inviting the world to pay Flanders a visit.

Welcome!”

The campaign has the support of Thalys, Eurostar and Deutsche Bahn for joint promotions in neighbouring countries. \ AH

Leuven-based AB InBev, the largest brewer in the world, has announced its 2015 results, which are the worst the company has experienced since 2001. It lost 0.2% market share in the face of a home market that shrank by 2.2%.

The brewer, which produces the two main lager brands in the country, Jupiler and Stella Artois, lost 2.5% of volume as the pils market continued to shrink. The other main pils brands – Maes and Cristal from Alken-Maes and Primus from Haacht – are also suffering from the upward trend of lower-volume speciality beers. For AB InBev, that meant 113,000 fewer litres sold in 2015, with a market share down to 55.5%.

Because the company is so huge, the figures are significant. Since a decade ago, when the then InBev held nearly 57% of the Belgian market, the entire market has

shrunk by 1.45 million hectolitres.

AB InBev alone accounts for 939,000 Hl of that – about two out of every three litres lost.

In terms of sales figures, they were down 7% to €708 million compared to 2014, while profits were down 18.5% to €49.5 million. While that includes exports of brands such as Leffe and Hoegaarden (but not sales of overseas brands) it also shows that the reduction in the company’s figures is all attributable to the changes in the Belgian beer market.

Export sales went up 18%, which helped compensate for a home market drop in sales.

The brewer is a sponsor of Euro 2016 and hopes to see a boost in sales of Jupiler. “I really hope the Red Devils do well,” said head of AB InBev Belgium Jean-Jacques Velkeniers.

“We really need a good tournament, for Belgium and for AB InBev. That would be the icing on the cake.” \ AH

Commercial court declares Optima Bank bankrupt The commercial court in Ghent has declared Optima Bank bankrupt, just weeks after the company lost its banking and insurance licences amid allegations of financial irregularities. Optima is being investigated by the Ghent prosecutor’s office. Three administrators have been appointed to oversee the break-up of the company.

According to the socialist union BBTK, some 350 employees will be affected by the bankruptcy, including 170 who were directly employed and independent agents who worked on contract.

At the same time, anyone who still had a savings or current account with Optima will see their assets protected to a maximum of €100,000 per account by the state’s guarantee fund, which has a capital of more than €3 billion.

There are 14,000 standing accounts at Optima, with a total value of €90 million. Some accounts contain more than €100,000; compensation in those cases will be decided by the administrators. About €60 million is guaranteed automatically. To date, only 314 account holders have

approached the guarantee fund.

At the outset, Optima was not intended to be a bank. It was set up in 1991 by Jeroen Piqueur as a financial planning company, managing assets of wealthy clients and encouraging them to invest in real estate and insurance.

Over time, clients began to complain that their investments were making less than promised, while Optima was turning profit on commissions. The financial market regulators began to take an interest, and when Optima applied for a banking licence to take over Ethias Bank in 2011, the regulators refused. Only when the supervision of banks passed to the National Bank, did Optima get its banking licence.

The situation became alarming in 2014, after the bank had brought in some €300 million in new capital thanks to a rash offer of 3.75% interest on savings. Annual profits in 2012 and 2013 turned to a loss in 2014, which has never been given an official figure. In September of that year, Optima was ordered to stop its banking activities and liquidate all accounts – a measure which saw

© Laurie Dieffembacq/BELGA

deposits fall from €700 million to €90 million.

Optima gave notice that it wanted to surrender its banking licence and convert into an asset management company, but the financial regulator, faced with reports that the company’s owner had withdrawn some €10 million without authorisation, refused to issue the licence.

Last week, the National Bank withdrew Optima’s banking licence, and the financial regulator suspended the company’s insurance licence. \ AH

\ INNOVATION

june 22, 2016

Pretty fly

week in innovation

Insects as food for animals could be answer to feeding the planet Senne Starckx More articles by Senne \ flanderstoday.eu

PROTEINSECT.EU

W

ith studies predicting that the planet’s population will grow from its current seven billion to 10 billion by 2050, it’s clear that we face a huge challenge if we are to be able to feed the world.

Agriculture will need to produce more food on less arable land, while the rapidly growing middle classes in emerging countries in Asia, South America and Africa are generating a need for more proteins, the basis of cattle breeding and dairy production.

Because of the livestock industry’s huge ecological footprint, various alternatives to meat have emerged in recent years. But while vegetarian diets, rich in vegetable proteins, are becoming more popular, the opposite is true for products made of insects – worm burgers, cricket crisps and fried spiders, for instance.

Our initial distaste shouldn’t see insects completely removed from the menu, though.

Why not use them to feed the cows, pigs, chickens and farmed fish we consume?

By replacing soy – mostly imported from Brazil – and fishmeal with insect protein, we can alleviate Europe’s dependency on imported animal feed and limit the damage caused by expanding soy plantation in the Amazon rainforest.

An ambitious research project, funded by the EU and led by scientists in Flanders, is investigating how protein from fly larvae can be used as high-value feed for animals. Proteinsect’s line of approach is circular: The larvae would be bred in massive quantities on organic waste such as manure from intensive agriculture – so farms will create their own animal feed. Afterwards, the low-value waste can be reprocessed and re-used to improve the soil.

“This circular model is a very efficient system,” says project co-ordinator Geert Bruggeman, R&D manager at Nutrition Sciences, a research organisation in Ghent that specialises in feed and nutrition. “It means we can convert biomass that isn’t suitable for human or even animal consumption into a novel protein source.”

The project focuses on fly larvae – or maggots – because other insects that provide a good source of protein, like crickets, are already used for human consumption. “The housefly is currently not used as a food source for humans,” says Bruggeman. “People just don’t like the idea.”

But maggots are also very suitable because they grow so quickly. “They produce protein at an amazing rate, and they will just ‘happen’ if you seed them on organic waste. And maggots have

© Oliver Berg/BELGA

Feeding farm animals with insects could be one way of dealing with the food needs of a growing world population, according to Flemish scientists

an excellent protein composition. They consist of up to 60% protein. Such animal protein is very suitable for animal nutrition – better suited than soya proteins, in fact.”

Not all the protein needed for animal feed could come from insects, Bruggeman admits. But they can replace a substantial part. “More importantly, that would be a realistic practical application,” he says. “For example, piglets need a diet of 80 to 90% protein. One-third of this could come from insects instead of plants, and that would make quite a difference.”

The Proteinsect project is due to finish later this year. The researchers involved, from 12 international institutions and organisations, are identifying issues that affect the quality of the maggots.

“We are looking at typical allergies, for instance, which can be caused by insects, or at transferable diseases. Once we can grow maggots that are not affected by transferable diseases, we’ll be one step closer to legislation allowing their use for animal feed.”

This is one of the key obstacles to a successful breakthrough in the use of insect proteins: legislation. Since the mad cow disease epidemic in the 1980s and ’90s, Europe has rejected animal feed based on other animal products.

When the European Commission introduced a

ban more than 15 years ago, the feed industry struggled for many years to optimise its products based only on vegetable proteins. The sector is probably not so keen on reinventing itself again. Bruggeman: “And insect proteins are, after all, animal proteins. Of course legislation can change, and we are preparing for that change.”

But is it true that insect protein as animal feed offers prospects of more sustainable meat production? You could dispute whether it’s necessary to introduce another link in the food chain from plants via animals to humans.

“That why the project focuses so strongly on the use of waste streams from the agro and food industry,” says Professor Bart Muys of the University of Leuven, who carried out the life-cycle analysis for the project. “Soy is a magnificent vegetable protein that is also very efficiently cultivated, but its production has led to serious changes in land use, such as deforestation in South America. And the production of fishmeal is devastating for wild marine environments.

“So yes, insect proteins have the potential to lower the impact of meat production on the environment,” he adds. “But the most effective way to do that is still a reduction in our consumption of meat.”

KU Leuven Europe’s most innovative university, says Reuters The University of Leuven (KU Leuven) is number one on Thomson Reuters’ new list of Europe’s Most Innovative Universities, compiled by the media giant’s Intellectual Property & Science division. Ghent University (UGent) ranked 22nd, while the Free University of Brussels (VUB) just squeaked into the top 50.

KU Leuven reached first place because of its high volume of influential inventions, said Reuters in a statement. “Its researchers submit more patents than almost any other university in Europe, and outside researchers frequently cite KU Leuven inventions in their own patent applications.”

The news agency also praised KU Leuven’s work in microelectronics, nanotechnology and ICT systems. An special mention went to its Laboratory of Virology and Chemotherapy, which recently proved that an experimental antiviral

drug designed to fight hepatitis C slows down the development of the Zika virus.

KU Leuven was also one of the first European universities to structurally invest in the valorisation of scientific research via the KU Leuven Research & Development tech transfer office established in 1972. “This helped the university spin off more than 100 companies across a

range of industries,” said Reuters.

UGent’s place on the list has to do with its two science parks “that bring university research labs and private companies – including Siemens, Renson and Mitsubishi Electric – together to collaborate”. It mentions the university’s number of spin-offs, technology licensing agreements and research collaborations.

VUB impressed, meanwhile, with its 150 research groups and its new Brussels Human Robotic Research Centre, BruBotics.

This is the first time Reuters has published the ranking, though KU Leuven came in 16th place on its last global ranking. Although the Imperial College London was the only European university ahead of KU Leuven in the global ranking, it has now fallen one place behind it in the new European ranking. The University of Cambridge rounds out the top 3. \ Andy Furniere

Flanders studies re-use of canal sediment Together with water management authorities from the UK, France and the Netherlands, Flanders’ Waterwegen en Zeekanaal (W&Z) will study how sediments from canals and other waterways can be recycled and re-used in, for example, embankments. The EU-funded project USAR will identify, develop and test new methods, tools and business models. W&Z is responsible for the management of Flanders’ canals and rivers as well as the ports on the region’s territory. To keep them navigable, W&Z must keep them free of accumulating sediments, mainly by dredging them and transporting them to landfills. One potential application would be the re-use of sediments as building material for embankments and the construction of flood zones.

Trial project to sterilise bullfrogs Hasselt University (UHasselt) and PXL University College are launching a trial project to sterilise bullfrogs.

The project is supported

by Antwerp province. The North American bullfrog was first brought to Europe in the 1930s for the production of frog legs. Over the last 20 years, some have escaped and reproduced on massive scale in the nutrientrich ponds in the north of Antwerp province. Because of its large size, the bullfrog has few natural enemies in the Flemish region and its presence is detrimental to many indigenous species, like the green frogs. UHasselt and PXL University College will attempt to sterilise male bullfrogs before letting them back into the wild.

KRC Genk goes CO2-neutral Energy supplier EDF Luminus and KRC Genk are co-operating on a project to make the football club’s stadium CO2 neutral by 2020, which will be a first for Belgium. The stadium in Limburg province is also changing its name from Cristal Arena to Luminus Arena. In 2015, the Cristal Arena produced 1,100 tons of CO2. This should be reduced to zero through smart heating, more efficient cooling and the installation of 400 solar panels on the roof, said the club. Construction works start later this year and it is expected that the adjustments will quickly lead to a decrease of the electricity and gas consumption by 30%.

\7

Summer

Tune up your summer with one of Flanders’ many music festivals

Rock Werchter Flanders’ biggest and most renowned festival features its first-ever Beatle appearance this year: Sir Paul McCartney is on the bill. This will only be McCartney’s sixth visit to Belgium in 40 years and his festival debut. Other names include New Order, Iggy Pop, Ellie Goulding, PJ Harvey, Jamie XX and Rammstein. If you’re a fan of heavy guitars, pounding drums and raging vocals, do check out the recently reunited posthardcore super-group At The Drive-In. Surprise: at the time of writing, there were still tickets left!

CRITIC’S CHOICE

CRITIC’S CHOICE

Pukkelpop

There’s not just one Pukkelpop festival, there are 10,000 of them. With hundreds of bands and DJs to choose from, no two people will see the same line-up. The festival runs for four days, each with some 70,000 visitors, and two additional stages were added this year, bringing the total to 10. From swooshing beats and demonic noise to lullabies and crackling electronics, Pukkelpop is the proverbial exception to the saying: Enough is as good as a feast. Some of the bigger names include Róisín Murphy (pictured), Die Antwoord, Gnash and Rihanna. \ Christophe Verbiest

Paradise City

Paradise City is a relatively young fes and belief in a better future”. The orga ronmental footprint, opting for renew The festival is located near the Ribau from the centre of Brussels. The line-u hint of house: Mathew Jonson, Tuff Ci troller, Vuurwerk. Additional culinary Sofie Dumont will be running a restau

30 June to 3 July WERCHTER FESTIVAL SITE (FLEMISH BRABANT) \ rockwerchter.be

Gooikoorts This festival for folkies and their kids features three Scottish acts this year (Talisk, Manran and Mairearad & Anne), while also hosting bands from Ireland, France, Ukraine, Georgia and Galicia. Located in the heart of Pajottenland, the bucolic west side of Flemish Brabant, Gooikoorts can provide a cleansing break from city life. Its international luthier market claims to be “a sanctuary for every folk musician”.

1-3 July Gooik (Flemish Brabant) \ gooikoorts.be

Couleur Café This city-fest has long been considered the unofficial start to Brussels’ summer. The line-up is traditionally big on rap, soul, reggae and world music, and this edition is no exception. Headliners include rap ensemble De La Soul and disco legends Chic, featuring Nile Rodgers. Scottish DJ and composer Hudson Mohawke, hot property since being signed by Kanye on his GOOD Music label, closes the Move Stage on Saturday.

1-3 July Tour & Taxis, Brussels \ couleurcafe.be

Gent Jazz Festival Gent Jazz has always been the most open-minded of Flanders’ jazz fests. Its bill consists of true jazz artists (Ibrahim Maalouf, Airelle Besson Quartet, Hugh Coltman) but also artists who are seen as inspired by the genre. Jill Scott, John Cale and Perfume Genius, among others, fall into the latter category. Each year, the festival’s

25-26 June

KASTEELHOEKSTRAAT 1, PERK (FLE

\ paradisecity.be

© Courtesy Pukkelpop

CRITIC’S CHOICE

Cactus Festival

17-20 August KEMPISCHE STEENWEG, HASSELT

\ pukkelpop.be

line-up gets bigger on the electronica front as well, with St Germain, Pomrad and Max Richter being the main ambassadors of that trend at this edition. The last two days traditionally overlap with the Gentse Feesten.

there are, as usual, lots of activities for the youngest. Among them are a puppet-buskers festival and Gentopia, a “kids-village” in Zuidpark, featuring free shows. New addition this year: “gender-neutral” public toilets!

7-16 July Bijloke, Ghent \ gentjazz.com

15-24 July Across Ghent \ gentsefeesten.gent

Gentse Feesten

Sfinks Mixed

The largest combined music and street theatre festival in the world, Gentse Feesten draws more than one million visitors to the centre of Ghent for the 10-day outdoor bash that never sleeps (quite literally).

Every square is a stage, and the biggest are the Korenmarkt, which features a variety of acts, the Trefpunt world music stage at SintJacobsplein and the appropriately named Boomtown on the Kouter square, with mostly local rock bands. Eclectic partygoers will be glad to hear that the Klankfest is heading into its second edition at the legendary Vooruit building.

Next to the music and the theatre,

Sfinks is in it for the long haul: It’s already the 41st edition of this free music festival. The programme hasn’t been announced yet, but a multicultural line-up and a familyfriendly atmosphere are guaranteed.

You can credit Flanders’ most idyllic su stage principle. It may be due to the la terpark, but the line-up also simply had ticipated edition includes the jazz sing has just released his new album Take M rock band Wilco and the French elect know the organisers have been trying Rice a deserved headline spot at night ings. With Charles Bradley, Laura Mvul Horseman, the list of talented perform

28-31 July Boechout (Antwerp) \ sfinks.be

Suikerrock This sweet little festival features many Flemish acts and traditionally blurs the line between main-

8-10 July MINNEWATERPARK, BRUGES

\ cactusfestival.be

music festivals

stival that promotes “diversity, change anisers have strived for the lowest enviwable energy and locally sourced food. ucourt Castle in Perk, only 15 minutes up is big on underground music, with a ity Kids, Hunee, Space Dimension Cony touch: Award-winning Flemish chef urant at the site.

stream and alternative (labels are so ’90s, man). The Corrs, Tourist LeMC, dEUS and The Sore Losers catch the eye. The people of Tienen (famous for its sugar production, as the festival’s name implies) will also be witness to a supernatural occurrence: There will be Smoke on the Water ’cause Deep Purple are flying in.

29-31 July Tienen (Flemish Brabant) \ suikerrock.be

Reggae Geel

© Courtesy Paradise City Festival

Inhale the tunes of dancehall, ska and reggae artists such as Sizzla, Atomic Spliff, King Earthquake and the Jamaican dub-originator Lee “Scratch” Perry & Pura Vida.

Interesting fact: “Scratch” once burned down his own recording studio, the legendary Black Ark. This was at the end of the 1970s, when the good man “had been going through a rough time”. Goes to show how long this fella has been around.

5-6 August Geel (Limburg) \ reggaegeel.com

EMISH BRABANT)

Lokerse Feesten

ummer festival for sticking to the one ack of space in the fairy-like Minnewad to be top notch. This year’s highly anger and songwriter Gregory Porter, who Me To The Alley, the American country tronic duo Air (pictured). And you just for years to give Irish musician Damien tfall, so fitting of his melancholic musla, Kurt Vile, Daniel Norgren and Flying mers is longer than ever. \ Tom Peeters

Although Lokerse Feesten can’t compete with its Ghent equivalents in terms of magnitude, it does give it a run for its money when it comes to attracting big, mostly British, rock artists. This year, the main stage at De Grote Kaai hosts ’90s alt-rockers Garbage (Shirley Manson will be happy when it rains), Northern Irish bard Van Morrison, Richard “the skeleton from Wigan” Ashcroft and the British party rapper Tinie Tempah.

There’s a second stage that focuses mostly on electronic music, but also caters to the metalcore and reggae crowds.

By Laurens Bouckaert unless otherwise noted

4-7 August Dranouter (West Flanders) \ festivaldranouter.be

Antilliaanse Feesten This here is the biggest Caribbean music festival in the world. If the likes of Oscar D’Leon, Kinito Mendez, Diblo Dibala and Systema Solar ring a bell, then we’ll be glad to tell you that they are performing.

If you’re not quite the Caribbean monomaniac, maybe the names of Dutch rappers (with Caribbean heritage) such as Postmen and Typhoon are enough lure you in.

And if you haven’t heard of any of them, we’d suggest just going there for the general atmosphere and, of course, the cocktails.

12-13 August HOOGSTRATEN (ANTWERP) \ antilliaansefeesten.be

HORST Located around the eponymous castle in Holsbeek, Horst is a young festival that combines the best of electronic music and visual arts.

A critic from the influential music site XLR8R.com raved about the festival’s second edition last year:

“Horst feels like genuine escapism. Nothing was underthought, and those tired of larger festivals will appreciate the level of detail and an overall remit that’s more creative than commercial.” Took the words right out of our mouths.

First names include rave-friendly house producer Julio Bashmore and bass pioneers Machinedrum.

9-11 September HORST-HOLSBEEK (FLEMISH BRABANT) \ horstartsandmusic.com

Leffingeleuren This friendly annual festival by the coast is considered the official swansong to Flanders’ festival season. Leffinge is a district of Middelkerke that’s home to the legendary rock club De Zwerver.

The club is, not coincidentally, the organiser of Leffingeleuren, as the two have something in common: experimental programming and alternative rock. No names had been confirmed at the time of writing.

9-10 September LEFFINGE (MIDDELKERKE) \ leffingeleurenfestival.be

CRITIC’S CHOICE

Ieperfest

Every August, Ypres becomes the holy land of hardcore. Over three days, Ieperfest is expected to pack in some 10,000 metal devotees. The bands might have names like Pro-Pain, Dying Fetus, Gruesome and Violent Stomp, but Ieperfest is built on high ideals: scrupulous eco credentials and a real commitment to “thinking globally, acting locally”. The food is 100% vegan, the camping is green, and “some leftist shit” is promised in the MoreThanMusic Tent. The feature of 2016’s line-up: Belgium’s very own Cocaine Piss and the American legends Negative Approach. Or you can just come for the kombu seaweed burgers and the composting toilets. \ Mark Andrews

5-14 August Lokeren (East Flanders) \ lokersefeesten.be

Festival Dranouter

© Courtesy Cactusfestival

Still known as Folk Dranouter among the more hardened and experienced festival-goers, Dranouter prides itself on programming more diversely every year.

There’s even a place on the bill for comedy-rocker Hayseed Dixie, who established the crossovergenre “rockgrass” (a mixture of bluegrass, and, you guessed it, rock music). Other names include the always-lovely Suzanne Vega, the mad bunch of Afro Celt Sound System and Ghent’s soulful bluesrock pride Trixie Whitley.

© Arne Desmedt

© Arne Desmedt

12-14 August POPERINGSEWEG & HAZEWINDSTRAAT, YPRES

\ ieperfest.com

\ EDUCATION

june 22, 2016

Seeking alternatives

week in education

Schools without grades say they could hold key to future of education Emma Portier Davis More articles by Emma \ flanderstoday.eu

“I

visited a regular school with my daughter, but I immediately felt this was not for her,” says Elke Stievenart from De Haacht in Flemish Brabant. “There wasn’t any room for us to say anything, and I found it very unfortunate that all the tables were oriented towards the chalkboard. I could see it in my daughter, too, who had the definite ‘mommy don’t leave me’ eyes.”

Stievenart, whose daughter attends De Muze Freinet school in De Haacht, is one of many parents who have turned to non-traditional schools. Known as “method schools” in Flanders, they offer a freer style of education, led by the child’s interests rather than a strict curriculum.

They do away with grades in favour of evaluations and leave plenty of time, parents say, for outdoor activities, instead of forcing children to be stuck behind their desks.

Thirty years ago, Steiner schools, which focus on creativity, were almost unheard of in Flanders.

Now the region boasts some 30 of them. Add to that schools following other methodologies, like Freinet, Jenaplan, Decroly, Dalton and Montessori, and the list grows to about 100.

There are even at least two schools that cater specifically to gifted children. One, the Ingenium School in Tervuren, crams the traditional curriculum into the mornings, leaving afternoons free for yoga and music.

As educational reforms continue apace in the region, the question of why more and more parents are opting for these schools becomes pertinent. Could they offer the key to meeting educational targets by preparing students for higher education and the job market?

Where once the choice in Flanders was simple – either a Catholic or a non-Catholic school – parents now

© Courtesy City of Ghent

have a lot more leverage in where to send their kids. This choice has arisen, says Hans Annoot, co-ordinator of Steiner Schools in Flanders, because parents are more conscious of what kind of education they want for their children.

“Society is changing very rapidly, and the old ideas about education are changing,” he says. “Diversity is growing, and that is mirrored in the variety of schools. Parents increasingly feel that the traditional ways of educating are driven by economic motives – to feed the labour market – and that this is too narrow for their needs.”

The focus on the child’s individual needs and the typically smaller classroom sizes in the nontraditional schools offer a much welcome solution to parents whose children cannot settle in regular schools, because of shyness or issues such as bullying. Parents say that smaller classrooms are especially important, given that children start school as early as twoand-a-half.

Jenaplan school in Mortsel, near Antwerp, focuses on learning by doing and on community-engagement. “Children who come to us often struggle socially in their schools,” says director Oliver

Somers. “They blossom here and find their social identity. That’s the result of the many ways in which we organise the school and think about education.”

Although most of them are free and get funding from public grants, they have nevertheless typically attracted white, middle-class families. Annoot says that’s slowly changing.

“Most of the parents have completed higher education and are in a better socio-economic situation,” he says.

“But as Steiner schools grow, we start seeing people from more diverse backgrounds.”

The same is true for ethnicity. Seven years ago, the Steiner foundation opened a school in Antwerp’s Borgerhout district, which has a high concentration of people from immigrant background, particularly from the Middle East. “We saw that we could also attract these people to our schools.”

Education experts say the nontraditional approaches are being increasingly adopted in regular schools. Although this is happening primarily in pre-school and primary education, there are discussions about how the creative and entrepreneurial learning styles could be employed in secondary

Q&A

UCLL.BE

Wim Bergen is the dean of Teacher Education at the University Colleges Leuven-Limburg , which plan to launch additional courses in Islam, Buddhism, Protestantism and non-denominational ethics Why did UCLL embark on this initiative?

UCLL wants teachers who are employable in all educational networks. We believe that our graduates are socially relevant if they can offer an informed opinion on the plurality and diversity that characterises our society. We want our students to learn to engage in conversation about identity and ideology so that they can assume their responsibility as a teacher.

How have students reacted to it?

Student representatives have

schools.

Annoot attributes some of the rise to the pressure of educational targets that parents say are offputting because of the seemingly endless examinations their children must endure to prove their worth.

There is also pressure at the supranational level, notably from the European Commission, which has been pushing for schools to pursue more creative approaches. Last week, when it announced its new action plan to improve teaching practices and boost employability, the Commission underlined the need for better literacy and numeracy and said that training of skills such as entrepreneurship should become part of general education.

With some 70 million Europeans lacking sufficient reading, writing and numeracy skills, the Commission has provided member states and educators with guidance on how to provide adequate skilltraining in all types of education. In essence, there is a need to balance the scale.

Elin McCallum thinks non-traditional schools have come into the spotlight because they put a lot more focus on these broader skills and on personal development.

“Should schools develop employability? I would say yes,” says the education expert at the Brusselsbased start-up Bantani. “Young people eventually have to get out there and look for a job; having those skills helps.”

Through policy design and network-building, Bantani works on projects that focus on entrepreneurial learning policy and practice. “Should schools develop active citizens?” says McCallum. “Absolutely. We need people who support their communities, share ethical values and are aware of the responsibilities and rights they have as citizens.”

positive contribution towards living together, through dialogue and through encouraging better mutual understanding. We are very confident that young people will manage to meet with each other and to enrich each other as equal, fellow human beings.

supported this plan and approve of it. They tell us that this training offers the opportunity to deal with other people and with other world views.

What about the concerns that this will weaken traditional Catholic teaching?

We believe that the dialogue and direct contact with other philosophies will strengthen the Catholic identity and that it is good for the Catholic religion, schools and teachers. With this plan, UCLL wants to go further than

© Courtesy UCLL

merely tolerating another worldview. The university can make a

Can the initiative pave the way for increased diversity among teachers?

We will now bring the idea of super-diversity, which is already present in Flemish classrooms, to the college and closer to our students. We believe that this will be reflected in the following generation of teachers who graduate with us. \ Interview by EPD

Reforms to career breaks in teaching The Flemish government has approved draft proposals to reform a tortuous system of career breaks for teachers, making it easier for them to take time off to care for children and to provide palliative care or for further study. Under the new system, teachers who have reached the age of 55 will also be allowed to work parttime while still maintaining a pension. The present regime consists of several systems under which teachers must apply for unpaid leave. The draft plan, which simplifies the system, is now being negotiated with social partners and will be passed to the parliament for approval.

Central registration system on the way The Flemish government parties are working on a digital central registration system to prevent scenes of parents camping at schools to ensure a place for their child.

The parties hope to have an outline by the summer break, so that a decree can be signed within the next parliamentary year. The system should be in place by the 20182019 school year, giving the government a clearer idea of how many places are needed in schools, so that it can respond with adequate measures, like setting up container classrooms. Schools will also no longer have to deal with parents who register their children at several schools.

Crevits to propose anti-harassment measures Flemish education minister Hilde Crevits said she will meet with the Flemish Universities and Colleges Council to discuss how to better combat harassment, in light of the investigation into complaints brought by six female PhD students in the literature department of Ghent University (UGent) against a male professor.

UGent has completed its own inquiry into the complaints and has appointed an external commission to prepare a “concrete package” of rules concerning all forms of harassment. Crevits said her dialogue with the Council would address how to develop a comprehensive policy to cover all forms of harassment.

She added that this would lead to proposals for an “overarching Flemish initiative” that would take into account the findings from UGent’s external inquiry.

\ 11

Best of Belgium Plus expat Directory 2016

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\ LIVING

june 22, 2016

Back to basics

week in activities

Supermarket’s wholesome venture offers sustainable food shopping Dan Smith More articles by Dan \ flanderstoday.eu

CRU.BE

R

ecent meat scares and concerns over low prices paid to farmers have heightened concerns about the sustainability of our food chain.

It’s a problem that the Colruyt Group decided to address with the launch of their Cru covered market concept.

Colruyt opened the first Cru market in Overijse at the end of 2014. Now the second has just opened in the Kanaal development near Wijnegem on the outskirts of Antwerp. The long gap between the first and second markets is deliberate, as spokesperson Sandra Michiels explains.

“It’s all about sustainability, so we want to make sure our suppliers can grow with us, and that takes time.”

Cru focuses on fresh produce, so don’t go expecting to find everything on your shopping list.

“Each market only stocks about 850 products, so you can’t really compare Cru to a supermarket,” says Ben van Dooren of the Wijnegem branch. “And we only source sustainable and, wherever possible, products with a short distribution chain. We aim to respect the produce and the work that has gone into making it, and we’re looking for customers who share our passion.”

While the emphasis is on fresh food, sometimes providing it isn’t possible because of seasonal constraints. “We like to give the fruit time to ripen on the tree; there is no half-way option,” says Michiels. “But we try to find alternatives. For example, it’s too early for vine-ripened tomatoes, so we’ve sourced tomatoes preserved in glass jars from a small supplier in Italy.”

Cru has also worked with sustain-

Pop Island Kids get to start the summer holidays with a music festival just for them. Besides top acts on the main stage, there are carnival rides, bungee jumping, an obstacle course, bouncy castles, games and more. 29 June 13.00-18.00, Provinciaal Domein Puyenbroeck, Puyenbrug 1a, Wachtebeke; €10 \ puyenbroeck.be

Party in Kiewit This nature reserve and recreational park in Hasselt celebrates its 40th anniversary with a day of free activities for young and old. Watch circus acts and sheep shearing, participate in an educational or creative workshop, sample snacks from an insect bar, play farm games and learn about beekeeping and gardening. 26 June 14.00-18.00, Stedelijk Domein Kiewit, Putvennestraat 108, Hasselt; free \ uitinhasselt.be

Colruyt has opened its second Cru covered market, based on seasonal produce from local suppliers

able producers to create its own beer, coffee and chocolate brands.

This concept extends to fresh products such as pork, which comes from a small, local farm.

“We source a particular breed from a farmer who follows the Cru criteria. That means the pigs eat good food and live a decent life,” she says. “The pork they produce has a taste that you won’t find elsewhere.”

Producers must go through a rigorous selection process before Cru accepts them as a supplier.

“We go to their farms and production facilities to see how they work. They’re more partners than suppliers,” explains van Dooren.

That close relationship also sees many producers visiting the Cru markets to present their products, creating a direct relationship

between supplier and customer.

Colruyt aims to establish up to 15 Cru markets across Belgium, though Michiels is quick to point out that there is no fixed timeframe for this expansion. “We’re looking for the right locations, and we need to give producers, and ourselves, time to grow the business,” he says.

The Wijnegem and Overijse markets each occupy about 500 square metres and employ some 30 people each. The space is arranged like a market with stands selling bakery products, fish, meat, vegetables, flowers and delicatessen items. And staff are available to answer questions about the product range, or to help customers navigate the selfscanning system.

The Overijse store occupies a

former farm, while Cru Wijnegem is housed in a corner of the Kanaal development created by investor and art collector Axel Vervoordt.

The former industrial buildings on the Albert canal have been transformed into a mix of residential and commercial spaces.

There’s an emphasis on openness and light, giving the space the feel of a working market. You can see the bakers bake, and the butchers provide exact cuts. In Wijnegem, ships pass behind the windows of the fish counter as they traverse the canal.

“Kanaal was a great fit with the Cru concept,” says Michiels. “Axel Vervoordt shares the same philosophy and way of looking at things.

Simplicity is the new luxury; it’s all about enjoying the simple things that make life so great.”

Antwerp photographers seek stories of diners and dinners

FOTOKDG.BE/STADSVOER

BITE

“How often do you really pay attention to the interior of a restaurant?” Kazakhstan-born, Flanders-raised photographer Anastasia Pavlyukova asked, as she immersed herself in the diverse catering scene of Antwerp’s Carnotstraat. The results of her visits to the busy, multicultural quarter near Central Station are on view now in Atlas, the Antwerp Integration Service building, in the same street.

Displaying the interiors of the Antwerp-Asian buffet restaurant Wok van Antwerpen, the Malian canteen Farafina and the Mediterranean snack bar ’t Fonteintje, among others, she focuses not on the food on the table but rather on what’s on the wall, such as a tapestry or a painting – something she believes is an integral part of culinary appreciation.

Pavlyukova studied photography at Karel de Grote University College and was one of 14 alumni asked to envisage Antwerp as a city of food for the Stadsvoer/City Grub project.

© Dries Luyten/Stadsvoer/City Grub

Inspired by the new Antwerp à la carte exhibition in the MAS museum, the alumni and 15 current students were invited by their teachers Ans Brys and Mie De Backer to look into the relationship between food and the city. While the students display their images in front of the museum, the alumni’s projects are spread around town in 10 public spaces.

Until the end of June, the Kubus bar at the Permeke library on De Coninckplein displays a series of barflies (pictured) – described by photographer Dries Luyten as “people looking for warmth, booze or pleasure in the local pubs”.

Searching for them, he says, “I stumbled on a young father of seven, a female skipper, a cleaning woman living next door, a dockhand who never goes home, a cyclist and a homeless man.”

In bars such as De Klok, De Rui and Café Beauty you notice that a lot of men are sitting alone, drinking a draught beer or a Duvel. But what makes these portraits interesting is the small note in which the photographer explains who they are and why they’re there. The reasons may vary, but one thing they all have in common, Luyten says, is that “the bar is their perfect living room”. \ Tom Peeters

Until 31 August

Across Antwerp

Fish and Folklore Festival A celebration of traditional life in a Flemish fishing village, with entertainment, food and drink. The fun starts on Saturday with a fisherman’s parade portraying local history and legends. Thousands of kilos of fresh fish will be auctioned off, just like in olden days. Plus flea market, live music, entertainment and traditional craft demonstrations. 25-26 June, Mariakerke (East Flanders); free \ folklore.mariekerke.eu

Beer Passion Weekend Annual beer festival on Groenplaats in the heart of Antwerp. Entrance is free, but you must buy a tasting glass for €5 (each tasting costs €2).

Meet master beer sommelier Ben Vinken, who will be pouring special beers and signing his books. Live music including Dixieland Jazz. 24-26 June, Groenplaats, Antwerp; free \ bierpassieweekend.be

Sand Sculpture Festival A summer tradition on the Belgian coast, this year’s festival features legends of film, music and sport. See your favourite celebrities, living or dead, portrayed in sand. Forty artists from 12 countries have created 150 sculptures along a wheelchair-accessible, 1km path on the beach. Until 4 September 10.00-19.00, Zeeheldenplein, Oostend; €12 \ zandsculpturen.be

\ 13

\ ARTS

Artist of the people

One tenacious curator has kept the memory of Antwerp painter Eugeen Van Mieghem alive Myriam Gwynned Dijck More articles by Myriam\ flanderstoday.eu

In the 1980s, Erwin Joos gave up his job as an economist to spend the next three decades amassing the artwork of Eugeen Van Mieghem, one of Flanders’ most intriguing modern artists.

I

t took Erwin Joos decades to piece together the story.

Following Eugeen Van Mieghem’s death in 1930, virtually no records of the artist existed, aside from the signatures on his paintings. Eventually, Joos would give up his job as an economist and found the Eugeen Van Mieghem Museum in Antwerp.

VANMIEGHEMMUSEUM.COM

figured I could not do this alone, and I had no financial means.

People thought I was a little mad,” he admits. “It is really thanks to that one painting that we started to dig into the past.”

Today, the situation is very different, with Joos running both the Eugeen Van Mieghem Museum, with a collection of 200 works, and the foundation, with over 950 members. “We’re one of the biggest independent cultural organisations in Flanders.”

In the museum, I join one of Joos’ daily group tours. The first part takes us through the stunning

Even if we stopped today, Van Mieghem will never be forgotten again The journey brought the illustrious and stubborn “artist of the people” back into the limelight from almost total obscurity. “I thought it was such an injustice,” says Joos (pictured below). “It quickly became clear to me that this was an artist with an incredible talent. It was really upsetting and unfair that the man was being forgotten.”

In 1982, Joos came across his first painting by Van Mieghem, “Op Wandeling” (On a Walk). He was instantly struck by the beauty and serenity of the scene featuring three solemn figures standing in front of Antwerp’s harbour.

“It’s a feeling that is hard to express in words,” Joos says. “It was the combination of realism and impressionism that caught me. That painting changed my life; it was the beginning of a passion.”

A few months after purchasing the work, he launched the Eugeen Van Mieghem Foundation. His goal was to find out everything he could about this elusive artist. “I

\ 14

19th-century Redershuis building, where the museum moved to in 2010. In a deal with the Royal Belgian Shipowners’ Association, which owns the building, Joos is allowed to exhibit the works rent-free for 20 years. And it is here, during the second part of the tour, that the curator really comes alive.

The main part of the museum consists of one large room. From floor to ceiling, the walls are covered with paintings, pastels and sketches, arranged by time and subject.

First, Joos shows us Van Mieghem’s early works. “Look at the colours, the red and the green,” he says, pointing to a self-portrait. “It is 1894, Van Mieghem is 19 years old.”

From a drawer, he pulls out the palette that is depicted in the painting. It still has the specks of colour on it, the same red and green used in the portrait and the still life hanging next to it.

Joos has more surprises in store.

Some of Van Mieghem’s most cherished subjects were seamstresses and harbour workers.

“Antwerp harbour was unique for having women work there,” says the curator. “There was such a demand for labour that there weren’t enough men to fulfil it.

And it was these women in particular that Van Mieghem depicts with so much respect.”

Joos holds up one of Van Mieghem’s many harbour pastels.

The artist steered clear of painting magnificent skies or impressive ships, opting instead for a more human approach, depicting the everyday lives of the harbour

© Courtesy Van Mieghem Museum

“Op Wandeling” is the painting that started the decade-long quest to preserve Eugeen Van Mieghem’s legacy

workers, the immigrants and the poor.

With little income of his own, this is the group he clearly felt closest to, says Joos. “He would stick to this idealism until the end of his life. He was the artist of the people.”

The curator turns the pastel around to reveal another painting. “As always with Van Mieghem, you find a second work on the back,” says Joos. “Neither of them was sold.”

We move on to another of Van Mieghem’s beloved subjects – his wife Augustine Pautre.

Shortly after their marriage in 1902, Pautre fell ill. In countless sketches, Van Mieghem captured her slow demise, until her death from tuberculosis in 1905.

“Even when he was living in the greatest misery, he would draw,” says Joos. “For him, it was like

smoking a cigarette or breathing.

The man had to draw, it was part of him. And from this stems his creative genius.”

To this day, Van Mieghem’s story continues to unravel. Joos’ tenacity leads him to new discoveries every year. “This morning I discovered a painting in Germany,” he says. “It is being auctioned, and I recognised it from a black-andwhite photo from the 1930 World Exposition in Liège.”

Contemplating whether to attend the auction or not, he says the painting might be too expensive for him to buy. Pastels by Van Mieghem easily sell for €40,000, and, as he is becoming increasingly famous, prices are only expected to rise.

“It is a vicious circle,” says Joos.

“It’s only when an artist is expensive that he becomes famous.

Otherwise people won’t pay

attention.”

While telling personal anecdotes about his detective work, Joos continues his tour of the museum.

One of his current projects, he says, is to get Van Mieghem – whose work also included paintings of European emigrants leaving Antwerp harbour for the United States – into that country’s major museums of Jewish history. He says there is already interest from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles. “If that happens, we’ll really be famous.”

As I say goodbye, Joos insists that I take a copy of his latest book. It’s already been reprinted five times and another 3,000 copies are on the way to satisfy demand. “We’ve sold 120,000 copies,” he says. “So even if we stopped today, Van Mieghem will never be forgotten again.”

\ AGENDA

june 22, 2016

A night at the museum

CONCERT

Het land Nod 23-25 June

T

Ghent De korste nacht (The Shortest Night): Drinks, snacks and intimate music by the 18-piece jazz band Vvolk, intended to lull the audience to sleep on the shortest night of the year until the sun comes up to DJ tunes and breakfast. 25-26 June 21.006.00, Handelsbeurs, Kouter 29

Les Halles de Schaerbeek, Brussels halles.be

hese days it is not unusual to see performance art in museums, but staging a museum in a performance space is something else. That’s the idea behind FC Bergman’s Het land Nod (The Land of Nod), which arrives in Brussels this month after touring Flanders and the Netherlands last year.

The Antwerp theatre group set out to imagine the secret life of the cavernous Rubens Gallery in the city’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts.

Designed to house the large Baroque paintings of Peter Paul Rubens, the vast hall was damaged during the Second World War and has been gutted again for the museum’s current renovation.

The performance recreates the echoing space of the gallery and fills it with stories about art, the building and people who have sought solace and shelter there over the years. There is no

dialogue as such, but voices permeate the space from museum audio guides and other sources.

The events that unfold are inspired by Rubens’ paintings and ideas about layers of time overlapping. But they are also about the way people behave in museums, or the way they would like to behave if no-one was looking.

Another inspiration is French cinema, from the physical comedy of Jacques Tati to the scene in Jean-Luc Godard’s Bande à part (Band of Outsiders) where three friends try to see the whole of the Louvre in less than nine minutes and 45 seconds. Beginning as an homage, this turns into a joyous mass of movement on stage.

While a group effort, there are some familiar faces from film and TV in the cast, including Stef Aerts (pictured) of Belgica, Matteo Simoni (Marina) and Marie Vinck (Zuidflank, Wolven). \ Ian Mundell

\ handelsbeurs.be

PERFORMANCE Knokke-Heist

© Kurt Van der Elst

VISUAL ARTS

Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny

Alex Webb: The Suffering of the Light

24 June to 5 July

operaballet.be

Until 7 August

Botanique, Brussels botanique.be

The Summer of Photography Biennale kicks off with this exhibition celebrating the career of globetrotting American photographer Alex Webb. For over 30 years, Webb has represented the prestigious Magnum Photos agency around the world and has been lauded for his cultural

FESTIVAL

EVENT

Copacobana

Stockverkoop Design Oostende

Ghent’s Copacobana Festival promises a weekend of openair entertainment for young and old alike. Put on by local association Anamma in the wide-open spaces of Rozebroekenpark, on the outskirts of the city, the free annual event aims to bring culture closer to the average citizen. This seventh edition boasts dozens of performances by musicians, dancers, theatre troupes, poets and multimedia artists. Highlights include electronic music by Madame Blavatsky, jazz by Toon Vlerick, burlesque dance by Joke De Winde and several interactive sessions of Reinout Dewulf ’s multimedia performance YouCube. \ GV

w

\ cirquedusoleil.com/amaluna

Flanders Opera closes its season with Weimar Germany’s quintessential critique of dog-eat-dog capitalism. Created by composer Kurt Weill and playwright Bertold Brecht, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahogonny premiered in 1930 and was promptly banned by the Nazis on their assumption of power in 1933.

The action follows three criminals run amok in a capitalist wonderland that soon proves unsustainable. Weill’s jazz-inflected score features the hit “Alabama Song”, covered by The Doors and David Bowie. This revival is helmed by the enfant terrible of European stage direction, Calixto Bieito, and runs in Antwerp only. (In German with Dutch surtitles) \ Georgio Valentino

24-26 June

ets no

Amaluna: Dramatic bigtent spectacle by the everfamous Canadian theatre troupe Cirque du Soleil based on a story inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest: a fraught love affair on a mythical island peopled by Amazons. Tickets are already flying out the door. 14 July to 21 August, Natiënlaan (next to train station)

PERFORMANCE Opera Antwerpen

get ti ck

curiosity as well as his technical mastery of colour photography.

The Suffering of the Light focuses on his two most celebrated series: One explores the changing face of the US-Mexico border since the 1970s, while the other is dedicated to Istanbul, the city where East meets West. \ GV

VISUAL ARTS Brussels Summer of Photography: The sixth Brussels biennale for contemporary photography focuses on the relationship between people and the spaces they inhabit through exhibitions, readings, workshops and presentations.

Until 4 September, Bozar, Ravensteinstraat 23 \ summerofphotography.be

FILM Brussels

Rozebroekenpark, Ghent copacobana.be

25-26 June Design Oostende’s annual stock sale is upon us. As the design dealership makes room for next season’s novelties, it offers deep discounts on current stock, including furniture, lighting, art and accessories.

This is your opportunity to score the biggest names in European design

Truman: Cesc Gay’s new film, which swept Spain’s Goyas this year, premieres in Belgium: Childhood chums reunite through illness – and one sad-looking dog – after growing up on different continents. An elegy to friendship and the acceptance of death. (In Spanish, with Dutch and French subtitles). 30 June 20.00, Bozar, Ravensteinstraat 23 \ bozar.be

Ostend Stores Business Park design-oostende.be

for a smaller price than usual.

Design Oostende carries more than 100 top brands. There’s a jump castle to keep the kids occupied and a bar to distract recalcitrant partners.

Parking is free for cars, vans and trailers. Doors open early, and once this stuff is gone, it’s gone. \ GV

EVENT Hasselt Ipanema: Pop-up beach club with pool, sand, food, drinks and DJ sets. Until 30 August, Ipanema, Trichterheideweg \ ipanema-hasselt.be

BEER FESTIVAL Oudenaarde Adriaen Brouwer Bierfeesten: Annual free openair beer festival featuring concerts by Les Truttes, Bart Peeters, Milk Inc, The Stranglers and more. 24-26 June, Grote Markt \ bierfeesten.be

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june 22 , 2016

Talking Dutch

VoiceS of flanders today

Don’t worry, be unhappy

In response to: Brussels’ ban on plastic bags in force next year Henrik Östberg: Excellent decision! Plastic packaging should be forbidden altogether.

Derek Blyth More articles by Derek \ flanderstoday.eu

I

s the weather getting you down? Have you just lost your job? “Don’t worry, be happy,” you will perhaps be told by your online friends. But that just makes it worse, according to a recent article in De Morgen.

Wie zich weleens op sociale media waagt – Anyone who spends any time on social media wordt op tijd en stond geconfronteerd met de zogeheten inspirational quote – is going to be faced at some point with the so-called inspirational quote. Levenswijsheden samengebald in één vlotte zin – Life lessons boiled down to a single sentence, met als doel u te inspireren – with the aim of inspiring you.

You can find a quote for every problem: liefdesperikelen – relationship problems, tegenslag op het werk – a setback at work, of een gebrek aan zelfvertrouwen – or low self-esteem.

You can then simply fire off a quote when a friend comes to you with a problem. Laten ze gefrustreerd weten dat ze al een uur in de file staan? – Are they grumbling because they had to spend an hour in a traffic jam? Antwoord dan bijvoorbeeld – Then tell them this: patience and perseverance makes obstacles disappear. Problem solved!

But aren’t they just a little trite? Tenenkrullende slogans die je toeroepen dat je moet groeien! – Toecurling slogans that tell you you have to grow! Loslaten!

Let go! Jezelf zijn! – Be yourself !

Flemish blogger Elke Van Huffel argues that these sayings make people too optimistic. En elk gevecht levert je iets op – Every struggle makes you stronger, she muses. Sorry, maar zo werkt het niet – Sorry, but it doesn’t work like that. Niet álles kan, hè – You can’t have everything, right?

In response to: Rail strikes over as unions approve accord Melissa Macfarlane: Until the next time...

In response to: Brussels city council votes to limit the pedestrian zone Terese Van Oel: Noooo. © Ingimage

Als ik een zangeres wil worden – If I want to be a singer, maar zo vals zing als een kraai – but I have a voice like a crow, dan zal het er niet van komen – then it’s not going to happen. Zelfs al doe ik mijn stinkende best – Even if I do my damnedest.

Moeten we ons na een zware dag ook nog bezighouden met de vraag of we wel ‘voldoende ananas’ zijn? – At the end of a bad day, do we have to turn our minds to the question of whether we’ve been good pineapples? (In case you didn’t know, we should be like pineapples because they “stand tall, wear a crown and are sweet on the inside”.)

Sommige mensen worden zenuwachtig van inspirerende zinnen – Some people are driven mad by inspirational quotes. Maar anderen putten er net moed uit – But others draw strength from them.

I guess it just depends on whether you’re a pineapple or not.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Lennart Ootes @LennartOotes It’s sunny in #Leuven! Perfect day for a @Leffe beer on the terrace in between Blitz rounds of #GrandChessTour :)

Courtney @clklemens 2nd #butterflymoment: the Ghent Altarpiece in Art 105 @ Vassar. It knocked the wind out of me; I’ve inhaled art education deeply ever since.

Kim Possible @wanderingkim Quietly watching the sunset in #Antwerp. Hope you have a relaxing weekend!

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the last word Babies, not babes

City rivalry

“The legislation is clear. This is child labour, and that’s not allowed.”

“Flanders is what lies west of the Scheldt, not east. That was the German Empire. This is a scandal.”

Federal work minister Kris Peeters has banned the Mini Miss Belgium pageant for girls aged six to 10, planned by the Miss Belgium organisation to take place in July

No 1 fan “Something like that goes straight to your heart. I cried. I cried a lot.”

Adolphine Bolingoli, mother of Red Devil Romelu Lukaku, after her son dedicated his goals in the match against Ireland to her © Luc Claessen/Belga

Some people in Bruges, like Edith De Zutter, are up in arms after a decision to move the start of the Tour of Flanders from Bruges to the Brabantine city of Antwerp

Cold critters “Every day 50 or so animals come in, ordinary pets but also hypothermic foxes, hedgehogs, badgers, rabbits, deer and birds.”

Humans aren’t the only ones suffering from the constant rain and flooding, according to a spokesperson for Natuurpunt

KICK-OFF Rival supporters mingle on the steps of the Beurs in central Brussels on Saturday after Belgium’s 3-0 win over Ireland in the European Championships

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